The Daily Indian

Monojit Lahiri wonders whether the ‘New Woman’ is appropriately reflected in adland or…

Once, not very long ago, women portrayed in advertising reflected all the pristine virtues of Nirupa Roy — aka, Mother Earth! Eternally sacrificing, unconditionally loving, caring and forgiving, she was the definitive 24×7 giver, wanting (or expecting) nothing in return except the well-being of her family. Excuse me, but what about her life, needs, wants, dreams, desires and aspirations? “What dreams, drives, desires are you babbling about, dummy? What crap are you letting fly, you regressive moron? She is a mother, okay and this is her life, okay?!” hisses a seven-star chauvinist pig!

Today, as we bogey towards the end of ‘07, has this Stone Age projection of women in adville moved on? Is it keeping pace with times? Is it more real, contemporary, authentic? Is the new Indian woman — cool, confident, aspirational, successful, multi-tasking — coming through or is Adville hemming and hawing, paying lip-service, indulging in tokenism, playing safe by re-enforcing the stereotypes?

Voices and opinions differ. Young ad person Dolly Jha believes that too little is done towards it. For every Frankfinn ad, there are a whole clutch of stuff depicting women as bimbos and sex objects. “The male-specific product category are the worst offenders — gutkas, shaving creams, deos, Maruti SX4 – pushing the pseudo-sophisticated button to up the ante. Disgusting!”

Journo Roma Kapadia disagrees. “Firstly, change doesn’t happen overnight; it takes time. Secondly, advertising is neither about morality nor approximating reality in a manner that makes everyone happy. It is a seductive marketing tool with a one-point programme — to sell! The guys behind these ads are not dumb. They are professionals who have a very tough job to do in a competitive market place. Surely they know what they are doing” Overall, she believes that Adville is on the right path.

Roma could be right. Smart n’ sassy gals in tees; Young, bright and attractive women scoring brownie points in the boardrooms; Independent young lasses choosing their life-partners or colour of Scooties, in style; Girlie gangs whooping it up — or being wooed by romantic hubbies play-acting as “chefs”… all these images are flashing across present day ad content on TV.

Grey worldwide’s NCD Priti Nair agrees. She believes there has been a dramatic shift from woman-as-doormat to woman-as-achiever. “There is more life, positivity, energy and drive in the way she is projected. The young modern mother is bright, active and peppy. She is pro-active, not re-active!” Swapan Seth of Equs Red Cell begs to differ. “I really don’t know from where all this is coming from! Today’s woman is most certainly being stifled and gagged in a world of stereotypes. At best the stuff mentioned are surface shifts providing glamorous distractions. Marketers seem to be continents away from confronting real — edgy, uneasy, controversial, troubled — social shifts. Where is the single, successful, strong, opinionated, unmarried 35-year old woman? Where is the positive, cheerful, smart, successful single mother whipping up a tasty meal for her excited small kids? That calls for a courageous client and braveheart agency!” Young and attractive executive of a high profile fashion house, Tania Haldar brings her own perspective to the table. “It’s a given that a pretty face with the right — ahem — equipment can sell almost anything! Savvy ad film-makers cash in on this regularly, using air brush techniques to wash away in essentials like a thick waistline or skin blemishes and before you know it, voila! You have the perfect babe selling you a host of products — perfumes, cosmetics, fairness creams, detergents, mobiles, shoes, home appliances, inner wear, washing machines, electronic goods, cars, holiday resorts — that works.” However, Haldar laments the fact that if and when serious, decision making and meaningful issues need to be forcefully publicised (Insurance, education, social issues like woman empowerment, girl child, adult literacy, HIV Aids) today’s woman, sadly, is nowhere to be found! Does that mean that she is perceived as someone incapable of influencing popular imagination when something solid needs to be ‘pushed’ (where are you, YAWN Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das) used only for frivolous consumer items? If that is so, how much justice is today’s Adville really doing to representation of today’s woman, which reaches consumers?

So what gives? Being cautious, maintaining the status-quo, playing safe… willing to wound but afraid to strike… is that the real situation? It’s a tough call. At one level, there has certainly been a conscious effort to keep pace with the new woman. However (as Swapan perceptively points out) to go the road less travelled, be bold, audacious and break new ground by embracing uncomfortable (and unspoken) real life issues in terms of contemporary realities is — alas —something that is, almost, zilch.

Our guess is that it has to do with comfort levels, not wanting to rock the boat, being happy by making all the right noises at the right forums – and most importantly, yelling the famous lines is complacent self-defence: Why mend it if it ain’t broke, babe… right?

In Karachi, there is little to remind one of the legend of Rambagh, where Ram and Sita, of the Hindu pantheon, are believed to have made a stopover during their exile. Shahid Husain reports…

Behind Arambagh, in the heart of Karachi city is a small, obscure and faceless Shiv temple that remains closed six days a week. “It remains locked except on Monday evenings for a short while,” said a hawker who sits outside the temple. Requesting anonymity, he said: “I have been here for the last 18 years but have seen it open only on Monday evening.”

“The temple was built by Astan Shrimati Hajeebai in memory of her husband Seth Ochi Ram Mangat Ram,” it says in Sindhi language on a small foundation stone in the temple. The date of construction is not mentioned anywhere. “There was a time when it was a big temple but after the Partition in 1947, most of its space was encroached upon,” said Girdhari Assudomal Lakhwani, a cotton broker who looks after the temple. “There were 456 temples in Karachi before Partition. Only 20-25 remain today,” he lamented.

According to Kaleemullah Lashari, Sindh Antiquities Department Secretary, “Prior to the Partition, Arambagh was Rambagh, and there was a cluster of temples here. The temples were built in the garden where, according to Hindu mythology, Ram and Sita spent a night while on their way to Hinglaj for offering thanks, after Ram completed 14 years of exile in the jungle with Lakshman and Sita, following court intrigues.” “Till the 20th century, the area was called Rambagh. It was converted into a refugee camp after 1947 and named Arambagh. It’s a failure on the part of our municipal administration that they could not preserve it,” he said.

Citing folklore, noted architect and town planner Arif Hasan maintained that Ram and his wife Sita spent a night in Rambagh on their way to the ancient shrine of Hinglaj located in Balochistan. The location of the existing Mahadev temple beside the Kothari Parade at Clifton in Karachi endorses the presence of these precincts back in the ancient days too, he said.

Ram is believed to be the seventh incarnation of Vishnu and the central figure in Ramayana, one of the primary Hindu epics. “Some structures are still there. Hence, it’s a heritage site and should have been preserved. We changed its complexion and have lost the essence of the area. Had we saved the wells and temples of Rambagh, it would have been a heritage site of great value,” Lashari said.

Prominent architect and academic Yasmin Cheema points out that Rambagh, spread over nine acres, contained three tanks, the Ram Chandur Temple and several wells. The most famous of the three tanks was Rambagh. Later, the wells of the area supplied water to the British army camp, as well as its cantonment, according to Cheema. Most of the wells are located within the Tank – while five are distributed along its periphery, another 10 are scattered in a five-acre irregularly-shaped compound to the north, which also included one of the four temples situated at the four corners of the Tank.

According to Hasan, Hinglaj is one of the seven places most sacred to Hindu. In fact, lore has it that after Ram rescued Sita from the demon king Ravana, they went to the Mahadev temple in Karachi and spent a night at this Bagh – hence the name. After that Rambagh became a place of pilgrimage too, Hasan said. “Karachi is also known as Ramya in some Greek texts,” he added. Eminent conservation architect and town planner Yasmeen Lari points out that closely following the boundaries of the Artillery Maidan Quarter was the Rambagh Quarter, which boasted three water tanks, including the Rambagh Tank, giving the quarter its name.

The Rambagh, according to Lari, with a large area surrounding it devoted to temples, plantation and wells, is a favourite assembly point for people around the Tank. Not that some quaint legend would be the preferred topic of discussion these days…

Its said that one’s eyes and mind get acquainted with what one sees or experiences time and again. My eyes and mind, perhaps, have become acquainted to seeing women with cigarettes clasped between their fingers. There has never been a time when women didn’t smoke at all; we’ve seen those generations old black and white movies where cigarettes were associated with vamps. They did, but hardly would one find such. And smoking being a taboo with women, was pursued in confinement. Now, having crawled towards freedom and equality, and with the adoption of the western culture the so-called ‘trend’ does not hold the ladies from picking up that cylindrical stick.

Adolescent addicts: These days, inspite of being flushed with fair amount of awareness, exposure and influence of friends play demons in attracting youngsters towards cigarettes. And what begins with ‘just one drag’ eventually leads to addiction. When asked Aditi, a law student in Pune, there came a nod of agreement. “Like all children, I grew with the thought that smoking is wrong. I took up a cigarette in class 11, just for fun. My friends and I wanted to try it once… and slowly I developed the habit.” And what if your parents found out?- I enquired. “They know about it!” said Aditi, shrugging her shoulders. “I initially denied but later confessed. They were obviously very upset and even forced me to quit it. I tried to but then again I’d smoke once in a while. My parents let the ropes loose, thinking that pressure would push me to sneak and do things. Now they know that I smoke and also check on me, telling me that it’s bad for health. But they also know that I’ll give it up only when I realise that I should quit.” Aditi’s parents will soon find relief as Aditi declares that she definitely would shove away the urge one day.
Watching young children inhale the cancerous smoke is unsettling, but thankfully certain thoughts of girls came across as pleasant words of wisdom. Most of them believe that unlike men, they wouldn’t smoke all their life. Health, pregnancy, kids or maybe their beloved will be a reason to relinquish.

Men on women smokers: Men have certainly braved through the fact that women can also smoke. Compared to the time when women with a cigarette were glared upon and given a frosty look by her counterparts, there now is credence. Says actor Tushar Kapoor, “Women harm themselves by smoking, or for that matter anyone who smokes willingly harms his own health.” And when probed to find out his threshold level with a smoker partner, he said in the same tone, “I would be fine with her smoking. But I’d definitely try to convince her to gradually give up.”

Men who don’t smoke follow a diplomatic approach. Neither do they find women smokers cool nor do they mind them. But the tinge of dislike for women smokers plainly comes across with the admission that they would make efforts, undeterred, to push their lady love to lay off. And men who smoke wouldn’t dare to take that risk, for fear of being tagged with the dreaded ‘MCP’ (male chauvinist pig) label! So instead of the wife waiting to discuss, deliberate or debate about issues over dinner, here’s the contemporary scenario- “I’ve had a hard day honey. Let’s talk over a smoke!” (Wonder if this sounds cool to any of you?!)

Fag ‘n’ folks: It’s true that a child’s habits are fairly influenced by the environment he/she is brought up in. And children are more likely to emulate certain habits from their parents than anyone else. In a party that I attended, a lady lit her cigarette only after putting her kids to bed. “I can’t smoke in front of them. It’s unhealthy influence, you know… In fact, I plan to quit before they realise that their mom has a bad habit!” she said. And wasn’t she right? Shouldn’t, at least parents set the right examples? Famous T.V artist Archana Puran Singh who started smoking because it was perceived as “cool and fashionable” faced a tough time giving it up. But she did vanquish the addiction only for the sake of her children. “I initially smoked in the presence of my kids, but only up till a time when they weren’t aware of what cigarettes are.” With the fear of her children also taking it up creeping in made Archana flick the ashes forever. “My children would have been immediately influenced with what they saw at home which made me and my husband quit smoking. And now that they know the reason for their parents giving up cigarettes, I believe and hope that they don’t develop the habit.” So mommies who smoke stealthily and those who give their children company (don’t be shocked. I actually came across such mothers!), would you want to be responsible for letting your child light cigarettes and burn his/her organs? If not, it’s time you call it quits.
No matter how acclimated your eyes or mind might get to women smoking, plant a thought of guilt by at least knitting your eyebrows at the sight of one. Anything more that this would be preaching and any thing less would be encouragement.

And ladies, like most of you confessed- health, pregnancy, kids, beloved or whatever might be the reason leading you to crush the stub forever, may it meet you soon…

The cruel beauty of a Shahtoosh shawl has become a shroud for the threatened antelope

Haroon Reshi

Ali Muhammad Sofi (65) was the proprietor of a weaving workshop of 10 Shahtoosh handlooms before the trade was declared forbidden by the J&K government, following a court judgment in a public interest litigation filed by the Wildlife Protection Society of India in 2000.

Now his son Altaf Ahmad sits hunched over a single hand loom, weaving Pashmina instead of Shahtoosh. Most Shahtoosh weavers now make shawls from Pashmina fine wool taken from the domestic goats from Kashmir’s Ladakh region. But Ali and Altaf are not pleased with Pashmina weaving as it fetches them very little money. “It takes a week to weave a Pashmina shawl (two meters long) and it brings me just Rs 500. I could get more than Rs 1500 by weaving a Shahtoosh shawl in the same time and with the same effort”, said Altaf.

For centuries, Kashmir has been the only place in the world where Shahtoosh is spun and later woven into a shawl. It is said that Shah Hamdan, a Muslim saint and social reformer, introduced Shahtoosh trade in this area 650 years ago. Now, nearly 50,000 Shahtoosh weavers have been fighting for survival since the government banned the 650-year-old trade, eight years ago. “I learned shawl-weaving from my father and then I taught my son. I had been spinning Shahtoosh for 45 years. But from the last eight years there is no work for us”, said Ali. “Shahtoosh shawls were in demand in the international markets as well. These legendary shawls were prized possessions of the weavers and traders, but now there are few takers”, he added.
Shahtoosh (also written Shatush) – a Persian word, which means ‘the king of wool’ is an ultra-fine wool with a highly prized velvety feel. This wool is derived from the Tibetan Antelope (chiru), which lives in altitudes of 15,000 to 20,000 feet. Nature has endowed it with a two-layered fur, which is essential for its survival.

Shahtoosh production and its trade was banned globally in 1975, after it was revealed that chirus were being killed for their wool. The Indian government followed suit in 1991, but J&K had exempted itself from the trade ban till 2000.

Weavers and traders in Kashmir still deny that chirus were being killed for its wool. According to them, the animals shed their wool during the end of winters and Tibetan nomads collect that wool to supply it to weavers in Kashmir. “There is no evidence to confirm that the animal is killed for its fur. When the animal is killed, the wool also loses its worth. So it’s a myth that chirus were being killed to get Shahtoosh wool”, said Dr Mubeen Shah, Chairman of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries. Shakeel Qalander, President, Federation Chamber of Industries, Kashmir, echoed, “The production and trade of Shahtoosh is being done for more than six centuries. If the animal was being killed, it would have vanished many centuries ago”. However, specialists insist that after the animal is killed in the most brutal manner in the Tibetan plateau, the wool is smuggled into the Kashmir valley via Nepal. International wildlife organisations say that five chirus are shot and skinned to make one shawl. In a published report, George Schaller, biologist of the New York based Wildlife Conservation Society, had written, “We saw herdsmen plucking wool from the Tibetan antelope to sell to local dealers. In the courtyard of one such dealer were sacks of wool ready for smuggling to Nepal, and from there to Kashmir, where the wool is woven into scarves and shawls.” It was estimated that there were 10,00,000 chirus in the Tibetan Plateau in the last century, and current estimates of the Chiru population ranges between 50,000 and 75,000.

Shahtoosh trade used to support about half a million Kashmiri traders and weavers before being banned. However, some weavers and traders carry on this business on the sly. A top government official seeking anonymity said that the Shahtoosh shawls are still being made, though in lesser numbers. And we did find a shawl workshop owner in Srinagar who admitted, “We used to weave more than 100 shawls before the trade was banned but now we make only 15 to 20. We are always fearful because, if trapped, we will be punished.”
Clearly more needs to be done to ensure that chirus are not sacrificed at the altar of man’s greed.

Days became months then years and today, we’ve crossed centuries. Regretfully women have been exploited for ages and in this case, in the name of God! TDI peeks into the estranged life of a Devdasi

A stage up in life and turn to a completely new leaf, soon as the chosen girl attains puberty, her ordeal as a Devdasi begins. The onerous task of pleasing the deity (more so the rich village folks) so that the village is shielded from the Gods’ wrath! That has been the accepted justification by the exploited.

Padmavath, better known as ‘Challakeremma’ in the Chitradurga District, Karnataka, was only 4 when her parents dedicated her to becoming a Devdasi and serving the deity for life. Since then, her Friday morning ritual has been — taking a bath, wearing a dab of vermillion and turmeric on forehead and decking up to perform her duty of — Bhikshatane — begging in the name of the deity. Now aged 14, she is about to become ‘public property’ for the high rungs to relish, in keeping with the ’sacred’ tradition. Devdasi practice is nothing but a religious facade for prostitution, opine many sociologists.

In Kudligi of Bellary district, sex workers call themselves Devdasis, though not performing any rituals they’ve taken social shelter under that label.

Parimala Vijaykumar, President, Karnataka Devadasis Organization informs, “Even today, people in northern Karnataka, especially the lower strata of society, still believe and follow the practice of nude or semi-nude dances and Okuliyata (drowsing Devdasis with colored water); If not publicly then during the festival of Bharatha Hunnime and Randi Hunnime (a full moon day usually during January).”

In Challkere, a 70 year-old woman became a Devdasi at 64, solely to perform rituals to please the Gods as she attributes her hardships due to her son’s indifference after husband’s demise and her rape by her son-in-law to the goddess’s rage!

Sadly, forced prostitution in guise of Devdasis is prerogative of the influential and despondency of the poor. Despite being banned in 1982 there are 23,000 Devdasis in the state of Karnatka only. “But the actual number crosses a lakh, the government hasn’t conducted a proper survey” says General Secretary, C Y Shivarudrappa, Karnataka Devdasi Organization.

NGOs like MYRADA, World Vision etc. are creating awareness among the masses and Devdasis hopeful that someday maybe people will awaken and question their conscience, Can they bear to see their own loved one as a Devdasi.

After her performance as queen Jodha in film ‘Jodha-Akbar’, actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is set to play Mumtaz Mahal in Ben Kingsley’s ‘Taj’, which depicts one of the greatest love stories of Indian history.

The period film on the legendary Shah Jahan-Mumtaz Mahal love story will see her opposite Kingsley with whom she had earlier acted with in the 2007 film, ‘The Last Legion’.

“During the shooting of the ‘The Last Legion’ (Kingsley) had shared the idea with me. I have just received the draft of the script and now we are planning to take it forward,” the 34-year-old actress, who was in the capital to launch Longines ‘PrimaLuna’ range of watches told reporters.

The screen play of the film has reportedly been written by David Ashton and it is likely to go on floors around September-October next year. The Bollywood beauty, who is rumoured to be the brain behind the revival of Bachchan’s home production AB Corps, is excited about ‘Paa’ where her husband, actor Abhishek Bachchan will play father to his real-life dad Amitabh Bachchan, who plays a 13-year-old child ‘Auro’ suffering from progeria. “The family is extremely excited to share our baby, since its by AB Corps. We are very warmed by the response given by people. All the trouble was taken by the director Balki and what’s so special about the film is that it’s a simple story.

After two years, Bollywood filmmaker-actor Mahesh Manjrekar has returned to direction with crime thriller ‘City of Gold’. He says the film’s subject is so ‘compelling’ that it set his ‘creative juices flowing all over again’.

‘With ‘City of Gold’, I have finally found a subject that has got my creative juices flowing all over again. Only once in a blue moon you get such a compelling script and that too based on real life incidents. It was such a great concept that I got back to direction without any delay,’ Manjrekar, whose last directorial venture was ‘Deha’, said in a statement.

‘The film is a no holds barred look at the birth of the true underbelly and organised crime in Mumbai and at the mill workers who had to sacrifice everything so that the 21st century Mumbai of swanky malls and glittering multiplexes could be built,’ he added.

‘City of Gold’ marks DAR Private Limited’s (DAR Media) entry into showbiz. DAR Media, a subsidiary of investment advisory and private equity firm DAR Capital Group, has signed a three-film deal with Majrekar.

The film’s principal shooting is expected to be over by December end. Tentatively slated for a May 2010 release, the screenplay has been co-written by playwright Jayant Pawar and Manjrekar.

‘City of Gold’ will feature real mill workers along with some known film stars whose names are being kept under wraps.

Manjrekar said: ‘It’s crucial to the vision of the movie — the focus is on the story and not stars…at least in the initial days. I want to make sure that people understand the cruel paradox of the lives of these people and why they were compelled to make the choices they made.’

During his sabbatical from direction, Manjrekar was keeping busy with acting, writing and production. His last movie ‘Me Shivajiraje Bhosale Boltoy’, proved to be the most commercially successful Marathi film till date.

Days became months then years and today, we’ve crossed centuries. Regretfully women have been exploited for ages and in this case, in the name of God! TDI peeks into the estranged life of a Devdasi

A stage up in life and turn to a completely new leaf, soon as the chosen girl attains puberty, her ordeal as a Devdasi begins. The onerous task of pleasing the deity (more so the rich village folks) so that the village is shielded from the Gods’ wrath! That has been the accepted justification by the exploited.

Padmavath, better known as ‘Challakeremma’ in the Chitradurga District, Karnataka, was only 4 when her parents dedicated her to becoming a Devdasi and serving the deity for life. Since then, her Friday morning ritual has been — taking a bath, wearing a dab of vermillion and turmeric on forehead and decking up to perform her duty of — Bhikshatane — begging in the name of the deity. Now aged 14, she is about to become ‘public property’ for the high rungs to relish, in keeping with the ’sacred’ tradition. Devdasi practice is nothing but a religious facade for prostitution, opine many sociologists.

In Kudligi of Bellary district, sex workers call themselves Devdasis, though not performing any rituals they’ve taken social shelter under that label.

Parimala Vijaykumar, President, Karnataka Devadasis Organization informs, “Even today, people in northern Karnataka, especially the lower strata of society, still believe and follow the practice of nude or semi-nude dances and Okuliyata (drowsing Devdasis with colored water); If not publicly then during the festival of Bharatha Hunnime and Randi Hunnime (a full moon day usually during January).”

In Challkere, a 70 year-old woman became a Devdasi at 64, solely to perform rituals to please the Gods as she attributes her hardships due to her son’s indifference after husband’s demise and her rape by her son-in-law to the goddess’s rage!

Sadly, forced prostitution in guise of Devdasis is prerogative of the influential and despondency of the poor. Despite being banned in 1982 there are 23,000 Devdasis in the state of Karnatka only. “But the actual number crosses a lakh, the government hasn’t conducted a proper survey” says General Secretary, C Y Shivarudrappa, Karnataka Devdasi Organization.

NGOs like MYRADA, World Vision etc. are creating awareness among the masses and Devdasis hopeful that someday maybe people will awaken and question their conscience, Can they bear to see their own loved one as a Devdasi.

Indira Parthasarthy

Recent events, including the case of Uma Khurana molesting children and indulging in pornography in the capital, have highlighted the quality of teachers in our schools. Let alone teaching, would you like these people to be even around your children? But if the government’s recommendations are implemented, such a perverted lot will be teaching our kids about sex education!

The advocates of so-called sex education are blindly copying teaching models from the west. Don’t you know England’s teen pregnancy rates are the highest in Europe? That’s just one instance. Many experts from the west attribute it to the explicit nature of sex education, that is imparted to students from the age of 12. Even in the US, there is skepticism around ’safe sex’ teachings. The concept of carrying a condom in your pocket at all times, to be ready when the ‘moment’ arrives is under fire even in western countries. The movement for ‘abstinence until marriage’ is finding many takers. So how come there is insistence here to foist off sex education on us, or being ‘ready’ at all times. What exactly are you trying to propound when you start talking to a 11-year old about the opposite sex, start showing him/her explicit slides and pictures, encouraging them to touch each other? Yes… those are proposed ‘class exercises’! Five girls and five boys will be blindfolded and made to touch each other to see how they react and their responses recorded. Do I need to tell you the potential for abuse in such a situation? Then, there’s another ‘exercise’ where two male students will be asked to simulate rape on a girl student, in order to teach girls how to react in such a situation! If we don’t stop this, our schools will become havens of immorality!

The buck stops at NACO (National AIDS control Organisation) and UNICEF; they maintain that such education is necessary to prevent AIDS. But why this focus on AIDS? Indian children are more likely to die of diarrhoea than succumb to AIDS. Why then do they keep harping on condom use? I’ll tell you why. These people are in cahoots with condom manufacturers; all of it is nothing but a sinister ploy to sell more condoms! In the process they could end up corrupting our youth, but that, of course, is of no concern to them! All I’m saying is that this course curriculum should be made public and open to parents to see and decide for themselves whether they want their kids learning all that. If they still give the go-ahead I have no problems.”

BRASS TACKS
11 states have already banned sex education in India of which three — Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka — have the highest number of reported AIDS cases in India. NACO has now expressed willingness to review the course curriculum.

A weaver in Anakaputhur near Chennai makes sarees out of alternate natural fibers

Finding Shekhar’s house cum factory in Anakaputhur is not difficult. Just a query about this “maker of sarees from banana fiber” is enough to get us specific directions, right down to the last turn. Tucked behind a few shops lies his dilapidated rented one-room factory-house and the only way to reach it is a narrow pathway with an open sewer running along. When we entered the asbestos-roofed room, Shekhar, the unconventional saree weaver was swinging cotton threads in a hand charkha.

Shekhar uses banana, jute, pineapple, flax, aloe vera, bamboo, reed grass etc to make sarees. “These raw materials are put in water and finally the fiber is extracted. This is a time consuming job when compared to normal weaving process. The recovered grass is made into yarn and dyed before making it run in the handlooms. Normally we mix silk and cotton along with the natural fibers,” he explains. Shekhar started making use of non-conventional fibers three years ago, even employing 24 fibers in a single saree. He used banana fibers widely. Recently he turned to aloe vera. The price ranges in the Rs 650-4500 bracket and varies as per the percentage of silk used.

Admiring some of his banana and aloe vera fiber creations, one realised they looked quite like ordinary silk sarees in beautiful colour combinations, though they weigh much lighter. In the last two years, he has sold two thousand banana sarees and 600 aloe vera sarees…

VIP patrons of his art include First Lady Pratibha Patil, and Kanimozhi, MP and daughter of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. “A saree has also been presented to Sonia madam, but I don’t know if she wears it,” adds Shekhar.

But, why the choice of these unconventional fibers?

Anakaputhur has been the hub of traditional handloom weavers, but like most other cottage industries, they lost their business to mechanisation. “Earlier, three thousand handlooms were running, but now just over three hundred remain. Many of our folks have opted for daily wages in construction jobs…

Handloom is no longer a lucrative business, but I don’t know of any other vocation. I tried to be different and experimented with these alternate fibers, says Shekhar, who hails from a family of Telugu-speaking Chettiars – weavers for generations. He also claims the medicinal properties of the natural fibers prove to be healthy too, e.g aloe vera for the skin.

Shekhar sells his sarees in Chennai and Bangalore. “Recently I got orders from Delhi, but I couldn’t accept it as I don’t have enough manpower.” Even though many government officials have visited this place, no government support has come through for him or the thirty odd families involved in it. “This could be developed into good business with government aid. It could benefit the agricultural workers too for they’ll get to supply raw materials. Besides, these sarees are eco-friendly,” he reminds.

But what about durability of the sarees? “Better than silk sarees… No one has complained yet,” states Shekhar.

As Shekhar plans to extend his repertoire to include shirts, he hopes to get the attention he deserves. Meanwhile, pointing at the four women spinning away at their respective handlooms, he said, “This is women’s empowerment too. But no one is listening,” laments Shekhar. With the landlord hankering him to vacate the current premises with his wife and children before month end, his list of woes only seems to get longer.

As the heat under the asbestos roofing became unbearable, I left after placing an order for an aloe vera saree. It was the least that could be done…