Weaving woes

HYDERABAD: Weaving fascinating designs out of bamboo strips, several poor families living in pockets of the Old City for decades have been unable to string together a stable life for themselves. Stuck in dingy lanes either in slums or often in tiny houses made with bamboo on footpaths, these artisans say that their accommodation is just the beginning of their woes.
A walk through Chaderghat to Putlibowli, areas around the Exhibition Grounds in Nampally or in the lanes of Goshamahal, brings one face to face with the reality these craftsmen face in the city today.
Mostly belonging to indigenous tribes from the state like the Yerukala, Bansod, Buriid and Medari, these people have traditionally practiced weaving of bamboo baskets as a profession over generations. While most of them hail from different parts of Telangana several others have migrated from Karnataka, Maharashtra or even Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Irrespective of where they come from, the threat of police razing their houses and temporary shops on footpaths remains a common fear. Although they pay the “landowners” (local leaders who claim ownership of the footpath spaces and encroached land) anything between Rs 800-1000 for the little space they occupy, the police refuse to take that argument. The only acceptable thing for them is money, they allege. “They confiscate our baskets and keep them at the police station. We need to fill in a chalan of Rs 100 and collect our property from them,” says Yadamma, 25, who stays in Kali Khabar slum and operates from the footpath in front of Victoria playground. However, she adds, if the police take away 10 baskets, even after they pay, they are returned at most eight, sometimes even less.
K Raju Kommulu, 30, also staying in Kali Khabar had moved to Hyderabad from Mahbubnagar six years ago with his wife. His children study in his village. So does he not want his future generation to learn the craft? “It’s a hard life for us. It’s better that they study and become officers. Here we hardly get two meals a day but still it is better than the village. After deducting the cost of the bamboo and its transportation, we make a profit of Rs 15-20 a day,” says Raju. He adds that during festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri and Diwali, the sales pick up.
Devi is a grassroots worker from the Old City who was in charge of relocating some of the bamboo workers from Chaderghat to interior areas of Falaknuma four years ago when their huts were razed down. She says, “Neither any NGO nor any art enthusiast has taken up their cause in a constructive manner. They are happy making baskets for vegetable sellers or an occasional ornamental basket during marriage season. They don’t even have any trade union support.” Devi says that caste issues too keep them shackled as they feel that as people from Yerukala tribe, they do not have the right to cater to everyone.
While North-Eastern states like Tripura and Manipur have done much to preserve and promote the bamboo industry, it has got no such support here. “While craftsmen from other states have had the opportunity of striking gold at the craft fairs organized across the country, Hyderabad’s bamboo ‘butta’ makers do not even have a roof over their heads. Does that have something to do with their social status in AP?” Devi wonders.