Textile revivalist pens a book as an ode to weaving community

“I have travelled across the country meeting weavers from various clusters. During those journeys, I have closely observed their angst, state of penury and felt that something should be done for them. However good their quality of work is, weavers are not paid high. They live in poor working conditions and have to pursue the only occupation they know,” she says. Though Sabita tried to mobilise groups of textile activists to support the weavers, nothing really worked for a long time.

This led her to write a play called Song of the Loom on which the story is based. The play was produced by the Madras Players, an English theatrical group that ran to full houses for three days.  The Looms of Arivoor portrays the struggle faced by traditional weavers across the country. There are two protagonists in the story. Tilak is an IAS officer with very high ideals who is also paranoid about the quality of weaving that should be done. The other character’s name is Kulasekhara — he is a master weaver, who worships the IAS officer and is caught between following Tilak’s advice and lifting his brethren, the weavers, from poverty. Shifting values, honesty and aggressiveness play a part in the story. The novel captures incidents fraught with a tension faced by today’s craftspersons and artisans, most of them illiterate and incapable of managing their finances.

“Every Indian should fight for handlooms because it is languishing and there are fewer people interested in continuing the occupation. Skilled weavers wanted to leave their vocation and they are not allowing their children to participate in this. We should patronise handlooms. We should never lose this priceless piece of heritage. As a craft activist, I have used my pen to create awareness of the situation, so that the public would in their own way create a sustainable livelihood for the artisans by providinga market which they badly need,”the author affirms.