Monday in the Field: Silk, Sarees, and Slurry

Monday began with a bit of excitement for Alex and me as Alex spotted our first Indian snake! I wasn't quick enough with my camera to get a decent photo, but it was very beautiful. Alex managed to get a better picture with his phone, which is on his blog here.

After breakfast, we headed out to the field again with Manni, and Ronny also joined us. Manni took us first to Somandepalli village, where we met up with Radha, another of the SEDS fieldworkers who lives in Somandepalli. Manni had brilliantly organised for Radha to arrange a visit to the machine looms, just a couple of hundred metres from Radha's home, and where her husband works. 

This is the final part of the silk process, so it was very interesting to see this work having previously seen the sericulture. The only part we haven't now seen is the processing of the raw silk into silk threads, and the dying process.

As all of the workers were men, so I was the only other female, Radha took my bag for me and proudly showed me through the several rooms of looms and we marvelled together over the intricate sari designs and vivid colours. It was mesmerising to watch. The rhythm of the looms was quite hypnotic, and the beauty of the colours and woven designs was almost difficult to look away from. The longer you looked, the more spectacular detail you noticed.

The photos do not do it justice!

Radha and her husband Ramanti

Next, Radha invited us back to her home for some tea, and showed us photographs of her family. Radha also talked with a touching enthusiasm about how much she loved her job, and how proud of it she is. She also talked with real emotion about how grateful she is for the pieces of furniture that 'Madam' (Manil) has given her to help furnish her small home. Radha has only worked for SEDS for about 18 months, but she seems a really lovely person and Manni agrees that she is good at her job.

After this welcome refreshment in Radha's home, we went to visit some biogas families.

Shammy gets a flame going after conducting some maintenance at this home

Tiny puppy seeks shade...

At the next home we visited, the family had two power looms and made saris in their own home. The family were extremely friendly and welcoming, and they brought out chairs for us all to sit and made us delicious tea to drink.

The second family were rightly proud of their biogas flames

At the second family's home. Finishing the saris is women's work, and these ladies were tying coloured tassels to the finished sari.

Beautiful sari design

The family's loom, which uses old-school computer technology of punch cards to create the intricate patterns

Me assisting with the sari tassels before we had some tea with the family

The lady I was making tassels with, with her beautiful little boy

After we finished our tea, we realised how late we were for lunch! Before we left however, the family brought out a tray of coloured powder and flowers for puja, and Manni gave me a third eye on my forehead.

We returned to SEDS for a very late lunch, and some time to do uni work and chores that needed to be caught up.