Now enrollingWinter 2026–27 Residency · first session 5–7 December 2026
The big pond at Turiyo, ringed by palms and trees, seen from the ghat
The residency

How the 2-day ritual unfolds.

Two nights, one craft. From the first evening’s soaking to the morning you leave with everything you made.

Early starts guided by the morning chill. Handcrafted, warmed by midday light.

Timings

Arrival
Between 12 noon – 4 pm
Meet
At the meeting point by 5 pm, to settle in and soak the dal
Departure
Between 10 am – 2 pm, after breakfast
Meals
Ordered by the group from a fixed menu before arrival. No cooking to do.
Two nights, hour by hour

Day one to day three.

  1. Day one — Arrival

    Settle in, and soak the dal

    You arrive between 12 noon – 4 pm, settle in, and walk the property. Be at the meeting point by 5 pm: that is when the biuli’r dal goes into water to soak overnight. This is the first thing that has to be right and the easiest thing to get wrong.
    Path through the lawns to the big tree on the pond bank
  2. Day two — Morning

    Grind, and build the batter

    Early start, because the cold matters. The soaked dal is ground on sheel-nora, the traditional stone. The batter is built in two stages, whisked until it rises. You learn by hand and by feel — the test is whether a pinch of batter floats.
    Ducks grazing on the lawn under palms and bamboo in morning light
  3. Day two — Midday

    Shaping

    The paste is worked into patterns on cloth, in the open, in the sun. This is the part that looks impossible and then, slowly, does not. The bori are left to dry through the afternoon.
    A young woman pipes Gohona Bori patterns onto a board in a village courtyard while other women work behind her
  4. Day two — Evening

    The village

    The haat, the village market, if it is a Wednesday or a Sunday. Dinner at the Bastu. The group orders its meals from a fixed menu before arriving, so there is no cooking to do.
    Busy village haat with banana sellers under blue tarpaulins
  5. Day three — Departure

    Pack, and take it home

    After breakfast the dried bori are collected and packed. Everything you made goes with you, and every guest also gets a complimentary set of Gohona Bori on top of it. More can be bought, subject to availability. You leave between 10 am – 2 pm.
    Gohona Bori pieces drying on a board
Whispers of the sheel nora

What you inherit.

  1. 01

    Selecting and soaking

    Selecting and soaking biuli’r dal — the local variant grown in Purba Medinipur fields, from the same family as urad dal but prized here for texture and finish.

  2. 02

    Grinding on sheel-nora

    Grinding on sheel-nora, and why the stone gives a texture a blender does not.

  3. 03

    Building the batter

    Building the batter over two stages, and reading when it has risen.

  4. 04

    Seasoning

    Seasoning, including the use of food-grade poppy seed as a base ingredient.

  5. 05

    Hand-shaping

    Hand-shaping the alpana-derived patterns.

  6. 06

    Sun-drying

    Setting out, sun-drying, judging when a batch is done.

Winter is short

Tell us you would like to come.

Sessions are limited and this season runs December 2026 to February 2027. Tell us who you are and when you would like to come.

Apply for a sessionThe craft: Gohona Bori