Travelogue - The Desi Saree Story

    Just before Diwali this year, I got a call from my elder sister staying in Singapore."It's Diwali time, Let's do some Desi Saree Shopping!" she said excitedly. I was astonished at her desire and also immediately filled with what, why, how, where!

Turned out, she wanted an authentic hand-woven handloom Silk Saree and thus began The 'Desi Saree' Story...

Notes for Readers: The word 'Desi' describes the people, cultures of Indian subcontinent. a 'handloom Saree' is garment woven by hand on a pit or frame loom generally located in weavers homes and without the use of any electricity. The other kind of cloth / Saree is manufactured in Power looms. 

(File Photo)    

A Weavers Story:

     My mind immediately flashed back to my last trip to Varanasi, where we directly met weavers, showing us different varieties - Banarasi, Valkalam, Baluchari, Jamawar and many more.

            

    I remembered one weaver who brought boxes of his handwoven Sarees and just on opening the box we felt these were not the kind of colours we were looking for, so we asked him to close the box to save him the trouble of opening and again folding so many Sarees. We were totally taken aback when he said "It does not hurt to fold the Sarees over and over again and again, but it does hurt when you choose not to even take a look at our work. It takes 15 to 30 days to weave a single Saree with intricate work. At least take a look, if you don't like anything, no worries, but if you do like and buy something, this will help light the stove in our homes". 

    Notes for Readers: India produces roughly 85 per cent of the world's handwoven products, Handloom is one of the largest employment providers in our country after agriculture. While power looms have replaced handlooms the world over, they live on in India.

Where do I find the authentic handwoven Sarees?

    I was aware of the challenges being faced by weavers, but the question was how to reach them! I needed a single shop sourcing all varieties of Sarees from authentic weavers across India, and soon a perfect answer came up! Of course! The Madhurya Shop, from Weaver to Wearer! Link: Madhurya