Saturday, May 7, 2011

A Deliberate Blemish



This is the kilim we bought in Istanbul last year, which is now finally on view in my sitting room.

Kilim, a word of Turkish origin, denotes a pileless textile of many uses produced by one of several flatweaving techniques that have a common or closely related heritage and are practiced in the geographical area that includes parts of Turkey (Anatolia and Thrace), North Africa, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia and China.
(Source-http://www.kilim.com)

We went kilim shopping in Istanbul with a Turkish colleague of the SRE.
After a glass of delicious home made lime juice served by the shopkeeper, and the painful business of choosing one kilim that both of us liked, we decided that this was the one.
Which is when we noticed the small dark blue section in the corner, an obvious defect. We were about to reject the kilim because of this, when the shopkeeper told us that this was a deliberate blemish.
I thought that it was probably a nazar-battoo, against the evil eye. (Turkey is full of these amulets, called nazar. So is Egypt!)
The kilim, however, was not woven with its own nazar, though.
The deliberate blemish was a humbling reminder that only Allah is perfect, His creatures cannot create perfection!

10 comments:

D said...

:) :)

dipali said...

@D: It was a totally different perspective!!

The Bride said...

Interesting... I think I read someething like this in My Name is Red, which is by Nobel-award-winning Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. A book I have yet to finish despite many tries!

dipali said...

@The Bride: This might be a particularly Turkish way of looking at things, then!
I struggled through My Name Is Red, but without much engagement or pleasure:(

R's Mom said...

Beautiful na

@The Bride: I struggled reading it..and I did finish, but most of it went above my head :(

Sands said...

How fascinating!!

Nat said...

Its like saying "with your permission sire"!

dipali said...

@Sands: That it is!
@Nat: Yes, keeping Him in mind at all times. An interesting thought!

the mad momma said...

Oh Thank God. I thought I was the only one who struggled and gave up on My Name is Red. Love the thought behind the blemish.

dipali said...

@The Mad Momma: There are many of us!
yes, it is an interesting thought:)