The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : A craft and livelihood in peril

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 15, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

A craft and livelihood in peril

Vidya Venkat

Traditional bamboo weavers’ access to resources reduced

PHOTO: Vidya Venkat

hard times: Members of the Kuravar tribe struggle to maintain their identity and keep their tradition alive.—

CHENNAI: “It isn’t as easy as it appears to be,” warns Dhanalakshmi, seated on her hunches and deftly arranging thin slices of bamboo into a complex, circular pattern.

The work comes easily to her, of course, as she has been doing it since the age of nine. For members of the Kuravar tribe, bamboo-weaving is a traditional occupation.

Bamboo-weaving for them is not just work, it is a craft that calls for hundred per cent concentration and careful hand-and-eye coordination. Dhanalakshmi says she starts working as early as four in the morning, as the bamboo should not be exposed to too much sunlight.

“If the bamboo slices become dry, weaving them becomes difficult. And then who would buy a basket that looks dry and old,” she asks.

Slicing bamboo logs into thin threads is a craft by itself, says 70-year-old Manivannan, as he busies himself sharpening a sickle against the edge of a pavement.

“Only if the slices are smooth and thin will it make for easy weaving, he says.

There are around 300 kuravar families living in the old zoo ground near the Nehru Stadium in Periamet. In government parlance, they are “encroachers.”

Originally hailing from Vellore district, they migrated from their villages some 40 years ago in search of employment and ended up on the city’s pavements.

The plight of these weavers can be traced back to enactment of legislation that denied them direct access to forest produce.

The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 is just one of the many laws that strive to keep them away from the forest.

“We have to buy raw material from the open market where the paper industry is a major contender,” says S.Ramesh, a weaver.

He says weavers who have minimal capital to invest cannot buy quality material and as a consequence, baskets made of inferior quality bamboo fetch lower rates when sold.

Quality materials

“Usually we source bamboo from markets in Otteri, Vyasarpadi and Moolakadai. But here too we can buy quality material only once or twice a month,” says Jagan, another weaver.

A flat bamboo plate will at the most fetch Rs.8 in the Koyambedu market, says Dhanalakshmi.

“Of course, one has to bargain for a good price,” she adds. Big bamboo baskets, ones that are typically used by fruit and vegetable sellers, cost between Rs.15 and 20 a piece.

It is not expensive in the context of the raw bamboo prices doubling over the last few months, she says.

The vagaries of nature also affect the livelihood of the weavers. Whenever, it rain heavily there is a lull in the business.

Bamboo basket weavers also extend their skills to manufacture of doors and roofing material to patch up their homes.

Pointing to the thatched roof of his house, Jagan says the recent rain had damaged several bamboo logs.

“They were no good for making baskets, so I made a new roof for my house,” he says. He adds that a strong wind however would be enough to bring it crashing down.

The 40-year-old adds that basket weaving can hardly fend for his family. The precious craft he learnt from his ancestors is not helping him make ends meet.

Selling fruits

Many from our tribe have started selling fruits in the pavement near the Central station, he says. Also with plastic goods flooding the market, the costlier bamboo alternative is fast losing popularity, he says.

Uprooted already from their tribal environs, the kuravar families are struggling to keep their craft alive, the only trait that retains their distinct identity as a tribe.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu