Kerala - On The Road To Recovery

Six months after the worst floods in a century, funds and shortages persist but the state is slowly getting back on track.

- Jeemon Jacob

Chendamangalam is a quaint little village some 30 km from Kochi in central Kerala. Part of the Muziris heritage tourist circuit, pit stops include a centuries-old synagogue and the lovingly restored Paliam palace. But its most famous export has always been Chendamangalam Kaithari, cotton clothes with their own GI tag made by a 200-year-old cluster of handloom weavers. The weavers have been living in the area since Paliath Govindankutty Menon, the last prime minister of the Kochi kingdom, brought them from the Andhra-Karnataka border to introduce a new dress code for the royal family and citizens. Kerala has been wearing the weaves from Chendaman galam’s looms ever since.

But 2018 was a bad year for Chenda mangalam, like for much of Kerala. In the week-long deluge in August 2018, the village was inundated. The cluster lost everything, houses were washed away, looms destroyed, stocks worth crores kept in expectation of the Onam festivities ruined.

For a while, it looked like it would be an impossible task to revive an industry and a tradition that was struggling even before the floods struck. But seven months on, that unlikely denouement has actually come to pass. A majority of the looms are up, Chendamangalam is buzzing again. A lot of factors and people were involved in this revival—individual and corporate donations, social media, the local Kochi fashion industry, the administration, even Cherooty, a rag doll made from spoiled stock and now the Rebuild Kerala initiative (RK) icon, which helped tell the world how the floods couldn’t kill the people’s spirit.