Slow life

In the craft clusters of Kachchh, weaving is intensely personal and often the only bridge that connects the past with the present.

- ARMAN KHAN

The desert of Kachchh in Gujarat is a searing white canvas spanning 30,000 square kilometres with parts of it in Pakistan. The sand glistens, sticking like glitter to camels’ hooves as they plod across the arid landscape. Squint and you’ll see a line of Agariya farmers working the salt pans, often the only caesura marking the horizon. Look farther and colours start to emerge— bright red bands merging with dusty yellows, covering the bhunga mud houses and making the desert sing.

Kachchh is home to one of the country’s most densely packed craft clusters— weavers, leather craftsmen, potters moulding the abundant clay into objects of wonder and artisans working with Ajrakh.

“Kachchh has always been an independent, isolated region because of the difficult geographical terrain, so the locals had to use all their might to build a unique system of survival through the crafts and the pastoral economy,” says Meera Goradia who has been working with various craft clusters over the past three decades. Her recently published book, Weaving with Compassion: The Rikhyas of Kutch (Tara Books), transports readers into the heart of this region.

This resilience is palpable in the weavers of Kachchh. The craft becomes intensely personal, tied to their lives and motivations. Raji Murji Loncha, a waste-plastic weaver from the remote region of Avadhi Nagar in Kachchh, who joins me on Zoom, says that weaving gave meaning to her life after her husband passed away.

“It was easy to feel like nothing mattered because his sudden death was so traumatic that I’d even forgotten my children for days. It was my sister who helped me save and purchase a loom that I operated from her house.” While she learnt the basics of hand-weaving as a child and was out of practice, it was her sister’s idea that she learn weaving on the loom to upskill herself if she was to be the sole breadwinner for her children.