HUBBALLI: For years, government agencies and green groups across India have been fighting hard to de-weed the lakes and rivers from the fast-growing water hyacinth. The water weed has been a bane for the survival of rivers and water bodies due to its invasive growth and lack of mechanisms for its removal.
But that is changing with the hyacinth weeding out its noxious image and taking on a more genteel avatar as an embellishment for homes. Now, handwoven baskets, holders and other artifacts are being prepared with the humble hyacinth and making their way into people’s homes. Though being crafted in a small way in a handloom unit in Anegundi of Koppal district, the unit plans to diversify into making a range of furniture from hyacinth in future.
For the last three decades, craftsmen in Vietnam have been making furniture and artifacts out of hyacinth, but in India the trend is yet to catch up. The lantana weed, which grows excessively in the forests of Karnataka, is already in use to fashion furniture. A few women groups are trying to create artifacts from hyacinth in Meghalaya as well. But this is the first time, an artistic experiment is being tried out with hyacinth in Karnataka.
The excess inflow of untreated sewage gives rise to water hyacinth in wetlands and after a few days the hyacinth gets rooted. The water weeds stop sun rays from entering the lake causing imbalance in the pond ecology. Similar problem was faced at Tungabhadra river which divides Anegundi and Hampi, the famous architectural site in Ballari district. In a span of three years, parts of the river flowing near Hampi have been completely covered by hyacinth.
“The hyacinth growth in Tungabhadra river was not only causing harm to the river, but also creating an unhealthy atmosphere in the surrounding areas. We had asked the government to take up cleaning of hyacinth in 1km stretch of the river as a pilot project. When a large amount of hyacinth was removed we thought we should try creating some artifacts. We have been creating art pieces from banana fibre, so it became easy for the craftsmen to work on hyacinth. Unlike banana fibre, the hyacinth takes the dye very well,” says Shama Pawar, founder of Uramma Crafts in Anegundi.
Shama added that the process to harvest hyacinth is a complicated one. “One has to separate the leaves and roots so that the stem part which is the raw material can be extracted. The stems needs to be dried for few days before they can be used for production. But we are unable to get large quantity of hyacinths for harvesting. We are requesting the government agencies to put some amount of extracted hyacinth for drying rather than sending it to landfill. When the raw material is available in large quantity, it is easy to extract the right kind of hyacinth stems for production,” she said.
A basket or a bottle holder could easily cost close to D400 whereas a similar artifact prepared from a banana fibre comes at D200. “The prices are higher initially as the preparation time and dyeing takes lot of labour ,” Shama added.