A dye town on the Bhadar
The municipality's own account of Jetpur's industry starts with the river: it says the Bhadar's water makes the town's dyed sarees hold their colour. It also recalls a time when buyers came from Dhoraji, Upleta, Bantva, Kutiyana, Junagadh, Veraval and Porbandar to buy cloth for weddings and festivals, and calls the transport business the main artery of the saree trade.
That chain still decides how a print house messages. A dealer in Porbandar asks about a lot, the house dyes and prints it, a transporter carries it, and the dealer wants the LR number before the bundle arrives. Every step is a message, and only one or two of them are messages the house starts.
Abroad the chain is longer. The municipality names Africa and Bangladesh among the destinations, and the encyclopaedia says Jetpur prints the khanga and kitenge fabrics worn in Africa. A buyer there writes on WhatsApp like a dealer in Junagadh does; the difference is the rate, which follows the buyer's country code.
