THE GLOBAL PATEL CLAN

The value of networking was so clearly demonstrated - here was a clan who had globalised their family and in this way their business interests.  Where 'Body Shop', McDonald's, Kalvin Klein, etc. have a globalised commodity, the Patels had done the same with their family, which is continually diversifying and adapting to change.

I was struck by her interesting story of the resilience of a family.  It reminded me of a line from J.R.R. Tolkien's poem, from 'Lord of the Rings' ....."not all those who wander, are lost"

"I was born in Kampala, Uganda' she told me...."but because of the troubles there at that time, Idi Amin was in power, we left and came back to India, when I was very little.  We settled here, my mother, six sisters, two brothers and I.  My father secretly remained behind in Uganda and went into hiding, keeping the business going.  I was educated here in India and met my husband here.  He worked in the family business, but when they decided to open a new venture in America, about 30 years ago, we set off for Los Angeles. We settled down there and now 180 of our family are based in California.  My husband worked hard to make the business a success.   But we always returned to India once a year on holiday.  Years before, we had bought a farm, when we were just married - land was very cheap then and we planted flowering trees there every year.  It was a way of de-stressing - we'd go out early in the morning - there was a rustic cottage on the farm and we'd make tea.  Now it's a haven of tranquility.

When we return to the U.S., it's like changing gear, instead of the servants and the slow pace of life that we have here in India, I do everything myself at high speed.  Even though I come from a big family, we have only two daughters, who are studying there - they will marry in the U.S. and settle down" 

Despite changes of continent and hemisphere, the essential elements of this globalised Patel community were unchanging, first and foremost their loyalty to the family and their close contact with each other through family marriages and other celebrations and then their emphasis on entrepreneurship and hard work.   They now span Africa, India, Europe and the USA - a cat's cradle of relationships, a network, for younger members of the clan to use, in establishing themselves.

'But what happened to your father ?'  I asked....."He remained in Africa, he loved it so much - he wished to be buried in Uganda.  Now one of my brothers continues the family interests there" !

KITES

Happy Sankranti - always falls on the 14th January - one of the few festivals which is always on the same day.  It marks the sun's ascendency into the Northern Hemisphere and is highly auspicious for Hindus.

She smiled as she described what they would be doing on Friday 14th:  '

"We'll get up late, seeing it's a holiday...eat breakfast...then we'll prepare our kites and go up on the terrace to fly them - all those lovely colours.  I'll wear gloves because the powdered glass in the strings cuts your hands - there'll be music, we'll dance, there'll be firecrackers and we'll eat special sweets made from groundnuts and jaggery - we only ever eat these sweets at this time of year".  With that she produced a jagged piece of candy from her bag for me to taste....she exuded pleasure and the joy of anticipation.

OP Road was lined with people selling kites of every colour, so delicate and gay....the balls of string were sold separately.

I watched as the kites flew overhead - effortlessly floating in the air currents, yellow, white, brilliant purple - they flew so high, attached as they were to an enormous ball of brilliant pink string - a child was desperately trying to get his kite up in the air, his forefinger already bound with plaster from grasping the lethal string too tightly....his parents had  elevated theirs and were gently tugging on the strings, the kites so high up, they appeared as little fragile wisps of coloured paper against the fading blue of the late afternoon sky - everyone gazing upwards craning to watch their progress......

JUXTAPOSITION !

A melodious little jingle rang out - the cycle was complete!  It had taken just 28 minutes.  The Samsung Diamond Drum, Fully Automatic, Washing Machine with Silver Nano Technology is a wonderfully compact top load machine, about 3 ft tall, waist height for convenience and offers different water level options, air turbo choices, odour removal and sanitisation, wash, rinse and spin.

Outside,  in a concrete space, about 5 ft square, you could hear the dull thud of the wooden paddle, rather like a cricket bat, as wet clothes were rhythmically beaten, 'bam, bam, bam', a cake of soap applied, scrubbed with a scrubber,  a handful of water thrown over,  folded,  beaten again,  dunked,  held up for examination,  beaten again,  soaped,  rubbed,  rinsed and thrown aside for the next item - the whole operation about 28 minutes !

CULTURE

"Bham" !!   The sound ricocheted around the enormous aircraft hangar type space - it was huge, 45m x 45m, the dingy walls were dotted with iron reinforcing bars - this was a studio used by film makers, but now it had been turned into a makeshift gallery for an exhibition by an artist who had left India at the beginning of his career and become famous in the West.  This was his first major exhibition back in his country of origin. 

"They're getting ready to fire the canon again",  she said...  I went over to watch.  The canon was aimed at the confluence of two walls, which were already heavily layered with huge, solid clay coloured wax pellets and their detritus.  A large clod was loaded into the canon and with a terrific retort it darted, like a missile, towards the wall, landing with a splatter of dark red, against the white background.  It's fired every 15 minutes, so this picture-making changes and evolves through time.  It reminded me strongly of the paan spitting, which is so much a part of Indian culture.  Paan, a mixture of betel leaf and areca nut is chewed as a digestive, this produces a reddish spit which they aim at walls, anywhere and everywhere - the stair wells of even the smartest office blocks,  are stained with red spit in a variety of patterns and auto rickshaw drivers can project a ball of spit, several feet, from the side of their mouths,  as they drive along.

The other exhibits were variations of large spherical stainless steel discs, presenting a mirror-like surface which created patterns of reflection and distortion - under the large spotlights.  It was reminiscent of the decoration of rural bhungas, the traditional round houses, in the remote district of Kutch in Western Gujarat.  Mirrors are used in their interior and exterior decoration, to catch the light and please the eye.   But here,  the exhibits were shown in a different context, to be admired as high art, in this artificial setting.