A woman embroidering in India
From "Rahmin," a short story by Rumer Godden:
In Calcutta, where I lived, the chiken-wallahs worked in rows of booths in the market or out in the nearby villages, whole families stitching away, fulfilling orders--if they were lucky--for monograms, children's dresses, table-linen, underclothes, or, more often, making and embroidering these things. They would then be packed in a thin cotton cloth, made into a neat bundle, and carried to the houses of Europeans or wealthy Indians in the hope of making a sale.
When I visited India I bought some of this handiwork, and my friends in India brought me sweetly embroidered little tops of thin cotton for my daughter when she was a baby. I bought table clothes and bedspreads. In the charming neighborhood where I was staying with friends, a man would come periodically with his embroidered goods wrapped up in a bundle and tied to the back of his bicycle. Often, as it used to be in the USA, in India, the market comes to you.
The picture above was taken by Claude Renault and you can see his marvelous pictures of India on his blog.
I adore the photo of the embroidering woman. She looks so serene and quiet. I feel that way when I do needlework sometimes. And how lovely she looks and what beautiful work she is doing. So young too. Thank you for posting it.
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