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Aanushrav, Anand (2026)

17/12/2024

411 IJKQ- Technically I can bind a thousand page diary but instead I make it under 500 pages (that's the max weight my fingers can lift at a time!).

I usually stock up on different types of paper, but for this piece I ran out of sheets. While the shopkeeper was counting them, I was observing the offset printing process on the opposite lane. Once called back, I checked the last sheet with my sample and found it to be thicker. The shopkeeper checked the top sheet and said it's the batch variation as my sample belonged to last year's purchase. I have my own suppliers scattered across the city, ensuring I get exactly what I need and I do listen to people who know what they do well.

So I come home and start folding and cutting the sheets to size. Suddenly I find one paper quite thick and feel better. I and the shopkeeper were both true, in our places, while being unaware of the opposite person. The same happens almost all times in all our humanly engagements. The folded signatures are pressed, punched, threads waxed, signatures and cardboard covers bound together and finally hand sewing the outermost fabric cover completes the process.

The practice of book binding largely comes from the West while paper comes from China. I do find it effective that Indians kept it simple by eliminating the writing process for long (that's for some other time). These diaries are meant to stay in a monsoonal tropical climate where humidity and fungal growth can be a challenge.

This diary looks raw, unfinished compared to the standard book binding process, but that's the design intervention. I had to avoid all kinds of binders/glues and keep each part of the diary open for inspection, cleaning and repair. The outermost cover is kept detached to allow for washing it whenever fungus grows. I am confident this would work well but still fingers crossed 🤞 for the monssons!

17/12/2024

410 IJKQ- Some accidents are beautiful. Last time when I was binding the signatures, the thread snapped off half-way. This doesn't always happen but is part of the book binding process. I avoid doing fancy things as much as possible, so till the day before yesterday, I never waxed the threads for book binding. Skipping the waxing process works well for regular diaries with some hundred pages.

But when you're aiming for a thousand page diary then everything needs to be evaluated with a fresh perspective. Even while using regular diaries, the thread snaps here or there (and sadly you can't repair it easily). So I had to not only wax the thread uniformly but also keep the binding exposed for repairs over time.

At home we prefer lighting diyas using oil and cotton over candles because there's some drama around using the latter. In the back of my mind I know I have a jar of beeswax lying somewhere which I don't remember. After searching the entire house, luckily I find it under the bed. YouTube videos are really beautiful to watch but hardly help while doing things. So I didn't waste my time to see how they do it.

Rather picked up a block of wax and ran the thread through it. The piece got cut in two but the thread was untouched! At first I thought this was because of the winters 😂. Then my brain gets to work, key difference between oils and waxes is that oils are liquid at room temperature while waxes stay solid (apart from having different chemical structures). So the wax cannot melt even in scorching summers, it needs heat. Now enters how the artisans melt wax for batik. But that process leaves behind a mess of things once you are done with the job.

So I had to melt the wax for the thread without any drama. For someone who prefers solitude while working, I usually hover inside the house, kitchen being the space I widely (mis)use for my experiments. While I was solving the waxing dilemma, the pressure cooker rings and so does my brain 😜. The lid of a heated pressure cooker works perfectly but kindly avoid doing this at home until your mother is fully trained to see drama on a daily basis 🤫😇.

17/12/2024

409 IJKQ- I usually don't copy my own work because it's really boring to do the same thing again. But sometimes you can't resist! Last year when Dharuna was to be offered I needed a diary to plan the sessions and so made this diary with blue cover (post 364 has some more information). While writing this, it happens that I didn't open that diary after writing once (because it's boring to flip over the same pages again and again 😭). Or maybe my brain would feel redundant if I opened my dairies again 😂.

However, making diaries for me is an essential part of starting something important. After buying almost all sorts of dairies for a long time, out of need I had to start making mine. There's nothing more frustrating than a dairy whose pages get filled before your work is done. Recording information in two pieces is useless because either of the two would be lost over time. You have these ledgers which small businesses use for accounting purposes but it's not aesthetic enough (for me at least).

I don't complain about the above because my requirements are quite eccentric. I'm a paper guzzler and a regular diary can get filled before the week ends. So I figured out making mine aiming to have around 1000 pages (though I fall short by 100 pages each time!).

Back then the blue diary happened to be the cutest diary I ever made. It's something you can just keep looking at, simply beautiful ❤️. So, I knew whenever again I would make (a) diary/s, this one would be replicated. The new one has a green cover, with some more signatures but essentially the same materials, process and aesthetics except that the thread was waxed this time. But the old one is still the cutestestttttt.....

28/09/2024

405 GHJL- This tray holds one possibility of the present and future of color. A curious mind would ask, color for what? It can be for anything that human emotions would probably look for. Each vial contains the main ingredient for color, that is the pigment. Based on the application required, one can choose from a variety of other ingredients to make colors for practically any surface- paper, textiles, wood, ceramics, clay, metal, glass, stone and the list can continue.

Over the years of observing and contemplating, I realised color is just everywhere. In fact humans have taken so much from nature that we no longer need to go to pristine places in search of color. Existing mountains, valleys, oceans, forests, etc. can be left intact without compromising for the human need of color. These pigments are all foraged and found from the spaces surrounding humans rather than natural landscapes.

Each vial has its own story. Some come from the piles of construction waste dumped all over while others come from the discharge streams of textile dyeing operations. Some come from where building materials are processed while others are found where agricultural operations are undertaken. Some sources are just collected while others consciously foraged.

A lot of work is still underway like testing the technical properties and safety of each source. One of the many larger than life dreams waiting to be materialised. I haven't named this project yet, though some findings of the project Bodhya would form a small part of this initiative, revolving around the universal world of colors.

18/09/2024

402 GHJK- Continued from the previous post.
Once the 5 steps of post 401 are executed, the work of experiential documentation feels like a breeze. Quantity of work becomes irrelevant as now the system is in AUTO mode. So now hundreds of samples get analysed in a day or two, most importantly with zero tolerance for errors (one criterion that separates experiential documentation from other kinds of work).
I may be using versions of this technique, not sure since when, but it keeps on getting better and better each time. I personally love aligning body-mind-soul to get in AUTO mode but there's one flaw. Except for the task to be executed, all other normal body signals get blocked. Sleep, hunger, thirst, fatigue, boredom, pain, etc. are no longer felt as usual and this may have unknown consequences.
Earlier I wasn't aware of this and there were incidents where I almost fainted as soon as the task got over. At times I would be found sleeping on the dining table with an unfinished plate. Sometimes there's unmanageable hunger, with shaky hands, felt only after the brain gets signals of the completed task. Body also feels weak for some days. All these can be managed by extra planning. I now keep chocolates and ice cream handy, to supply extra calories. I do this process only at home, so there's at least someone who would sort me out if I get unconscious. Rest everything is a choice we make for ourselves, what we decide to do with our daily 24 hours and 2000+ calorie diet.
In spite of the risks, I prefer doing my work this way because the quality of final results is truly mesmerising. It's more beautiful than what was ever imagined in dreams. These samples are part of Aanushrav's project 'BODHYA'. More details can be found in the coming posts.

18/09/2024

401 GHJK- Behind the scenes preparing things around and within me to undertake the experiential documentation work. As one would see in the coming posts, a lot of stuff gets done in a relatively shorter time frame. Initially, I too doubted if this was my doing but the results were in front of my eyes. Hence, began the quest to understand the reason behind this behaviour of mine.

Over the years, I have practised ideation and prototyping things in my mind before actually trying out anything. This visualisation process runs again and again in the brain, showing me potential flaws in design, while innate commonsense giving pointers to make it better. This process takes weeks, months or even years, because there aren’t ready-made answers for all questions. Later on, while doing experiential documentation work across different sectors, there’s an answer better than all of the existing options.

Whenever I have something important to document experientially, the first step is to map out all the steps in the mind. Run, fine-tune and repeat the process till everything feels smooth. Then is the second step of gathering all necessary materials, tools and devices that were identified in step one. Thirdly is to pick a new day, preferably meditate to enter theta or delta state of mind, reducing the number of thoughts as much as possible and get all senses focused.

Now is the fourth step of actually doing a test run. No matter how much planning and preparation is done, there's always something that wasn't considered before. I readjust things as per the test run and then it's time to align the body, mind and soul for the documentation work. Fifth step is fun, because now the system is put on AUTO mode, just like some specialised robot. Continued in post 402.

30/08/2024

396 ACPT- It's interesting how much wisdom comes out seeing a single plant. Even after spending years in the kitchen with mom, it was just yesterday when mom got nostalgic and suddenly remembered more about Morad/Oontmorad/Luni ni bhaji or Suaeda spp. Mom recalled her mother-in-law (not my grandmother as I have never spent time with her 😅) would bring lots of these herb from the fields when to***co was planted. It was used to make handvo, a Gujju dish from rice, dal flour and veggies baked on an open fire. This is a very important find because we come to know more about the food habits of the past.

Till yesterday I felt that Sueda spp. would be confined to the salty places but this statement from mom is a sign that it can also grow here in the Charotar region of Gujarat. This plant used to grow around to***co plants and so monsoons/winters can be a good time to plant it.

So far I found three ways to cook these salty leafy green- one is the handvo described earlier, the other is in muthiyas (3rd picture) a steamed Gujju dish from leftover rice and flour. Third is a dry curry with potatoes (4th picture).

In my part of the world, this herb is sold on streets during the Shravan month (July) when unmarried girls do 'Gauri-vrat' where they fast for 5 days without any salt. So, this salty herb is used to make some palatable meals for them. It comes from sea shores like the Gulf of Khambhat and also grows on its own in the salty grasslands of Kutch. Can't stop admiring the wisdom that unfolds when the dots start connecting.

This entire episode happened on its own. I hardly step out of the farm and yesterday out of nowhere I suddenly went out to buy something. One closed shop led to another closed one to the third, till I finally stopped at the place in the 2nd pic. Rest everything is documented above with inputs from many beings sharing selflessly. If there's more to add on, please do share.

22/05/2024

392 IJQ- REVISITING SERIES...
Usually I don't caption my posts, but for this one I feel like writing one "DREAM BIG, DO NOTHING" 🤫😉😜

This watercolor palette was made many years ago but still looks brand new as it is 'delivered but not installed' 😅😂. When I was exploring natural colors, I felt the need to have something that could hold the many shades that would be created during my experiments. The longest piece around me were some abandoned wooden planks from a staircase in my grandfather's ancestral house. These were destined for burning, but I had somehow protected them for some time before they eventually got sacrificed. 😅

I don't take much pride in what I made back then, it neither has the skill nor any craftsmanship. I simply took a drilling machine to make some random roles and then sanded down the surface with another power tool. It looked good but equally funny (so I never posted it here and tried to make some watercolor palettes in clay. Some pieces are in the last pic). It was oiled and sealed with wax but now I think it would have to be done again.

This piece is still roaming here and there in the studio 😇. For me, holding a brush and making some strokes is the last thing I would want to do. So, in spite of having natural pigments from various places that can fill dozens of such long holed trays, I never sat down and started this work. Certain things happen at the right time and I greedily wish this one doesn't happen any sooner 😶‍🌫️. I'm happy with my reading, writing and sleeping at the moment.

22/05/2024

391 AGIQ- REVISITING SERIES
While post 390 shares my first textile weaving exploration, I now realise it wasn't my first weaving work. After dyeing resisted warp yarns for Wendy's exhibition, I was literally infected by the bug of weaving. A typical loom was out of the equation and suddenly I saw these coconut leaves. Last pic shows white marks on the tree from where they were separated! Each material has a memory and spirit of its own.

Almost spontaneously, I started weaving the leaf. No tutorial, no technique or no design in the head. I just wanted to understand and explore this material. First pieces were entire leaves woven as a single unit (pics 3,4). Once they were ready, I couldn't find a functional use for them in the studio. After roaming here and there for some time, I finally laid them as an underlayer of thatch "inspired" roof (that's another experiment to share some other day).

I didn't want to separate the leaves into individual leaf segments and weave something out of it. My design preference goes in utilising the existing strengths and properties of a material. So I carefully split the coconut leaf from the center, reducing the thickness of the central core such that it's flexible to bend.

This allowed me to make a rectangular shape without having to use anything extra. That's how the woven piece (pic 1,2) came into existence. Since the leaf was fresh when woven, it dried considerably leaving gaps in the final design (pic 2) but it's super stable. Most importantly, this now has multiple uses over the previous design.

I didn't continue this exploration because it felt hedonic cutting a leaf from the tree for no serious reason. But the good part is that while clicking these pictures I saw a couple of leaves dumped on farm border. Hope they haven't started decomposing! The pictures of this post aren't so aesthetic but sometimes it's too difficult to get one (I tried two different days and gave up to save time!).

🌴

15/05/2024

390 GH- REVISITING SERIES
Our mood changes every second and I didn't't feel the need to revisit my past work as I have found some leftovers to finish. Then I felt that tasks once started should be completed as far as possible. So, I picked up my first textile weaving samples which were lying scattered all around! It was yesterday evening that I realised I had woven 4 belts (and not 2-3).

These were woven using the tablet weaving technique of Europe. Honestly I didn't know why I picked up this method. There were only two reasons I could find. Firstly I had visited Kutch some time back and was lucky enough to live with a weaver family. Secondly, Wendy Weiss or rather the Madder Queen (specialising in Ikat weaving) came to Aanushrav to dye yarns for her exhibition "OUT of HAND" (post 362 shows that process beautifully).

Wendy gave me some of her extra yarns which were dyed with madder roots. I used some to embroider but was still wondering what to do with these precious possessions. I was already infected by the bug of weaving and so chose tablet weaving as it didn't need a loom per se. The results were wonderful. (The story named 'tablet weaving' has BTS).

The first one was a narrow band (last 3 pics) which was just mesmerising to the eyes. Then I was greedy to weave more but the madder dyed yarns were limited and I wanted to add color, so used undyed, white yarns. This addition turned out to be mind boggling as I could get various patterns (pics 4-6) from the same warping. Seeing this Wendy commented that we could create Ikat like designs without dyeing the yarns with resists.

These first samples are beautiful but still I found them aesthetically lacking. The contrast of madder red isn't strong enough to bring the best of the woven patterns (hence never posted them for years 😇).

06/05/2024

389 FQS- REVISITING SERIES
While cleaning the seed stack of post 388, I stumbled upon the bamboo cupboard I made quite some time back. I think it was after the roofing of the mud studio-kitchen was over and I was still immersed in the bamboo universe.

It started with the bamboo stool (pics 7,8) which was a catastrophic failure functionally and aesthetically. Then I tried making what can be called a sofa table using just bamboo and that was an even bigger failure (again functionally, structurally and I can't speak of its aesthetics 😂😜😇, that's why it's pictures are missing here!). Finally I realised where I was probably going wrong and fully determined to rather demonstrate my design skills I jumped to make a bamboo bed (pics 5,6).

I usually test things in extremes and so this bed became a jumbo one, 7 feet in length. Initially no one in the family dared to sit on it 😭🤫😇 but honestly it's in use since many years and it's all fine- both my family folks and the bamboo members. Tying split bamboo with jute rope was something I did for the first time, it was repetitive but pleasant exercise, though the fingers start aching halfway!

The bamboo bed is something good enough to call a designed piece that is functional, sustainable and aesthetic. But it wasn't perfect and I wanted to dive deeper. Then I jump for the most challenging thing, a bamboo cupboard (pics 1-4) which can hold heavy items. Its design isn't the best but it's used for many years and works perfectly. I also made a bamboo staircase, ~20 ft long, which has been my saviour in making and maintaining the mud studio.

After doing all these, I had to pause. Just using 100% bamboo felt like disrespecting the bamboo itself. Every material has its own story, aura and life which we humans need to respect. Any material cannot do everything, like humans they also like and dislike things done to them. So, before exploring bamboo and its inherent story further, I had to learn other skills- wood, stone and metal working. (Un) fortunately I haven't been able to learn any so far and my equation with bamboo is still unsolved.

04/05/2024

388 AB- REVISITING SERIES
The first thing I unknowingly had to revisit is my seed collection over the years. It seems quite a huge stack for a tiny human like me, yet there are additional bottles joining the gang each year. It all started with the curiosity to taste tomato directly from the plant versus picking a ketchup bottle from the supermarket. A seemingly simple wish would soon turn my life 180° round.

Back then finding the right seeds was quite a task than today where there are conferences and meetings happening every now and then where at least efforts are made to talk timepass (apologies if it feels uncomfortable but truth stays bitter). So, having one's own version of seeds was crucial. I didn't have the privilege to have seeds that were 'heirloom', 'vintage', 'organic', 'native', etc. Fed up of the drama these institutions throw each day, I decided to use my common sense.

A visit to the local grocery shop gets me all cereals, pulses, spices and oilseeds. From the vegetable market, I get some planting material and some seeds. The local seed shop gives me the rest of vegetable seeds. Fruits come from nursery saplings. That's it, nothing fancy needed. I did order fancy seeds from all possible online sources but only few were of any use. If one is determined to grow one's own food, nothing can stop them.

Since all my seeds were of unknown origin, I diligently worked to naturalise them over years. These bottles carry all those samples. Once my wallet is loaded, they would be analysed for their DNA and gene expression. Till then they are like my babies, each bottle and each seed needs to be taken care of, ensuring they are safe and happy.

While documenting each seed container, I realised it also documented the wide variety of containers I foraged over years. Apart from this stack, there's another part of the seed collection which is in a different format and place. All these are for the long term experimental studies that I undertook many years back. Now I eagerly look up to the day when the results are analysed and experiential learnings gained!

Aanushrav

17/12/2024

17/12/2024

17/12/2024

28/09/2024

18/09/2024

18/09/2024

30/08/2024

22/05/2024

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