KALAMKARI CHRONICLES

A day's trip to an artisanal site at Pedana in Machilipatnam made us realise what makes this craft stand the test of time... and calamities!

- PRATTUSA MALLIK

"OF course, our units remain functional even during the monsoons. Sometimes, if it rains for more than 10 days, all the units remain shut and we provide the artisans with supplies of rice. But out of four months of monsoon, hardly a month's labour would go to waste because of that," said master artisan Durga Nageshwar Rao, when we visited his kalamkari workshop in Pedana of Vijayawada, earlier this year.

Cut to September. By now, heavy rains have flooded major parts of south coastal Andhra Pradesh, affecting more than 10 lakh people. Vijayawada, in particular, bore the brunt of floodwater from Budameru Rivulet and was among the most affected regions. While the state government has provided families of weavers with 50 kg of rice under their relief measure, the calamity has posed yet another blow to the already-receding kalamkari art.

When we visited Pedana on a breezy wekeend, the situation now would have seemed like a distant nightmare. Our trip was hosted by Jaypore an artisanal brand by ABFRL. We were visiting the block-print kalamkari craft village in Machilipatnam, to discover how a kalamkari fabric develops from its inception.