Impelled by a desire to research an uncommon topic and a technique off the beaten track, Erroll's first encounter with the camel belt marked a moment of epiphany. A mix of ensuing fascination and restlessness led him to journey out to Jaisalmer Rajasthan, where supposedly camel belts were still being crafted. However, the search for a camel belt maker was certainly not a simple straightforward quest. The wrong pair of shoes for the desert, language barriers, elusiveness of the locals, the never-ending search for the right door are part of the universal tragicomedy experience one resigns to when treading on non-native land. But persistence and fortuitousness finally led to the first teacher, then eventually to Ishwar Singh Bhatti who became a key figure in Erroll's apprenticeship and lifeship.

A typical day would start out in the morning where he would accompany his teacher to feed the animals. Then, he would have a class with him, observing him, photographing him. Ishwarbhai would then leave for his job at the collector's office; Erroll would go into the town; they would then meet during lunch to attend to camel belt weaving. In the afternoon, Ishwarbhai would go back to the office, and they would reunite in the evening to continue their weaving.

This daily ritual created a bond between them and affirmed the pupil's earnestness to learn the craft. "Most people's approach to crafts is to come around, take a picture, then leave. Even people in the town were wondering who is this guy who comes, then disappears, then comes and disappears again. And what's the relationship between these two people?"

Within a circle of craftsmen, acceptance of a stranger, especially from the city, does not happen overnight. Only after many years of observing the work he was doing with his master, had acceptance finally arrived. "They always used to make fun of me. 'What will this guy learn? He doesn't even use a hook, he uses his nails...' I was in the midst of all their jokes. I even had to smoke their beedies which were strong enough to kill a horse. But that was the journey."

"How long have camel belts existed?" Ishwarbhai's elder brother Pirdan Singh just smiled and replied to him, "Since mankind started to work with camels."

The goat hair camel belt stretches with the movement of the animal and does not cut into its skin, whereas the canvas and leather used in modern productions has less flexibility.

All the patterning know-how is in the head. "No sketches or drawings, no planning on paper. It's just incredible how a craftsperson operates."

Traditionally, a master craftsman could take anywhere from 3 months to 1.5 years to make a good goat hair belt that would outlast him. There was no sense of hurry. However, this art of belt making is vanishing in Jaisalmer due to growing urbanization, which reduces nomadic life, and the onset of speedier production of canvas or leather-made versions. Who wants to make something that takes so long?

"Young students these days have too many choices and seek instant results without the patience to go through the hard work. I used to start classes at 7:30 in morning. In the beginning there woud be 20 students, then 15, by the end there would be almost none. They were too fascinated with the finished product without realizing all that goes into getting there."

Hard work, intensive research, and patience led him to a form of enlightenment one fine night. During one of his 14-hour late nights, the camel belt "revealed itself" to him, unveiling all the most complex structures in the world of textiles which his mind's eye was able to replicate. This can be compared to a form meditation, an entering into the zone, the flow, a state with which artists and craftspersons are so familiar. The one-track focus unclutters the mind and spirit to make space for things that one could not have realized before. "For craftspeople, that's what life is all about. We have to undrain and unlearn ourselves from our previous mindset in particular training in order to get into the frame of mind of a craftsperson."