I support and (insert heart symbol) cottage industries. They're a great way to help communities and local craftsmen, along with preserving art and heritage. Handicrafts are what India and most local communities world over made a living off of. They are windows and doors to our rich, unique, and innumerable cultures. Each handicraft item carries the soul of the creator because you know that some unnamed person's sweat, blood and love went into it.
Which is also why handicrafts and cottage industry items are so expensive!
I am one of those persons who can rock a Batman-print T-shirt with geeky gracefulness and on other occasions, slaughter Indian manners in a salwar kameez. I don't have a particular liking for any type of clothing. Just that I like to wear clothes, sometimes I don't, and I sometimes like buying new clothes. I also like donating my old clothes because I feel my love flowing through it. Each cloth is a story of moments spent in it. Each item in my wardrobe carries wishes, experiences, hopes and comments from the public.
And yes, this article is now veering toward the direction of clothing and this is where some people will switch off. But I assure you there'll be talk of BOOBS! SEX! PORN!
Kidding. That's just me throwing random words. There'll be no talk of the above capitalized words further on in the article.
Going back to handwoven hand-stitched clothes, there's nothing more than a fitted kurta to accentuate my breasts. (Oops!) Girly girls have always told me this and so have my mother and father, but in not such a blatant way. Yes, I've been blessed with good assets. Yes, I kill their "effect" when I hide them under a loose T-shirt. And yes, I get scolded for the same.
Thing is though, I can't always afford to buy or stitch kurtas from materials which are handloom. They cost a bomb. For example, I was in the market looking for a plain white kurta. I looked at a couple of places. I started in W and discovered that the one there cost over Rs.1200. (No freaking way!!) I went to a local shop in Lajpat Nagar's Central Market and the seller showed one for Rs.290. This may not have been pure cotton and was machine-produced in most likely a dingy shop. I went to another store which specialises in Chikan work kurtas, tops, salwars, pajamas, etc. They showed me a couple of options starting from Rs.450 onwards.
Now, like all good etiquettes that mothers pass on to daughters, my mother passed on the love of pearls and Chikan to me. I love anything that is adorned with Chikan craft, and it's one of the few girly indulgences of mine.
But here's a question I should pose to you now before I go babbling more about my love for Chikan. Which kurta would you opt for, and they're all equally beautiful kurtas but with different prices? Would you go for brand, or the cheapest, or for something that carries an old craft tradition of hand stitched perfection and grace?
If you want to know what I opted for, prepare for a lesson in my love for Chikan work! No, I'm kidding.
The reason I went for the not-so-cheap but not-so-expensive-either Chikan kurta is because I can afford to indulge in it right now. When I was in college, I wasn't supporting my love for handicrafts outrightly so because I simply couldn't afford to. I'd be seen wearing Rs.100 machine-printed and made in dingy sweatshop kurtas because I needed to save money. That's how I did my math back then. Now I do it differently with plastic cards of greed.
What I'm trying to say is that, I love all things handicraft and would love nothing more than to support local artisans and rural communities and villages which support such crafts still. There are patrons and buyers too, but there are techniques of art which are very remote and hard to accomplish. And the latter are slowly dying.
When I go to state emporiums and trade fairs, in the Kerala stalls at least, I notice a lot of kasavu saris and clothes (cotton saris with golden borders which are a trademark of Kerala). I'm sure there are more tribal clothing which should also be displayed. Well, where are they? Why aren't their crafts and jewellery displayed? Actually, where are the tribals in Kerala?
Each question poses more questions: Have I made it large? Not a large peg but a large enough problem to be discussed and worked upon? There's nothing more satisfying than to get people uneasy about the problems we face and how best to solve them. Of course, there are a lot more questions and issues in the handicrafts industry which I haven't even touched upon yet: the middleman, the plight of workers, labour wages, working conditions, state's role in supporting them, funds for cottage industries, whether the profits/benefits are reaching the artisans, where to get more artisans from, where to find patronage.... Like I said, loads of questions, so little words, so less time.
If there's anything that you do to support cottage industries your own way, please let me know. If there's anything that pissed you off in the above, thank you, and drop a comment or let me know. I hope I gave you something to think about though.
Which is also why handicrafts and cottage industry items are so expensive!
I am one of those persons who can rock a Batman-print T-shirt with geeky gracefulness and on other occasions, slaughter Indian manners in a salwar kameez. I don't have a particular liking for any type of clothing. Just that I like to wear clothes, sometimes I don't, and I sometimes like buying new clothes. I also like donating my old clothes because I feel my love flowing through it. Each cloth is a story of moments spent in it. Each item in my wardrobe carries wishes, experiences, hopes and comments from the public.
And yes, this article is now veering toward the direction of clothing and this is where some people will switch off. But I assure you there'll be talk of BOOBS! SEX! PORN!
Kidding. That's just me throwing random words. There'll be no talk of the above capitalized words further on in the article.
Going back to handwoven hand-stitched clothes, there's nothing more than a fitted kurta to accentuate my breasts. (Oops!) Girly girls have always told me this and so have my mother and father, but in not such a blatant way. Yes, I've been blessed with good assets. Yes, I kill their "effect" when I hide them under a loose T-shirt. And yes, I get scolded for the same.
Thing is though, I can't always afford to buy or stitch kurtas from materials which are handloom. They cost a bomb. For example, I was in the market looking for a plain white kurta. I looked at a couple of places. I started in W and discovered that the one there cost over Rs.1200. (No freaking way!!) I went to a local shop in Lajpat Nagar's Central Market and the seller showed one for Rs.290. This may not have been pure cotton and was machine-produced in most likely a dingy shop. I went to another store which specialises in Chikan work kurtas, tops, salwars, pajamas, etc. They showed me a couple of options starting from Rs.450 onwards.
Now, like all good etiquettes that mothers pass on to daughters, my mother passed on the love of pearls and Chikan to me. I love anything that is adorned with Chikan craft, and it's one of the few girly indulgences of mine.
But here's a question I should pose to you now before I go babbling more about my love for Chikan. Which kurta would you opt for, and they're all equally beautiful kurtas but with different prices? Would you go for brand, or the cheapest, or for something that carries an old craft tradition of hand stitched perfection and grace?
If you want to know what I opted for, prepare for a lesson in my love for Chikan work! No, I'm kidding.
The reason I went for the not-so-cheap but not-so-expensive-either Chikan kurta is because I can afford to indulge in it right now. When I was in college, I wasn't supporting my love for handicrafts outrightly so because I simply couldn't afford to. I'd be seen wearing Rs.100 machine-printed and made in dingy sweatshop kurtas because I needed to save money. That's how I did my math back then. Now I do it differently with plastic cards of greed.
What I'm trying to say is that, I love all things handicraft and would love nothing more than to support local artisans and rural communities and villages which support such crafts still. There are patrons and buyers too, but there are techniques of art which are very remote and hard to accomplish. And the latter are slowly dying.
When I go to state emporiums and trade fairs, in the Kerala stalls at least, I notice a lot of kasavu saris and clothes (cotton saris with golden borders which are a trademark of Kerala). I'm sure there are more tribal clothing which should also be displayed. Well, where are they? Why aren't their crafts and jewellery displayed? Actually, where are the tribals in Kerala?
Each question poses more questions: Have I made it large? Not a large peg but a large enough problem to be discussed and worked upon? There's nothing more satisfying than to get people uneasy about the problems we face and how best to solve them. Of course, there are a lot more questions and issues in the handicrafts industry which I haven't even touched upon yet: the middleman, the plight of workers, labour wages, working conditions, state's role in supporting them, funds for cottage industries, whether the profits/benefits are reaching the artisans, where to get more artisans from, where to find patronage.... Like I said, loads of questions, so little words, so less time.
If there's anything that you do to support cottage industries your own way, please let me know. If there's anything that pissed you off in the above, thank you, and drop a comment or let me know. I hope I gave you something to think about though.
Quite thought provoking, I must say !!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lovelish! How about more ideas to write on? Or focus points?
Delete