CHENNAI: About 50-odd kilometres away from Chennai, in the historic town of Pulicat (Pazhaverkadu), Nabisha, a 37-year-old traditional craftsperson is busy slitting palm leaves into thin strips, dipping and dyeing them with vibrant pigments and weaving them into intricate patterns. A few hours later, what we have is a candy pink jewellery box, a jade green masala box and a bright blue pouch, among other vibrant palm-leaf novelty. “Every box here has a story behind it.
This is our traditional craft and it is a symbol of the rich (but now vanishing) heritage of Pazhaverkadu. We hope to revive the heritage of the lagoon by drawing the attention of the public to our issues, through these beautiful boxes,” shares the mother of three. Nabisha, who is a part of AARDE Foundation’s art-based vertical, AARDE Craft, is among the 300-odd female artisans from the seaside town engaged in this trade.
“Earlier, we used to make and sell the baskets only in the local market here. We used to receive most orders during the Thiruvizha time and then some used to come when tourists visited the town. So the income wasn’t regular and there were hardly any profits,” she says.
An alternate livelihood
In 2010, when AARDE Craft was established by Xavier Benedict, founder of AARDE Foundation — an NGO working towards conserving the natural and built heritage of Pulicat — things began looking up for the residents of the former Dutch settlement. “We not only started making a steady income but also learned about how to incorporate new designs and add new colours to those designs. Until a few decades ago, when people from my mother’s and grandmother’s generation were engaged in the making of these boxes, there was a lack of awareness of such innovations. Now, we are ready to learn to not just to improve our livelihood but the entire economy of Pulicat,” she shares, talking fondly about her mannu (land), which has, over the years, turned into a site of conflict due to several projects including the massive commercial port expansion proposed by Adani Port Limited. These projects have not only been posing threats to the livelihood of the land and its residents but to its marine life, mangroves and overall ecosystem, she notes.
“Idhelam patha bayama dhange iruku (These situations scare us),” chips in another woman from the group, who wishes to remain anonymous. “My husband, like several other men from the town is engaged in fishing. Due to the entry of fibre boats, boat-making has almost vanished. So, fishing is one of the primary sources of income. If our marine space is affected by these projects, the silhouettes of men casting nets into the water will soon fade. This is our thozhil (job), what will we do without it? Where will we go?” she asks, perplexed. Despite being famous for its tiger prawns and mud crabs, the fishermen have, over the last several years, not been getting a steady catch every day, affecting their daily earnings. It’s during such times that another cash inlet via the palm-leaf basket making has been helping the families. “The situation was quite gloomy during the lockdown. We hardly had any orders and we didn’t have savings. Men weren’t allowed to go fishing. Romba kashta pattom (We suffered a lot),” she recalls.
But hope was restored in December 2020, when the Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI) lent a hand through grant assistance of `2 lakh for women from 20 palm-leaf handicrafts self-help groups of Pulicat to restart their craft activities. “We were struggling to procure raw materials to make the products as we didn’t have the needed funds. But this grant gave us a boost. We were able to make the products quickly and sell them in multiple venues this year, including the Book Fair and at DakshinaChitra,” shares Nabisha. Enabling the sales of this kind of palmyra crafts not only helps the livelihood of families in the Pulicat region but also draws attention to the state of the palmyra population in Tamil Nadu, which needs to be saved, says another master artisan. “The panaimaram workers too get a livelihood when they collect the panai olai and deliver it to us. It’s not just one person benefitting out of the crafts we do, but hundreds of families. Traditional crafts have always had a sustainable model and we are trying to revive it with help from NGOs like AARDE,” she shares.
Community effort
Making anything from Rs 100 to Rs 150 a day depending on the orders they receive, the women, mostly from Pulicat’s Muslim community, engage in making of the palm leaf basket and other novelty for almost nine hours a day. “Since we work out of our homes, women first finish all the household chores and then start making the baskets in the noon. Sometimes, we sit through the night and make it. Our families too help us. However, the younger crop of Pazhaverkadu’s residents don’t want to take this up as their full-time trade. But, they are all educated and with the knowledge they possess, they share ideas on how we can develop it,” shares 48-year-old Fathima, who has been weaving baskets for 36 years.
Walking us through the process, she explains how the olai is first delivered to their homes by the palmyra workers; the leaves are then dried under the sun for two days, slit into strips of different sizes, dyed in boiling water and then weaved. “We can make a few boxes in a day. But the entire process takes about three days. From rattles for toddlers, fans to pencil boxes, we are slowly innovating our offerings,” she explains.
Xavier, who along with his wife, has been spearheading the change in Pulicat, says it is a community effort. “This craft has been in Pulicat for generations. We are only enablers and catalysts in bringing them to the fore. Now, people have slowly started understanding and realising that we need handicrafts for sustainable development. Currently, AARDE is the only empanelled member in the list of NGOs doing palm leaf craft,” shares Xavier, whose journey began with post-tsunami relief work at Pulicat. Later in 2007, the not-for-profit trust was formed to promote and conserve the natural and built heritage of the lagoon.
Powerful and empowered
The second-largest brackish water ecosystem in India, a space that was once covered with dense mangrove forests, and a place with a mosaic of different ecologies is now under threat. “There’s a new proposal to reduce the mandatory 10-km eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around Pulicat to 500 metres. This might make the way for expansions smoother. But what about the livelihoods of those here?” asks Xavier. “Once the coastal lagoon wipes out, the rainfall pattern (Northeast monsoons) too will change. This is also a cyclone buffer space and a flood catchment area. Everything is interlinked and we cannot forget our vernacular ecological elements and our cultural landscape. AARDE Crafts initiative is a step to remind people of all this while providing livelihood,” he emphasises.
Besides empowering women, Xavier points that AARDE’s efforts have also reduced the rate of domestic violence in households. “The women have now started earning more than the men and have become the heads of the households. This puts them in a place of power. Men have not only acknowledged the role and importance of women in the fabric but have also changed and started offering help in expanding businesses. This will be an example for the children growing up in the households — to not only be independent but a lesson on how to treat women. Generational cycles of violence are now being broken and women are empowered,” shares Xavier.
Recently, a 12X8 feet shop at T Nagar was opened by AARDE Craft to sell palmyra products in the city. “The threats to Pulicat’s ecosystem have only been increasing over time and with it, the community’s efforts to save it. Because when the land goes, along with it, the life and livelihoods do too. It’s time more people acted upon it. It’s important this land is preserved,” says Xavier.
For details, visit: www.aardecraft.com or call 9884453409