After Plastic invaded Bamboo Handicrafts

Jothi, a traditional basket weaver from the tribal Medhar community, who resides at her shop-cum house at Mecricar Road in the bustling Rathina Sabapathi Puram, shows a picture of their ancestor, who is weaving a basket and being blessed by Lord Siva. The legendary basket weaver’s name reads as ‘Sri Ketheshwara’. But, the art and traditional occupation of weaving bamboo baskets is now in the brink with the intrusion of plastic in human life. As baskets and trays in different colours are available in plastic, the eco-friendly bamboo basket will soon become a thing of past.

“The Karnataka-based Medhar community migrated to Coimbatore during the rule of Tipu Sultan. Our ancestors, who lived in the adjacent places of the hills in Mysore and other cities, wove bamboo baskets and sold them on street sides. As they resided near the hills in Karnataka, they had easy access to obtain bamboo in the woods. The Indian bamboo rice Moongil Arisi, which is one of the costliest grains today, was once an ordinary, everyday diet of our ancestors.” says Sudharsan, the organizing secretary of the Medhara Samuga Nala Sangam, an association that works for the uplift of the Medhar community.

Recalling the role played by bamboo handicrafts in the cycle of human life, Nithya Shankar, the joint secretary of the organization, recalls:

“In the days, where Thottil (cradle) was made using a sari or dhoti for the infant, the cloth cradle separator was made using a bamboo artefact. Also, the plaything called Kilukiluppai (child’s rattle), which would be hung over the sleeping child, was made using bamboo. Nowadays, the dead is transported to crematorium in vans and flowers are strewn along the road in the journey. But, decades ago, the dead was carried on a Paadai (Brier), which we made using bamboo and decorated it with flowers”

On the role played by the bamboo basket on wedding occasions, Sudharsun says:

“Orders for making different bamboo baskets would pour in during the auspicious wedding seasons. The basket called ‘Uppu Koodai’ is still used to carry salt in Uppu Javuli, a pre-wedding custom of purchasing marriage attires for the bride and bride groom. Since the basket is used to carry salt as an auspicious thing, the basket itself has come to be called as ‘Uppu Koodai’

Saraswathy, another weaver of bamboo basket at Mecricar Street, worries:

“Since the income from our traditional occupation is hardly enough even to make both ends meet, the present generation of our community has little interest in it.And I don’t think our line of work will continue”

Different artefacts were once made with bamboo as Samayal koodai (basket used to separate porridge from rice), Pazha Koodai (Baskets to carry fruit varieties as apples, oranges and mangoes) and Kudalai (A small basket, in which flowers are carried to temples).

However, with the orders being very few nowadays, Ravikumar, another basket weaver, ekes out a living by weaving brooms.

“I am making these brooms after the Coimbatore Corporation has placed an order with me to supply them. You could have seen these brooms used by sanitary workers to sweep the roads of the city”