TODAY -
The tall grass crafters - kauna grass mats
Northeast craftspersons are touring the country to introduce their work to a wider audience
The Hindu | Aruna V. Iyer | Tiruchi, March 30, 2012
The sun visits their land before it touches the rest of the country, their trees stand outnumbered by their bamboo shoots, their lives revolve around the handicraft skills passed through the generations, and their memories evoke the insurgencies in their pasts. Northeast craftspersons Irungbam Becha Chanu, Sujit Biswas and Swapan Kumar Dey have been touring the country with several others to introduce their craft to a wider, eager market. Here in the city till April 1, they speak about their crafts, lives and issues.
Women do it
“There are 36 varieties of bamboo in the Northeast region and each has a specific strength and use,” says Becha Chanu, who was taught how to convert their traditional kauna grass mats into handbags, slippers, flower vases and baskets by a local NGO. Today, Becha Chanu employs 10 girls from her village Pungdongbam in Manipur in the unit she runs at home. Together they make anywhere between Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 50,000 in a month. “In Manipur, many women go to work while their men do household work and take care of the children,” she says, adding that the rampant drug abuse in the region might be at the base of this role reversal. Manipur also has the renowned Nupi Keithel, a market run solely by female vendors. The grass from the village Langmei Thek, she says, is the best in quality. Bought in bulk to last the entire year, each bundle of the grass costs Rs. 200.
The craftsmen have displayed their handicrafts at exhibitions held at places like Chennai, Vellore, Madurai, Vishakapattnam, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Goa, Delhi and Bangalore among other places. link:
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* This Post is uploaded on March 30, 2012
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