How Gen Z is greasing wheels of handloom weaving

NT Correspondent Bengaluru: When Malipeddi Bhagyawati sat down to spin, as part of the lecture-demonstration of the various processes involved in the making of Patnulu khadi, organised in a small school in Bengaluru, she was in for a surprise. The 20-odd teenaged students stumped her by jumping to answer what 'balni' or 'eku' is. They not only knew that the single spindle charkha she was using was rare these days although it was made uber popular by Gandhi -- they also knew the various processes of spinning, from ginning to carding. The 60-year-old from Ponduru in Andhra, the area where Patnulu khadi is made, had already been to a couple of such lec-dems in the city before she came to this particular school in the hinterlands of Bengaluru.

For Samyuktha Gorrepati, a textile designer from Hyderabad, who has been trying to help the weaving community, including spinners, build sustainable weaver business enterprises for the last couple of years, this awareness shown by the teenagers is one of the missing links that has led to the downfall of handloom weaving in India. "Traditionally, weavers cannot exist without spinners and they both cannot exist without an informed clientele who could tell the difference between the output of a single spindle loom like the one used in Ponduru and, say, the ambar charkha, which the khadi industry favours as it can accommodate up to 12 spindles and are easier to handle for large-scale productions," Gorrepati said.