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Journalism of Courage
The bylane that leads to Jagdish Prasad’s small workplace-cum-residence is an antithesis to the bustling Dhobiyan Gali at Dilli Gate market. There is not a soul in sight in the narrow gali. A door opens directly into a longish room. Three men, bent low, are at work with a kalam and a hammer, the tools used for copper carving. On a rectangular wooden table, a pitcher is balanced on an intricately carved copper stand; blackish in hue, it has just a hint of the reddish tan of copper. The base of the pitcher looks like it’s covered with dimples, a result of the ‘hammering’ technique. The floor is littered with copper-base kitchenware.
“Yeh to chalu maal hai (It is meant for quick sales), our rozi-roti (bread and butter),” says 71-year-old Prasad, sitting on a plain wooden bed at the far end of the room. The pitcher, too, is not the real thing, he says, telling one of the other men to bring a “proper” piece. The blackish hue on the pitcher is to give it an antique look, much in demand these days.
“The cost of making an intricately carved pitcher can be anywhere between Rs 3,000 and Rs 15,000, depending on the work and the size, but there’s no money in it as there are no takers,” he says. He holds one such piece in his hand. The labyrinthine floral pattern hides perfectly carved peacocks and deer. Prasad’s younger brother Nand Kishore says some of their wares are up for sale at the Central Cottage Emporium for more than six months. The emporium pays them once the piece is sold. The lack of demand has directly hit supply as few artisans pursue the craft. “Just the carving can take four to five days or even up to a year,” says Kishore. Prasad, his four sons, and Kishore are all trained in the art.
Among their wares are planters, pitchers, vases, fruit plates, stands and figurines. The process for carving is long-winded. A plain sheet of copper is used for the basic designs. The next step is to fill the wares with a special mix before they are taken to the kiln. “We wait for the mix to solidify and cool down, before we start carving the surface,” says Kishore.
Prasad was the first in the family to learn the art. His father, Laxmi Narain, used to make brass pots and pitchers, but didn’t know how to carve them. When Prasad was still young, he started learning carving from a neighbour, Mohammed Qasim, who moved to Pakistan at the time of Partition. “Woh har jumme ke din hamein char aane dete the (Every Friday, he used to give us 25 paise). But to learn a skill, you have to be really interested, and not greedy. But those times were different,” he says, a tinge of dissatisfaction in his voice.
The family works together from the house Prasad and Kishore inherited from their father. “If this place was not our own, we wouldn’t have been able to afford it,” says Prasad, who has won several government awards for his art. The free-of-cost government-sponsored venues are the only places where they showcase their wares. Prasad doesn’t think the craft would continue for long. “Kharcha niklega tab to chalega yeh (It will continue only if they are able to make ends meet),” says Manoj Kumar, Prasad’s 41-year-old son.
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