The Hindu : New Delhi News : Weavers shown the way to success

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 01, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Weavers shown the way to success

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 31. These are "threads'' of history that are slowly being unwound. While cotton might have put India on the map of the world centuries ago, the competition of the power-looms is slowly wiping out textured cloth woven by hands. And to give the custodians of this past, a little lesson in `dreaming' to weave their magic on the future was textile expert, Jasleen Dhamija, at a Spring Fair held in the Capital this past Tuesday.

Organised by the Development Commissioner (Handlooms), Ministry of Textiles and the Cottage and Small Scale Industries Department of the West Bengal Government, the exhibition brought 22 cooperative societies from Bengal to the city so that they could be exposed to new markets. Sharing with them the `secrets' of the trade from the `hottest' colour in fashion now to tips about the tastes of clients, Ms. Dhamija showed them the way to success.

A fair held annually to find weavers markets beyond just Bengal, this year the sales of their products have been very encouraging. With people queued up even before the fair was to be inaugurated, there was certainly a demand for their product.

"These weavers are our national treasure. But they are captive of the past and have to be shown the way so that they can be successful. When they innovate sometimes, they make mistakes in colour or sometimes use machine-woven zari borders, which then takes away from the originality of the sari. They just need to know how to be able to do it. They need to cater to different tastes in the market. People in Delhi don't want the same saris that people in Bengal want and they just need to realise what the customer here wants,'' she explained.

Focusing on the innovations within traditional parameters, Ms. Dhamija believes that while change is important, it should not interfere with the uniqueness of these weaving patterns.

"The weavers need to realise that they make stuff that no one else can make and they should stick to that. There are lots of old designs of saris that have now become collectors pieces, they can look at them and pick up ideas from there. They have the creativity, they just need to know the right way,'' she stressed.

With tips like keeping the fashionable colours in mind while making saris, she believes that these weavers can finally start dreaming big. "I keep giving them an example of a couple in Rajasthan. They started working with a printer in a small village and asked him to start using old dying methods again. It was so successful that the printer is now a crorepati and is sending his daughter to the best school in Jaipur. His prosperity has now benefited the whole village,'' she stated.

Leaving them with a tiny thread of thought so that they can create their dreams, all the weavers need is creativity, the determination to touch the sky and the ability to keep alive the patterns of the past.

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