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Colours of the desert

The Ranga Sutra creations are the result of Sanjoy and Sumita Ghose's efforts to provide a new lease of life to unsung weavers

TAPPING TRADITIONAL SKILLS The URMUL products on display

"It's 20 years since we started URMUL, and so much has changed since then!" exclaims Sumita Ghose, as she watches the weavers roll out the colours of the desert that they have brought with them all the way from the villages around Bikaner and Jodhpur. The products consist of rugs, cushions, elegantly stitched kurtas and hand-embroidered dupattas and shoulder bags.

URMUL is the name of the co-operative society of weavers initiated by Sanjoy and Sumita Ghose when they went to Bikaner in the late l980s. It was adapted from the Amul model. It has grown as organically as one of their brilliantly patterned cotton floor coverings. The URMUL products are instantly recognisable. Using primary colours, of red, black, white, golden yellow and green viridian, the URMUL weavers assisted by NID designers have created products that fit into a modern home andcan be worn by the fashion conscious.

The word "empowerment" is often used in the context of URMUL. It was not enough to produce the goods. The weavers were encouraged to take charge of the marketing of their products through cooperative networks. All the decisions were made on a collective basis. Sumita recalls a meeting that took place at Phalodi in the Jodhpur area, where she was also present, when the weavers decided after prolonged debate that it was not a good thing for women to be given an education. The women, who were all there listening, with their heads covered in ghunghats, weighed down by silver ornaments, muttered loudly amongst themselves, but were powerless to oppose the men in their families.

"We not only have primary health care centres in most of the villages now, but also education facilities for the girls," smiles Sumita. She describes a scheme where adolescent girls are given simple arithmetical skills, as well as lifestyle skills. She underlines the need to work both with the community and the government to create the framework for change.

Ranga Sutra is the next step. It is the first registered producers' company of its kind for crafts. "We felt the need to have a base for our products, if not a shop at least a presence in the cities through exhibitions. We make sure that the producer as well as the customer gets a good price. We have already been working with Fabindia. William Bissel (of Fabindia) is on our board and in the same way we would like to include other people such as designers in Ranga Sutra."

One of the URMUL men displays the stitched and embroidered garments at the Fabindia store and proudly says, "These are from Paro's village." He is speaking of Paro Bai, who had to leave her home in Sind, Pakistan during the l971 war. Since that time, she has taught the skills that she learnt from her mother to the villagers at Bajju in Bikaner.

"Now we also have young boys learning to do embroidery," says Sumita, "and women such as Pappu Devi, who helps her weaver-husband, breaking centuries old taboos that forbade women from working at the loom."

The Ranga Sutra exhibition is on till January 8 at Fabindia, Ilford House.

GEETA DOCTOR

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