Anthony's Factory Visits 21st & 22nd December 2011

On the 21st and 22nd I went on location to a few factories to see how the grey cloth (untreated material) is dyed and printed.  It was a long drive out as the region is on the outskirts of Surat in a place called the Palsana District, the roads were thick with trucks transporting cloth into and out of the area.  The government allocates certain places to different industries so this particular area housed around 300 different factories all dying and/or printing cotton, polyester and nylon fabrics.

Other processes included treatments using solvents to make fabrics take on properties the customer requires, including; treating cotton through a roller machine to give one side of it a shiny appearance, putting polyester through a heat treatment and chemical process to give it a springy and soft feel like cotton or lambs wool and giving it fire retardant and resistant properties.  The dying processes are done under intense heat (130 degrees Celsius) and very high pressure (120-130 psi), then rinsed and dried under a higher temperature (300 degrees Celsius) achieving an even colour distribution and making the fabric permanently colour fast.

The sheer scale of the operations was unexpected, the factory that I was able to take photos at ran 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with each laborer working an 8 hour shift for around Rs200 per day (approx. £2.50).  The atmosphere was steaming hot, noisy, busy and claustrophobic.  That said it was very well organised and had a fully-equipped medical area and clean cafeteria serving fresh homemade food to its 2000 employees.   The company was called Durga Processors PVT. Ltd. if any one is interested in looking it up.

Each day they outputted 100,000 metres of fabric, of which approximately 80% would be finished, cut, folded, packaged and sent out to the customer, the fabric lengths are sewn together to achieve an endless run of material for each of the machines.

In order to achieve this workload there was around 4 boiler rooms, producing electricity and steam.  These were housed in big hangars and used 800,000 litres per day, and half a forest to fuel them.

On the second day I was taken locally to a smaller district of around 70 factories, where the same processes were going on.  The conditions were hotter and more claustrophobic and dirtier, although when taken to the offices I was impressed with the design areas and technology they had.

Bombay Markets

 Bombay market is an indoor market  in Surat with hundreds of sari/ textile shops. As soon as you walk in you are blinded by the colourful displays of different fabrics - some of the walkways are very narrow and are littered with footwear (see below!). There are brilliant bargains to be had so it is can get very crowded.

Before you go into the different shops you have to take your shoes off outside (this is a custom in India and is also done before you enter peoples houses as well), you are then seated on the padded floor while assistants start showing you their collections, this can be overwhelming as there are hundreds to choose from. You are also offered a drink, we had cardoman coffee in a tiny plastic cup. When you leave the shop it can be interesting trying to find your shoes again - one of Anthony's shoes ended up outside another shop! Now its off to the tailor with our wonderful fabrics…….

Happy Birthday…..to Anthony!

Thanks to everyone for your cards and kind words!!.  To celebrate we went to the local mall and watched the new Mission Impossible:Ghost Protocol with popcorn and a veggie burger (there was also a samosa option)!!  Followed by Pizza Hut – Indian style.

Our 1st two weeks.

 Namaste (hello) and welcome to our blog.

Earlier this year we made a decision to move to India for 6 months, to experience and learn another culture, to be inspired, challenged and to explore! 2 weeks ago, after a 30-hour journey via Saudi Arabia and Mumbai, we arrived at our new home in Surat ready to start our exciting new adventure.

Surat is in the state of Gujarat, on the west coast of India, it has a population of 2.4 million (now plus 2) and it is well known for its textiles and diamond cutting and polishing. Grandma’s house where we are living is at the end of a small Cul-de-sac, it is opposite a silk factory so the rattling of the looms can be heard all day and night! From the upstairs terrace you can see passenger and freight trains screeching by arriving/ departing to the nearby train station. There is also a third floor terrace that will come in useful for the kite festival in January. There is no garden but we do have a mango tree, which will hopefully produce lots of tasty mangoes in the coming months.

The past couple of weeks have been very relaxed, settling in and getting to know the area. Every morning Mohan comes by to sell fresh vegetables, he goes door to door and does this all morning until all his produce is sold. Around lunchtime a lady comes to the house to help with the cooking, we have picked up a few tips so that we can recreate some of the tasty dishes when we return. We may even include these on the blog so you can have a go too! Gujarati food is vegetarian so we have been eating lots of vegetables, beans, lentils and rice. Eggs are also not eaten so all the cakes that you find in the supermarket are egg free.

It is winter in Surat so everyday the sun is shining, until about 6.30 when it gets dark and then the stars are twinkling instead. We were lucky enough to see the lunar eclipse last week, which was very exciting. There are really only 3 seasons here: Winter (hot and sunny), Summer (very hot and sunny) followed by the Rainy season starting in July/ August (hot and rainy); so we can look forward to no rain until we return to England! As there is not much rain throughout the year, there is a problem with water supply in the state so drinking water is only available in homes in the evening between 7.30pm and 10.30pm, so we have to remember to fill up various containers at this time everyday in preparation for the following day.

The main way to travel around is by rickshaw; it is cheap (approximately 50p for a 10-minute journey). A rickshaw is meant to seat 3 people, but you are more likely to see whole families squeezed in, 6 – 7 people!! The roads mainly consist of rickshaws, motorbikes, mopeds and trucks; there are not many cars. Roads here are chaotic! There are no lanes, no give way, no indicating, no pedestrian crossings… basically no rules. You can travel in any direction even if it is a one-way street! There are no proper pavements so vehicles are also dodging people – crossing the road is a very interesting and scary experience; we have also discovered that Anthony and his legs have the ability to stop traffic and attract curious glances!!!! To be continued…………….