With love from Kasur


A stall in the outer courtyard of Bulleh Shah’s shrine with sacred ritual items like mannat ke karay (ritual wish bracelets) rings and pamplets with Bulleh Shah's poetry. Bulleh Shah practiced the Sufi tradition of Punjabi poetry established by poets like Shah Hussain, Sultan Bahu, and Shah Sharaf. Dawn

Travelers’ View of the Area

One of the first places I came to know after settling down is a village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka near Okara. The unique claim of the village to international fame is the dolls and toys made by village women that are collectors delight all over the world. Dolls made in the village have travelled to International Dolls Museum in Amsterdam and also have been put on display in the "Themepark" at EXPO 2000 in Hannover (Germany) as one of the 767 worldwide projects - an example of thinking for 21st century. Earlier, the dolls participated in International Toy Fair in Nuremberg. These dolls show how culture goes beyond simple work of art and becomes collaboration among applied and natural sciences as well as other forces that affect our lives.

The murals are painted on the parameter mud walls in the village where doll collectors and people interested in sustainable development and rural heritage from different initiative groups come and stay as paying guests. The village folks still consider cooing crows as symbol of the arrival of the guests. Architectural competitions are held annually when best mud house is selected. The Chief Harappan Explorer Dr. Mark Kenoyer had the place on the jury in competition held last July. Two full time German volunteers, Dr Norbert Pintsch and Dr Senta Siller, and village people are working together to change the life and out look in this peaceful hamlet. Whenever I visited the village, I saw something new, something different, which the villagers do to make difference in a place where they belong.

Ramla in Thatta Ghulam Ka Dheroka


The lives of the residents of this village changed 15 years when a German art teacher took up her student Amjad's invite and visited his village: Thatta Ghulam Ka Dheroka.

An enterprising spirit, she asked the villagers about their craft. The women showed her hand-made rag dolls. The art teacher, Dr Senta Siller, told the villagers she could teach them to make refined hand-made dolls.

Appropriate Technology start in the past

Mud House Owners in Rural Areas


TTTC Products

Volunteer Zephanja Arzt is working on a new product at TTTC in TGD. The images show various steps of the product development process.



Ganga Ram Power House


Salman Rashid (Odysseus Lahori) has written about Ganga Ram Power House in Renal Khurd. Guest visiting Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka can stop there and see this visionary project. Read the story here.

Poupées du Monde (French)

Poupées du monde

Les poupées ont toujours existé. La preuve en est qu'elles ont été découvertes dans des fouilles en Amérique du Sud, dans le Sous-continent, au Japon, en Italie, en Grèce, et sur d'autres sites partout dans le monde. Faites de matériaux très divers tels que le bois, la cire, l'argile, le tissu, etc., elles n'étaient pas seulement un jouet mais étaient aussi utilisées comme des symboles religieux et des objets de cultes : par exemple comme des représentations miniatures de personnes.

Encore de nos jours, elles sont utilisées par de nombreuses personnes comme des fétiches. Aujourd'hui, les experts ne sont pas certains de l'usage premier des poupées : un jouet duquel furent développés des objets de cultes ou une figure de culte qui est devenue un jouet.

Dr. Norbert Pintsch Online


Search Dr. Norbert Pintsch and it will show over 3,150 results. They are all pointing to different activities, some time unrelated to each other. One wonders what Dr. Norbert Pintsch is upto. We took a chance to ask him about some aspects of his work and life. Here are excerpts from the interview.

Question: Hello Dr. Norbert Pintsch, you have a very strong presence on the Internet. You are very visible on the Web through your activities in different fields - films, articles, construction projects, interviews, illustrations, exhibitions, sounds, lectures and much more. Internet scouting and some research about you shows a lot on you and your work. As the Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen once wrote regarding a request for an interview, don’t have time, am very busy and can also not give a lecture. May we ask you a few questions?

Thatta Kedona Special Products

Thatta Kedona makes following ethic dolls (boys and girls):
  • Makrani
  • Sindhi
  • Beluchi
  • Punjabi
  • Bride and Groom
  • Kalashi
  • Hunza
  • Balti
  • Kuchi
  • Hazara