Meditations on the Handloom: Visiting Garobasti
21st June, 2018
Suhsila Sangma is a resident of Garobasti, Sonitpur district, Assam. A Balipara based NGO Mahila Shakti Kendra(MASK) has promoted and nurtured self help groups that have vitalised the village. We were curious to learn about their handlooms and the cloth they weaved, and we were fortunate to have Sushila as our guide.
Handlooms are very relevant. The handloom industry has a pan-India presence and as per Ministry of Textiles’, 2017-18 Annual Report it employed 43 lakh people, contributing to nearly 15% of the country’s cloth production. Majority of the looms in the North East are engaged in domestic production and as per 2009-10 data majority of the weavers in the North East were female. The Central Government is in the process of setting up 195 Handloom Clusters in the North East with a financial outlay of 98.7 crores. Sualkuchi, in Kamrup District, is already renowned for its Muga Silk Sarees produced at its Handloom Cluster. Innovations that increased productivity and improved quality developed here to meet growing demand. Deepak Bharali from Sualkuchi has been recognised and interviewed many times for his contributions. Setting up handloom clusters is an attempt to bring the skill out of the domestic sphere into the commercial.
Our guide took us to Pinky Sangma’s house, who is considered to be a particularly skilled weaver. It was interesting to learn and hear about the natural methods the Garo community employed to obtain thread and dyes. Eri Silk, the product of the domesticated silkworm, is cultivated and its protein rich pupae is a delicacy. Thread is spun on a spinning device locally known as Takuri and dyed using a concoction of crushed leaves, alum and boiling water. Cloth produced on their handlooms is versatile being used to make wrap around skirts - known locally as Dakmanda, shawls as well as cushion covers.
It made us immensely happy to hear the pride with which members of the Garo community attached with their handiwork. What we refer to as "products" are items essential to the dignified existence of the community. It is no doubt an illustration of the wonderful relationship they share with their environment. Our conversation often involved references to the medicinal uses of the plant as well as the utility of bamboo in making sieves as well as furniture. Each community has its own distinctive style. Despite the many responsibilities women had - maintaining the house, cooking meals, gathering vegetables, ensuring the children went to school- some of them still took out time to weave. Being Christians the Garo community weaved their best cloth to celebrate Christmas.
In Garobasti, handloom weaving is a domestic activity. Not all houses keep handlooms nowadays, or more precisely not all houses required a handloom. Competition from machine made cloth in the market has played the biggest role in dampening weaving activity in the village. Sushila illustrated this with the example of a simple men's wrap-around that costs them 150Rs. to produce but similar machine made cloth is available for not more than 90Rs. Their hand woven dakmanda and shawls would have to retail at much higher prices to sustain a village industry - 1200Rs. and 3000Rs. respectively, and this makes it difficult to get buyers.
Where is the market that would appreciate the significance as well as the quality of their product? What kind of setup would ensure that the women weaving would receive the largest share of the profits, hence vitalising the industry? Having access to capital is empowering and ensuring that women received their well deserved earnings is an important step.
We truly have much to learn from the members of the many hard working and intelligent communities in India. NGOs as well as central organisations like the Handloom Export Promotion Council(HEPC) will have to work in sync to lead grassroot transformation. The sooner they are connected with the right markets the greater the chances that they will proudly retain their identity as India enters the future.
About Author: I’m Sachin Bhatia. With interests in the intersection of History, Environmental Science and Computer Science, I finds that this leaves me with a lot to think. Ensuring that every human being can lead a life of dignity should be humanity’s aim. Currently interning with Balipara Foundation.
Photographs by Rithvik Upadhya — Instagram.
