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Photo: Murali kumar k.

Self made Ramananda Basak prefers to work on his own at his pace

Ramananda had no interest in becoming a weaver. He dreamt of having a “normal” childhood. Losing his parents when he was very young ended that dream. “I grew up on the roads, had no education. I studied only up to class four.”

When he was 10, he entered the weaving world, polishing the cotton and drafting in the looms. He first sat at the loom when he was 14. “My legs were then long enough to reach the pedals.” After 36 years of hardship, Ramananda sees some respite. Today some known organisations promote and export his works.

He started with Bengal cottons, but did not like them. “These saris become like a net when washed. Bengal cottons became very stagnant when it came to designs, colours and weaves,” observes Ramananda, who then shifted to Chennai. “I lived there for five years. Then my son met with an accident and I had to spend Rs. 2 lakh. Depressed we returned to our home town with barely Rs. 60 in hands. Slowly my work picked up and I bought my own loom and all the material that I needed. I made a few samples and sent them to various organisations that support weavers and handicrafts and got a few orders. At least now I need not worry about providing the next meal for my family.” Ramananda makes stoles and saris. His stoles are a big hit with Indians and foreigners. He supplies to stores including Amethyst (Chennai) and Fab India. Seeing his work the Crafts Council of India invited him for his first exhibition and all his saris and stoles were sold out. “That was four year ago and after that I have been invited to quite a few craft exhibitions.” Talking about the popularity of his work, Ramananda says: “I use fast colours and the quality is good. I also do the dyeing myself and the thread count is also high. I work with cottons and cotton silks and these saris can be used in summer and winters. I design the product as I imagine it.” Ramananda’s stoles are exported to France, Italy and USA through the various organisations and boutiques. A popular boutique in Kolkata sold “Over 90,000 stoles I had created during January and February this year.” “I am not educated, so it takes me longer to explain to the weavers, what I have in my mind,” he says and adds that he makes 20 scarves a day and takes 15 days for a plain sari. He also weaves stones and chunkis into his saris. “They are weaved so they last longer. I can make better designs now, with experience, but just that I lack the time,” says Ramananda.

He prefers to work on his own, at his own pace with his own hands, “for if I work for others, I’ll have to compromise on the quality and the design, which I don’t like to do.”

The best compliments he received were from none other than Sonia Gandhi and Shabana Azmi. The former was so impressed with his work that she called him and told him she loved his work and bought a couple of saris. When Shabana visited Kolkata and saw Basak’s work, she bought a huge collection of saris from him.

But what actually has given him a high is the education of his children. “I will train my daughter in NIFT and may be use some of her contemporary skills and designs in my creations. You’ll not get anything like this in the market,” he says dreamily. Ask him if he has any email ID and he says it will be created by my children. “They will build a web page for me and use the internet to promote my work. Till then I’ll be content working at my own pace, travelling, meeting people and selling them my saris in person.” According to Ramananda handloom will never die for “there will always be a section of weavers, who will be passionate about the art and a section that will want to buy handlooms. When I started there was no food. But in the last three years, my life has changed so much. Sometimes I wonder if I am the same person who has lived the same life.”

Ramananda Basak can be contacted on 09474336887/

09474424073 or Vermilion House in Bangalore on 41225830.

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