CrazyFeet Travels

06/12/2022

The MEGHWAL PATTU now LIVE on Craftpotli here https://www.craftpotli.com/category/402492/meghwal-pattu

10/07/2022

Check Pluc TV for our adventures in ArunachaL Pradesh with Mahindra Adventure & Arunachal Tourism

Meet Kavya Saxena a rural content creator who brings focus to rural India, its cultural heritage and craft landscape!

Catch her on the latest episode of on pluc.tv

05/06/2022

05/06/2022

20/01/2022

This happening today with WICCI Rural Tourism Council

19/10/2021

Just a little post to say to myself that it shall be good. Since I have started creating content in rural space . Realising how new it is and how much potential it has.

To support and continue travelling as the main objective hopefully stays a travelling project with me . Do hop there to support my dream to map rural India extensively .

It’s such a tough ride to maintain finances , plan travel , make sense around crafts and culture but every single day is a learning .
And that’s what makes all the difference .

02/10/2021

Knock knock

We are ONE YEAR OLD TODAY.

It's so beautiful that I'm on road to celebrate it albeit with patchy network. 

What a tremendous year it has been. I have never travelled my entire lifetime enough as I did from 2nd Oct'20 to 2nd Oct'21 .

Literally every single day except a month when I moved my base. It's feels surreal. Putting my top 5 learnings as we continue this eternal :

1. Rural Indian travel requires hell lot of determination.once that is set rural travel is easiest.

2. Once can take grassroots travel anytime , there are millions of villages in India one just 20km outside of city limit and every village makes something for their needs. 

3. I'm a rural content creator .it took me long to accept this and I realised that there is constant need to showcase crafts / villages from just a creators perspective.

4. While i travel primarily for crafts , I ain't a directory for contacts . I spend my own money to travel deep and every contact thus is proportional to sums I spend and just dont wish to circulate them. I have made a 2 part post on " how to travel for crafts"

5. One needs to accept that growth and following is extreme slow in this niche segment of travel .so are opportunities you don't get that many collabs cos still many travellers don't wish to travel to villages. So I need to figure this aspect soon. 

and Shakti has changed my life forever.i hope the quest keep bringing to my lives and yours too.keep supporting.

17/09/2021

How do I travel for Crafts - Part II
….continued from last post

1.Once basic area & generic crafts identified, next google work is research papers on that craft of that area . Scribd is a great source. State/ National awardee list also helps so i just use keywords. Combination of these two in 80 % cases lead to subdistrict/ nearest town or even name & phone no of artisan. (this part takes most time)

2.The next is to map my time vs my base. Example, if my base is Rajkot & craft is 100 km is away then i have to chart out days needed. Sometimes villages are not mapped on google . I also use paper-drawn maps by Indian Map Service, Jodhpur.

3.By this juncture im aware of craft/area & sometimes even artisan , if not then thanks to travel & Instagram community i get leads of local people. Overtime the hesitation is gone, i have walked with forest officers, sometimes truck drivers, Anganwadi workers, village heads etc. Sometimes i have waited at chai shops for hours , sometimes slept lived in open air. Its the most satisfying experience.

BOTTOMLINE if you have to travel for crafts sans college projects, established clusters then you have to be one with them. That’s why reaching artisan is considered elusive whereas it’s not.

I always have buffer time, crafts are organic by nature, sometimes rain heat/ cold, a birth/ death anything & everything can affect the daily routine of artisan.

4. I cannot absolutely deny that you need some means of transport when you travel rural India. Artisans live outside cities mostly in deep corners of villages . I have been so glad to have a lasting bond with .

Rural tourism in India slowly picking pace but rely on your bike / car or some means that’s exclusive.

Above has been my way of travel even before began. if you really wish to start rural travel, begin with villages around your own city./ town.

There are no do’s and dont’s for rural traveling. The communities are so warm that cant recall any odd incident.
With that note, hoping we bring more narrations to handmade India beyond beautiful products.

15/09/2021

HOW DO I TRAVEL FOR CRAFTS - Part 1

I’ll break this into relatable examples , if you have to travel to Ladakh , you read various blogs, browse videos , read about mountain sickness , pack meds accordingly. If you have to trek, to read mire extensively find your level of difficulty if trek, gears needed , get in touch with tight trek Group or locals and so on.

Similarly when you “travel” for crafts there is some back work involved . ( when I write this I wish to break a myth, a lot of people feel I sell these crafts. No; one can also travel for crafts only , for stories ; that’s when I had to specifically put RURAL in my bio.)

Unfortunate part, not many doing this hence there is negligible info on net by individuals/ people around popular crafts / clusters/ government promoted festivals and fairs . Nothing at grassroots even if employ second largest manpower in country.

I travel in rural India to bring raw stories via crafts complete unaided, without support of brands / bodies/ fams/ clusters. .
Before we even understand how I break this , let’s clear a few things , let’s say you travel to a established craft cluster like Ajrakhpur in , in my opinion I don’t consider that as travel to crafts neither do I consider visiting a NGO as craft travel. Yes it’s important to understand to contemporary take to crafts or seeing volumes but unless we understand grassroots artisan it’s literally impossible to associate contemporary form of craft or narration. For instance I see so many creators saying “Ajrakh saree” or “Jaipur print dress” there is nothing like that ; it can be Ajrakh print or Sanganer / Bagru or simply Block print in above case.

So let’s break it , let’s say I have to visit a state or city let’s say Chote Udepur district in Gujarat ;

1. I start by reading basic internet articles that gives me an overall idea of region and even crafts but they will never ever give you idea of villages. There are 145 villages for instance in this district.

Part 2 continued

travelgram

13/09/2021

featured in The Hindu

Kavya Saxena is on the road to map Indian villages with their native craft

07/09/2021

It was two days back while I was driving around with Shakti so I hen I got some time finally now thought of penning here .

As I grew up the notion of teachers kept changing for me . Few of my juniors who reported while I was hustling in corporate job became my teacher, two of my colleagues in IOC are literally my mentors and my spinal cord are my biggest teachers .

But then can a nonliving be a teacher. All those who make a living out of travel may relate to this .

ROADS became my biggest teacher . From a girl who took comfortable weekend road trips and spurlged to this girl who has turned her entire life to stay on roads for considerable time. It’s been immense learning. Roads have made me resilent , given me lot of time to introspect , make hard choices , made me meet all the amazing people I ever could and continues to challenge me every day. This ROAD teacher keeps telling me now that you can’t be static as you have left city life. You are meant to move and learn.

At the end bas yehi kahoongi, find a teacher can be your pet , your bestie, your neighbour just anyone who challenges you to push yourself everyday.

Tag if you have such teacher on Instagram.

PS : After lot of thoughts and a poll I took some months back I have decided to take two sets on workshops one on rural travel and possibilities that covers all the aspects of raw travel and second around pitching. Cos both have been mainstay for a while . It will not just help disburse my thoughts meaningfully but also support me financially . What’s your thought ?

03/09/2021

FELT NOSTALGIC , might delete later.

Dilli, जो भी कहूँ तुमसे धूप छाओं वाला रिश्ता है , दूर होकर भी पास हो और पास थी तो दूर दूर लगती थी। तो आज इस मेट्रो के दरवाज़ों से, स्टेशन से तुम्हें दोबारा जी लिया !!
DelhiTourism Delhi Metal Corporation

25/08/2021

In the last three posts I have been giving a peek into myself , how my work and personal front progressed and currently made me land up in Odisha.

It's a mid week as i post this and a lot of accounts on gram would say follow your passion, do what you love and the universe will find a way to it . Even though I say same things, in fact i'm attached to grassroots rural work only for passion. So all that leap of faith , taking risks makes sense.

But i just want to say that NEVER LEAVE YOUR CORE, stay close to it.

For instance in my case its my degree and years of experience in Human Resources so in my initial days of setting up work or anything from scratch in Odisha or anywhere, I still have bills to pay cos i aint sharing space with anyone and my parents either .

And in this initial struggle its my core that saves sometimes from anxiety. So I can pitch trainings, take up HR consultation and so on. So a leap of faith is good even in the Pacific Ocean just that we dont straight dive into an anonymous depth and rather start from 18m risk !

So whether you wanna be a photographer, birder, a designer leaving your mainstream and following your passion, my only little tip would be to hold close and stay networked with your core whether it's your Engineering Degree, a media experience or just anything.

Comment if you agree or have alternate thoughts on this ?
Tell me if you have any time to think about a safety mechanism.

Also inset Potraits from Odisha’s rural haats, this one is from a hyperlocal weekly haat at Bargarh but how effortlessly women carry their hand woven Ikats / Pasapally patterns .

19/08/2021

Heyyyy Everyone,

Been about a fortnight I have made Odisha as my base and thought it would be a great idea to reintroduce myself for everyone who has started following me recently cos’ i need you more than ever …

Im Kavya, 35 years single woman currently living in Odisha. A state completely new for me in terms of domicile, language , food , purely out of love.

For a lot of people mountains are alluring for others its oceans. I have an eternal love affair with deserts. I was born in Rajasthan in a huge family where my father had 10 brothers and sisters and a grandad who has to his credit umpteen books. My father pursued a strong career till last year and is the one who gives me direction and mom who always stayed housewife but the most creative hardworking poetess i have seen. My home is now Jaipur, Rajasthan. My sister lives in Bangalore comes from Psychology background and we have a little munchkin in family.

It was Rajasthan where I grew ; in a girls convent Sophia till we moved to Delhi in Xth. My life changed thereafter, schooling in Delhi meant chasing targets , from being best debater to getting grades , I wanted to show small town girls can be good too !

Delhi University then made me creative. We had an extremely vibrant street theatre group Anant & all we did was street theatre for the next 3 years; just about everywhere in Delhi, from nukkads, to red light areas to IIT grounds to festivals. It made me realise that chasing % won't help.
I got through Loyola Chennai, which was another end of India for MBA and got exposed to most crazy times of my life in South India (from food to travels to friends to projects).

I became an apple of eyes for family when I got a plum almost highest paid campus job from IndianOil & the next 10 years was a ride. I'll forever be grateful from systematic paperwork, to working and creating systems, from getting regular transfers to different parts to respecting hierarchies.

But is life that simple & good ? Maybe not, life had lots of ripples in store for me…

(Part 2 Contd…)
Post inspired from beautiful inside out

15/08/2021

आज़ादी !

क्या है यह सोच ही तो है ,
सोच ही तो थी की किसी और के हाथों देश नहीं चलेगा ७५ साल पहले !
और आज भी मेरी आज़ादी तुमसे अलग है, शायद हमारे बुजुर्गों की हमसे बहुत अलग …

So while , so much always is happening in the country which is full of rights and wrongs , I’m still grateful to be able to live freely and process thoughts and take actions( which is a privilege considering world scenario) and to be able to listen and experience stories from remotest corners of this country .

Ok कहा था तुम्हारी आज़ादी अलग है !
तो आज तुम्हें और मुझे हमारी वाली आज़ादी की बधाई !

14/08/2021

I get few DMs everyday on things I’m pursuing and never a troll.

Recently someone sent me a beautiful message on how she dreamt of staying in rural village and how she is able to live vicariously through me . ITS A BIG DEAL FOR ME .

I look back at life, and realise that at one point I had my guards too ( money / home / designation/ log kya sochte hain). But I love this life now , I love being closer to villages, I’m yet to begin work post but it has my heart . And since LOVE is the most difficult thing to maintain , this is tough too and needs to be taken care.

And the challenges involve physical , mental , emotional but it has made me overtime realise my priorities . My love to make a living out of rural India has made me lose relationships , gain some, lose a highly ambitious career, gain slow living, lose beautiful homes, appreciate modest roof. I have learnt to appreciate everything

And to few of those DMs who want to take a little step I just wanna say that we have our own share of scared thoughts. We get too comfortable in things we don’t LOVE bcos those shutters make a happy place .

Expose yourself , put yourself out there . Trust me it hardens your mind , body and heart . did that for me . And believe me you will get that message from someone that hey I wish to live such life of what I really wish to do . So Just go get out there and struggle a bit howsoever hard it is !

Mere liye bhi bahut tough hai as if running a tough full time relationship ! Accha today going LIVE at 7 PM let’s hope there is current !

11/08/2021

On 5th August’21 , I landed at Odisha. It is a major major milestone completely driven by heart.

For years i had imagined to be in village albeit this aint one but an active step to that.
The timeline has been very exciting, 12 years of corporate life, 8 months on the road with from Oct’20 to Jun’21 and then a complete different state , a new life from scratch.

What will i do here, how will i manage finances, why only Odisha , What are the challenges there are just so many things i wish to share and much more that you have wished to know.

I realized that its not just me but a couple of crazy passionate people like me who have relocated far and wide to find their ikigai. And I wanted to bring these conversations ahead.

UGOKU -is a japanese word to relocate , keeping the spirit , here Im introducing a series of IG LIVE UGOO ( उगो यानी grow karna) to bring you close to lives of people like me who have relocated for peace and actualization watever you may call .

We shall meet on saturday starting this 14th August, 7 PM for free flowing chats, questions and loads of smiles.

Join me this Friday 7 PM as i kick off the series with my own story of relocation, and life ahead .

21/07/2021

I NEED CLOTHES !

It came upon me today in the shower !
Continuous journey of 8 months on road has led to my clothes being all over and in all sorts of forms .
But I do I really need to buy them. A considerable chunk of us voice slow living , responsible business , conscious fashion and expect brands to do that .
While on average 60 % of clothes globally are rejected right in their first year of buying . That sale top you bought and never found a reason, a pyjama that’s too casual, a saree you laid eyes but don’t have time to stitch the blouse.

Let’s start circular fashion right here cos I NEED YOU.

1. If you have preloved clothes that you hardly wear but in good condition ( mainly sarees/ bottoms/ comfy dresses ) I’m looking for you.

2. If your are small brand that have samples to spare instead of of just stocking them , I’m looking for you .

3. If you can connect me to individuals you know may have such stuff and would love to share my thoughts. Im looking for you .

I did not plan this preloved cloth adoption but now I feel why did I not do it cos’ we all need clothes just that we don’t need a lot of them , and all of them ; so REDUCE , REUSE, RECYCLE cos I’m looking TO WEAR THEM !

14/07/2021

The last fortnight had been nothing short of magical. Rajasthan opens up as much you open up to it . While popular circuit restricts it to Jaipur/ Jodhpur / Jaiselmer.

of mini covered western Rajasthan . The state has been intriguing from desert nomads to a destination for craft and heritage lovers.
I used this trip to locate artisans for few crafts that were once widely made in villages but now need more push.

For one I travelled in massive heat 100 km off Bikaner only to realise that I have to further travel inside dunes for 70km in seeding 48 degree sun above my head to actually see the craft in action.

For another discovered a young artisan in Bikaner taking forward an art which was once restricted to a certain community and clan.

The narrow lanes of Phalodi that make heavy Muddas that involve layers of leather embroidered by hand. A craft that fast getting replaced by plastics / rubber footwear.

Topped with all this unique Rajasthani fare, ber, kankri, spice shopping in interiors of Jodhpur , discovering ancient patterns of textiles that are now worn in synergetic patterns by rural women.

Also attaching suggested readings that I have sworn by over years.

So comment below if you need to know what to see in Rajasthan if you were me and what did I buy from these places

05/07/2021

Photo Dump Day 1 Desert Edition

Cover Pic : Gopaldas Ji carefully making extremely hard mudda jootis for me now used by only grameen women.
Pic 2 Kote Gate on a busy Monday
Pic 3 A gerua Wall motif done usually for weddings / ceremonies , somewhere in ramgarh, Shekhawati.
Pic 4: Kachri being sold on NH11 by simply foraging from wild cacti.
Pic 5 Cow dung cakes “Gobar Kande” hung inside Janakis home who is third generation daughter of a sunaar (silversmith)
Pic 6 An old non named home in Saraf Bazar of Bikaner juxtaposed with cement outings around
Pic 7 Market scenes Kote Gate
Pic 8 Sev tamatar Sabji and Daal somewhere in Sri Dungargarh

clicks

03/07/2021

On the cover of “ Century of Tales from North East” , a compilation of tales and stories by Amazing NamastE supported by Incredible India and Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.

Kindly join the fanfare tomorrow.
On the Amazing NamastE and Incredible India pages.

22/06/2021

When I first got up close and personal with Cuttack filigree technique in India , it was understood that it originated 500 years ago and primarily to make deities for offerings , donations , gifts . Eventually it transcended to make jewellery , small gift items and still considered a revered art form.

While going through a digital museum class these two pieces took me by surprrise by Turkey Museum where the description read that such silver work footwear used to travel from Asian coastline to turkey via sea routes. While It doesn’t mention India, the motifs highly resemble the work done in Odisha India. And it’s extremely interesting to see this twist that probably in past this art was also used as a lifestyle option than just revered gift items and what’s ordinarily mentioned in literature around its history.

Watever it is , silver filigree work is dying a fast death in India due to lack of demand and extremely high craftsmanship involved. A snippet here https://bit.ly/3zJkzXv

02/06/2021

Late night post that is making me think about all the amazing food I have savoured during entire .

There is just like a whole pitara of stories around foraging , utensils and finally the process of eating it over fireplaces or streets.

Do you think I run few posts on this . Comment a yes or no or just something nice to me .

25/05/2021

10 QUESTIONS YOU MUST ASK IF YOU LOVE HANDMADE .

Ok I spent 210 days continuously on road to document crafts..

Ok I could manage to stay , eat, observe artisans day in day out in corners of India.

Ok ,I could grasp the unique handmade ecosystem at grassroots.

But it will take me not 210 but maybe 21 years or more to tell you critical issues that are hardly spoken about handmade, till then every-time you say you love handmade do ask this :

1. Do you really understand difference between karigar and kalakaar. Who is getting benefitted by your purchase ?
2. Do you think JUST BUYING handmade is extending support ?
3.How we preserve oral craft practices?
4. How do we prevent brain drain in craft economy ?
5. How we account for female ghost working in craft sector ?
6. How do you put value to a handmade item ?
7. Can crafts have transparent pricing ?
8. Why majority of craft sector still in hands of aggregators ( brands/ entities ) but not directly with artisan and consumer .
9. Who decides patterns/ motifs . If they are predefined , can we ask for narratives.
10. What about crafts that ain’t made for selling , shouldn’t we talk about them too ?

These questions are a work in a progress everyday ; just every time someone shows love to handmade.

22/05/2021

Feels surreal to be back to my parents home after 7 months maybe long maybe more than 1.5 year. I mean I spent 1st lockdown alone in my Gurgaon flat and straight moved to completing my since October ‘21. Met them briefly for 2 days for a family event and now feel like coming of an age.

I may be slammed for this but I don’t feel home. I m used to having my own space since 2009 till SEP’20 . Overtime I accrued an entire household I call “my home”.

Probably I long for that or maybe not maybe I just long to be on the road , I don’t wish that elaborate space and belongings anymore.

3 things that have been taking my attention meanwhile...

1. We together collected a whopping 62700 INR in just two days with souvenirs I once thought I’ll decorate my home with. I couldn’t believe people trusted the journey and stuff so much. The proceeds go to a government school in Bikaner to fund sanitary needs for young girls.

2. I created a mini guide. now we may rub off taking it as another Instaguide but this one is so close as I have seen artisans and only artisans between the two waves of pandemic so much in detail covering every little district of more than 6 states of India. We may not buy that fancy coffee but if you can pls share / support.

3. My fellow folks at are planning a fund raiser. I have personally seen their journey of growing organic cotton to products . Their weavers are present across Kerala and Tamil Nadu interiors and they need our help. I’m helping them in watever manner it takes to get their stock cleared which in turn also helps these artisans .

Indian crafts and artisans bind us in a fabric that literally defines our cultural and living heritage langugage and they need to preserved and prioritised in this pandemic.

Alright and this girl , let me get down to writing a lot of tasks I wish to accomplish while I’m at my parents home and dreaming to be in rural India soon.

WHATS KEEPING YOU BUSY IN THESE TOUGH TIMES, do leave a comment will give me happiness.