Lekha B. is a well-known figure at her village near Thirupuram, near Neyyattinkara in Thiruvananthapuram. Ask anyone where her house is and they will point it out to you. Lekha’s house is in a narrow dirt lane, barely enough for a bicycle to go through and the house is sparsely furnished.
The petite woman is busy embroidering a mustard coloured sari with stitches so fine and with colours that blend so harmoniously that one can’t help but admire the craftsmanship.Bent over a wooden frame, she is deep in concentration as with one wrong count, all her hard work would come to naught. She is part of a group of women who are creating works of art with the needle and thread.
Lekha is part of a Kudambashree project called Sneha that funds a group of women who are trained in embroidery. Laila G., Jayakumari S., Shakuntala D. and Sheeba L.B. form the rest of the group. They embroider handkerchiefs, table cloths, bed sheets, pillow cases, saris…
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However, as her team mates do not live close by, she has a few of her neighbours Teresia G., Bindu P., Smitha P.T., Jolie S. and Mini A. help her out when she receives orders.
The women, who are in their late twenties and early thirties learned to embroider from Lourdes Convent, Lourdupuram, after their SSLC. The convent is six kilometres from where they live and they used to travel on foot. “We would set out early in the morning so that we would reach the convent on time. The nuns there were very strict and would not let us enter if we were a minute late,” recalls Lekha.
Their course at the convent was for six months, after which they were provided a stipend of Rs. 600 while working as seamstresses at the institute. However, after marriage, many of her friends, says Lekha, moved away. “Now there are only 20 of us left who are trained in the art.”
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In the group, 65-year-old Teresia is the oldest. “I learnt needle work at the age of 12 and have been in the field since,” says Teresia, her voice thick with pride. Except for Teresia, the others supplement their income with odd jobs. “Our husbands are daily wage labourers and we too join them on most days to make ends meet,” says Bindu.
The women say what makes their hand worked pieces special is their personal touch. “Each piece is unique, even when using the same pattern, as the artiste has the discretion to vary colours and stitches. You rarely find two completely identical pieces. While we do design the patterns ourselves, P.S. Ghosh, Thirupuram Grama panchayat member and Kudambashree resource person, who is an artist, suggests patterns too,” says Teresia.
A piece of embroidery may take 30 days to complete. “That is because we use many different stitches such as satin stitch, French knot and flat stitch. The quality of embroidery is judged by its workmanship, the harmony of the colours used and the variety of patterns,” says Lekha. When they receive an order, Lekha, divides the work and the women work from their homes. As they lack space in their homes, they are unable to start cluster units. Also, as most of them have young children at home, working from home enables them to keep an eye on their children.
The women say that the art of hand embroidery is fast fading. “The younger generation prefers more lucrative professions and rightly so. In fact, we hope our children do well educationally and become well settled in life; we don’t want them to wonder where their next meal comes from,” says Lekha. Contact Lekha: 9562039215
Marketing woes
Sneha was started in 2012 to help empower these women with a means of earning a steady source of income. And although they did receive large orders in the beginning, business is growing dull. “Marketing is a problem as we are clueless on how to go about it. Earlier, via Kudumbashree and other such organisations, our products were supplied to various places in India and abroad. As, the dealings were via middle men, we have no idea who our buyers are. Recently we supplied a large order of embroidered handkerchiefs to a company in the city; we haven’t still received the payment for it as they claim they have not sold even a single piece. Such experiences make us wary as we bear the cost of the cloth, threads and so on ourselves. People also seem to prefer machine embroidered items as they find them more affordable. They fail to realise that creating designs with hand needlework is laborious and time consuming as we use a wide variety of stitches and material to get the desired effect,” says Lekha.