Living each day

Let me share the story of a widower in his mid seventies who live in the interior part of a village in north Kerala.

He weaves a bamboo basket everyday five or  six days in a week and walks five kilometres to reach the nearest market to sell it. He gets anything between 100 and 130 rupees for this. It takes him about five hours to weave it, and about two hours to split the bamboo to make these narrow and long flexible pieces to weave.  He gets his bamboo stems from a contractor who drops them at his road side thatched house, once a week for which he has to pay three hundred rupees. He earns about two hundred rupees or so a week, which makes him live below the poverty line. 

His wife used to help him weave till she passed away  following a protracted illness with cancer. They both used to make three baskets each day, which brought in enough income for the family.

These bamboo baskets were the only containers to carry head load in the vegetable market or transport fish. But the plastic baskets have replaced these bamboo baskets. The plastic basket costs less and lasts longer. The bamboo baskets are in less demand. Until five years back, he could get the bamboo from the forests free. Now, that access is denied except to people from the tribal community. Times have changed and it is no longer a viable source of income for those who have lived on this trade. 

These artisans, who have traditionally lived on this family trade,  are a disappearing community with younger members of the family least inclined to engage in a trade which brings no returns for their livelihood. 

It is a peice of art as you look at these baskets. They are made with much craftsmanship and design. There is an aesthetic and elegant look. It reveals how skills and effort can create a designer basket, that deserve to be patented because of it belongs to a class of its own.  

The present business climate is not in favour of such creative initiatives. And yet there are some Non-govenmental organisations with assistance from government funding trying to revive and foster such traditional crafts and trade. There is an annual trade and exhibition fair in New Delhi, where craftsmen display their produce. There is an international market for such produce. 

The story of this senior citizen represents the woes of economic development. His story is never the guiding factor when policy makers design economic or industrial policy. His is a lone voice and lives a lonely life; his needs are ignored; he does not have many on his side to take his sides.

 One of such ones may even be our neighbour!    

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)