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Pottery (Family profession)

Sardabein and family have been making pots in this village for the past 15 to 20 years. They make kundi pots, upadi’s and tava’s. They have been in the business forever since their grandfathers also were a part of the same profession. The workload is shared by everyone and not just a single member of the family. They are the only family in this village who manufacture pots.

Materials used include Madhera, Black soil, Grey Soil and Rodejare. Work is done for eight months of the year, while they remain closed for the remaining four months. During the eight month stretch work is started at 3 am every day.

The entire process is done in their village itself; they have a place for fermentation of the soil which they have built. However they don’t sell what they make directly. People come over and pick things up and sell it in the market. They are only responsible of bringing in the raw material and making their craft.

Stones from the gulf of Khambat.

In the business of trading rare stones and pebbles used to decorate homes, gardens, making of fountains and various other installisations.

Community includes a handful of people doing the same thing, mostly family members spread out around a certain area selling the same products. They have been doing this for about ten to fifteen years now. Before they got into this trade they were working as malis (gardeners). During the off season they go back to gardening.

The stones they sell are bought from the Gulf of Khambat. They buy them in bulk and sell them for 5 Rs profit per piece. They mostly sell the smaller stones based on weight. Their main customers include contractors and interior decorators or Landscape architects, whom they also help in construction of monuments or sculptures with these stones.

Ganesh Murtis

Communities earning their livelihood by making statues of Hindu idols. These Idols are used mostly during festivals for immersions.

Most of them make moulds of their statues in different sizes, based on the needs of their clients. These moulds also help them manufacture everything faster with more efficiency.

It cost Rs 7000 to 8000 to make a mould through someone else, while it cost just Rs 3000 to 4000 if you make it yourself. The advantage of making such moulds is that these families can then make up to 10 statues a day. The average cost in making one statue is about Rs 1500 and they sell it for Rs 2500 (this cost includes everything labor, materials and painting.)

Apart from Ahmedabad (biggest market) customers come from as far as Baroda and Surat as well.

This is also a seasonal job and in the off season people tend to do cladding of stones or other gardening work.