Anjana Vaswani visited a quaint store at Fort that houses birds on strings, stylish tunics, and tuber roses, all made from paper manufactured at a historic mill that holds stories of Mughal emperor Jehangir and the eccentric Aurangzeb
Anjana Vaswani visited a quaint store at Fort that houses birds on strings, stylish tunics, and tuber roses, all made from paper manufactured at a historic mill that holds stories of Mughal emperor Jehangir and the eccentric Aurangzeb
Bombay paperie, a quaint hand-made paper store in an inconspicuous building that stands from across the Bombay Stock Exchange houses a story of revival, littered with secret trivia dating back to the Mughal empire.
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Emperor Jehangir, son of Akbar and Rajput princess Jodhabai, was a patron of the arts. That's the known bit.
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What's lesser known is that the paper that was used to create paintings the Mughal Emperor so cherished, some of which are proudly displayed at London's British Museum, was manufactured at the ancient mill in Daulatabad that the Bombay Paperie acquired in 2000.
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Daulatabad was known to produce the thinnest but sturdiest paper in all of India.
Reviving historic paper mill
"It took us about two years to clean up the Daulatabad mill," proprietor Neeta Premchand says, glad to have been able to offer an opportunity to two master-craftsmen there, both in their eighties, to pass on the ancient technique of the Kagzis (paper-makers) to their descendants.
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But for Neeta, who studied the craft of paper-making in Japan, the revival of the mill also opened the door to the possibility of figuring out how to accurately identify handmade Indian paper.
"Paper that's manufactured in the Western world has a watermark, Indian paper doesn't," she points out, explaining why the process of dating is virtually impossible.
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"The Kagzis could do it, though... just by touching a paper they'd know how old it was. We have forgotten how to see with our hands."
It'll break, said Aurangzeb
Known for his ruthlessness, Emperor Aurangzeb, once doubted the veracity of the Kagzis' claim. Neeta clasps her hands together as she narrates the legend.
"The Emperor challenged the paper-makers to make him a swing out of their product one that would hold his weight."
Asking us to imagine the artisans' trepidation, she says the paper swing was put to the test by the Emperor himself.
Allowing the suspense to build up momentarily, she finally announces, "It took his weight alright."
And now, it's this very variety of strong but ultrathin paper that the Daulatabad mill is once again engaged in the manufacture of.
How to know your paper
Highlighting the difference in their production techniques and therefore in prices, Neeta urges customers to recognise the difference between hand-lifted and handmade paper.
"We prepare the pulp for a week at a time, so the shade of paper we get today is darker than what we get tomorrow from the same pulp. Also, residue on the vats leads to different tints."
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Drawing attention to the gorgeous deckle edge of the hand-printed sheets and to the shadow lines of the grass on each sheet, she says while versions of what appears to be handmade paper is mass-produced and almost 2,000 sheets per day may be turned out at plants, artisans using the ancient technique and working flat out over two days at the Daulatabad mill, would turn out only about 500 sheets, "...with a 50% rejection rate," she adds.
AT: 59, Bombay Samachar Marg.
Call: 66358171 / 6635 8172. From 10.30 am to 6 pm, Mondays to Saturdays.
Workshops To Attend: Bombay Paperie offers various workshops for children (Rs 100 per child) on hobby crafts, Origami and gift-wrapping, and specially designed sessions for adults as well. This paper swan was made at one such workshop.
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