CHENNAI: Ketange ketange ennanna ke tange… Pathamadai pai venumnu ketange… Rhythmically snapping her fingers, singing verses of a song from the film, Rosappu Ravikkaikari, Rahmat, a 29-year-old weaver from Pattamadai says, “As a child, I remember my father singing songs from yesteryear movies that spoke of the significance of these korai (a tall, grass-like plant) thread pai (mats). The mention of the dark green, maroon and purple pai in film songs didn’t cease."
"One of my favourites is the song Kummi Adi from Sillunu Oru Kadhal. Isn’t it exciting when what our families have been doing for generations gets mentioned in popular culture? It also gives us hope that our livelihood will never get erased from people’s imagination. But we can only hope,” she says, her tone switching from chirpy to morose.
Located amid lush paddy fields, lotus ponds and hills with the streaming Thamirabarani River for company, Pattamadai, a picturesque town around 20 km from Tirunelveli, has been home to skilled artisans of sustainable korai mats for centuries.
With the intricately woven, brightly dyed pai sent to different parts of the country as sleeping mats, special pai with names of brides and grooms interweaved, as fans, table runners, coasters, pouches and coin purses — one would only imagine that the art and the artisans in the quaint settlement are thriving. However, the reality is a far cry and the global pandemic has only furthered the devastations on the economics and job security of these traditional artisans. “Since our income and profits are based on the orders we receive for various events, especially weddings, the lockdown time was the most difficult.
For weddings, we usually make the pattu pai (a superfine variety) and pai with the names of the bride and groom on them. It’s time-consuming and costs `6,000 and upwards. Sometimes, we get orders for small memorabilia like pouches too. These orders usually come in bulk and help us tide for a few months. But last year, all the orders got cancelled and in some cases, we even had to return the advances,” Rahmat painfully recalls. The price of the mats differ depending on the labour involved, size, complexities of the design, grass count and start from Rs 1,500 onwards.
“All the mats are of ‘special quality’ because the korai used is sourced from the banks of Thamirabarani. It is soft and flexible and is soaked in the river for approximately a week. The mat has several properties and it primarily absorbs heat, keeping the body cool during summers. There is a lot of work that goes behind making a single mat and I wish people started seeing that before bargaining,” shares Rahmat. Zeenat Beevi, a 59-year-old master-artisan, who has been heading a women’s self-help group and engaging women in the making of the reed mats shares that she has never witnessed such a slump in trade.
“My father K Rahamathulla is a national awardwinning weaver. I learned the trade from him and for as long as I can remember, my life has revolved around the korai. Be it from cutting the grass, soaking it, splitting, drying, polishing and dyeing it to weaving it using the kuchaali (four-foot-long wooden needle), the korai has never given us any kurai (worry). But the pandemic hit us. The entire world is suffering its wrath and what can we do except pray? Dhinam indha ulagathukaga dua panren (I pray every day for the world),” says Zeenat, one among the hundred weavers from Pattamadai’s Muslim community engaged in the matmaking business.
Changing trade
Over three decades ago, several men too were engaged in the artisanal process. But today, the trade is primarily run by women. “The process of making a mat is backbreaking and when it was compensated with low-wages, many men didn’t want to continue working in this trade. So they travelled to the Gulf countries to look for other opportunities while the women engaged themselves in weaving from their homes,” says Zeenat, who features prominently in journalist and author Aparna Karthikeyan’s Nine Rupees an Hour, a book tracing the disappearing livelihoods of Tamil Nadu.
Life since the pandemic hasn’t been easy for weavers. With no savings to fall back on, several have had to seek help from money-lenders to keep their lives and businesses afloat. But, over the last few months, despite falling orders and uncertainties, they have gracefully risen from the ashes, reinventing themselves. Mohamed Fathima was hardly 12 years old when she first weaved a mat under the watchful eyes of her family, comprising several award-winning weavers.
Now, at 31, she runs Success Women, a self-sustaining unit of 20 women engaged in making the korai mats. “Earlier, I used to help my family in the making but for the last 10 years, I stepped in and turned it into a standalone business. During the lockdown, I was busy segregating raw materials so that it can help me in the making process after the pandemic,” she shares.
Skill training
Fathima was one among the 40 women from the Lebbai community, who were chosen by the Government of Tamil Nadu and Crafts Council of India for a skilling programme this year. The programme, designed by the Tamilnadu Skill Development Centre under SANKALP (Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Programme) funded by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and World Bank was held from January 11 to February 28. “The female mat weavers usually only weave and make the products, and awareness about how to run a business, save money or how to market the products are limited.
To tackle this, we were given 100 hours of training on financial literacy, digital literacy, design interventions and tailoring. Now, we know to take good photos of the products and upload them on social media pages and engage with customers. This has helped us reach a wider audience and get enquiries and orders directly from potential customers. While normalcy is still a long way ahead, we are at least on the right path,” shares Fathima, who has given the korai a spin by turning it into an interesting novelty including pen stands, phone covers, flower bouquets and laptop bags. “I am not in this trade out of desperation. More than the business, it is the art that I love. I am working towards taking it to a large audience to keep the legacy alive.
That’s why not receiving a profitable remuneration hasn’t pushed me to move away from the art of making these mats,” details Fathima, who has been running her business along with 20 other women, who took the training. Kavva Beevi, who has been making these masterpieces for three decades now, too underwent training. “During the lockdown, I had zero orders. I borrowed money from lenders to sustain my family and even for everyday meals. Now, with life slowly going back to normalcy and with wedding orders coming in, this training happened at the right time. Good eyesight and traditional skills are not enough to sustain the business anymore.
We have to update and upgrade ourselves. So, from experimenting with new designs and natural dyes and making contemporary products, we are trying to customise according to the needs of the buyers. Having a digital presence is also opening new avenues for us,” she elaborates. But, the lack of knowledge of another language besides Tamil is turning unfavourable. “Especially while travelling for exhibitions, not knowing another language puts us in a disadvantageous spot. We aren’t able to interact with customers and give them a peek into our process.
But I am going to learn another regional language or basic English to boost the art and our business,” she shares. Gita Ram, chairperson of CCI, who has been instrumental in making the skilling programme a reality says that the idea was to encourage artisans to think beyond the norm. “We gave them suggestions on what they can do in terms of colours and textures and even had a textile designer and master tailor teach the women to make handbags and other products. They were taught to use a smartphone and were enabled to understand what they can get out of it by way of using the information available on the Internet. In the wake of the training, three groups of women who emerged, have formed two-self-help groups and are currently working on chalking a business plan,” she says.
Business plans
With several plans already reaching the CCI’s table, Gita shares that they are being encouraged to think in an organised fashion. “We pose them with questions on how much grass, dyes they will need; how many mats they can make and how they are proposing to sell them. This will help them get a better grasp of the market and shape them to handle it better. While we haven’t worked out the modalities, the idea for a korai bank, e-catalogues of the products of the weavers and connecting them with e-marketing platforms are also simmering.
The idea is to enable self-sufficiency,” she explains. Under the leadership of Tirunelveli district collector V Vishnu, a group called Nellai Crafts has also been formed to assist artisans starting online sales. Soon, a virtual exhibition by CCI to exhibit the works of the artisans will be curated. “In a world where fast, machinemade products are minting money, handmade products like ours, unique, too deserve to be seen. We do not want our art and craft to die and be existent in just film songs. We won’t give up without a fight,” says Rahmat.
Pai popularity