New Delhi, Sept. 4 -- The water is no longer the same in Ajrakhpur, rues Khalid Amin Khatri. It's a lament you'd hear anywhere in the country due to dropping groundwater levels and rising salinity, but for this third-generation ajrakh practitioner from Kutch, it's a matter of livelihood. Known for its vivid colours and precise symmetry, ajrakh follows a lengthy process of washing and open-drying, and is heavily dependent on the mineral content of the water. "Nadiyan tho rahi nahi (there are no rivers now), so we have had to depend on water from borewells, which is high in iron content and salinity. This blackens the natural colours," he says.

The intense rains that follow extreme temperatures have lengthened the entire process by many we...