Anakapathur's weaving desires

Anakapathur, located in Kancheepuram district, is where we are travelling to. This town was once famous for its weaving and handloom textile.  A twenty minute journey in bus from Chennai Airport brings you to the Anakapathur bus depot. We waited for Mr. C. Sekhar, President of Anakapathur Weaver’s Association, at the depot wondering how the weaving centre is going to look like and if we could meet some of the women weavers at mid noon. For the past few years this association has hit the newspapers and local channels for its textile made out of organic fabre. Mr. Sekhar, a very humble man in the most ordinary fashion came on a cycle to usher us to this weaving place.

A five minute walk and we reached Sekhar’s home; right opposite to his home is a cottage where weaving takes place in two shifts starting from morning till evening. A very congested building containing four to five pits where the woman stands in and weaves the fabric on the handset loom. “It’s been 15 years since we started, we registered this association under the Society Act with the aim to bring back the rapidly dropping handloom industry”, says Sekhar. The Anakaputhur Weaver’s Association aims to encourage weavers to continue their work by providing better marketing of the produced goods through exports, participating in exhibitions and initiating deals with boutiques and other clothing stores. “For the benefit of both government and the association we create clothes from low cost fibre and export it at better rates”, explains Mr. Sekhar. An on-going association that started with only 15 members has now grown to 100 members in which 90% of them being women. On the other side, Sekhar is an eco-friendly person highly concerned about global warming and claims that this concern is the inspiration behind the idea of making clothes out of organic fabric.

Anakaputhur Weaver’s Association has been making sarees, shirt material, curtain materials, and jute bags under the brand name – Anana Fit. Jute was the first fibre that was introduced, followed by banana, pineapple, and Aloe Vera fibre. “We were the first ones to produce a jute saree in India”, Sekhar adds. They also earned a name in LIMCA book of Records for weaving a saree using more than 25 natural fibres. Even for the dying process they use vegetable and flower extracts instead of any chemical dyes. Under the association several Self Help Groups also take part by handling the process of making fibre required for the fabric. “As you can see, there is no good infrastructure or any technology to produce the fibre hence the women from Self Help Groups make it at their home and give it to us. They also help in the extraction of dyes”, says Sekhar.

“Natural fabric brings in a good income, but the only problem is very few people indulge into the making of it and neither is this industry encouraged by the government nor do we receive any help from private organizations as it is under cottage industry”, says Sekhar when asked upon the profit gained. There are all types and colours of sarees that start from the rate of 1,500 and onwards. “Media is the only reason for the existence of this industry in this highly competitive industrialised world”, adds Sekhar. The association also takes active part in various government conducted exhibitions where they get hold of numerous dealers and buyers. Main customers are from Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai and also a notable thing about this small scale industry is that they have been able to execute exporting their products to France. Total of 100 sarees are sold in a month which include customers like boutique owners and designers. “If we get any help from the government we would like to expand our exports to South Africa, Europe, America and as many foreign lands as possible. India should become the brand for Organic Clothing in all the other nations”, says Sekhar as a part of his future expansion of the industry.

We then headed to meet the women weavers in the cottage sitting behind the noisy looms. “I have been working here since 10 years. Once  my children and husband leave home in the morning there is nothing much for me to do, so I thought instead of wasting time I could also earn some money for the family by weaving clothes”, says S. Valli, a weaver from Anakaputhur Association. “In future when I expand this cottage industry I wish to create employment for over 1 lakh people”, plans Sekhar “and the first step taken to this was by submitting documents and registering for Cluster Industry.”

The Anakapathur Weaver’s Association is an industry with high potential but if not catered to their needs all the efforts and hard work will go unnoticed and stagnant.“We are not asking any help from any private organizations but the ones who we elected to serve us. A little financial and infrastructural push from the government is all we need”, requests Sekhar. The major drawback of this industry is the lack of space which causes decrease in the production also the fall in sales. “If we receive help from government we would develop the current space available and bring in more of technology to increase the production of fiber and improve its quality. This will eventually help us produce more garments; including production of other garments for infants to senior citizen of the nation. As a result there will be more employment generation in the country. We could increase the exports and India will then be the sole supplier for organic clothing around the world”, says Sekhar excited with a mind full of great ideas for the betterment of nation, people and nature.

Pic Courtesy : Madhumitha S.