For Whom the Bell Tolls

In the quiet village of Zura, the rhythmic clang of hammer on metal still echoes through the lanes. Here, in his workshop, Javed Abdullah shapes sheets of iron into the famous Kutch bells, a craft his family has practiced for generations. When we met him for Club Artizen, Javed was almost bemused by the attention. “We have been doing this for many, many generations,” he said with a smile. Along with Zura, only two other nearby villages still make these distinctive bells.