Weaving across America

Deepa Bharath

Bean burritos, sandwiches and egg rolls don’t make much sense to Surya

Lal.

The 28-year-old carpet weaver from Saraichatrashah, a tiny village

near Varanasi on the banks of the river Ganges, is probably more used to

rice cakes, o7 rotlisf7 , or rustic wheat bread, and o7 bhajif7 , a

mishmash of vegetables.

But for a week, Lal, Shyam Narain and Harinath Patel have literally

tasted a piece of America as they demonstrated their craft to visitors at

Glabman’s Furniture and Interior Design in Costa Mesa, their second stop

in a nationwide, three-month tour.

“I love the food,” said Narain, speaking in Hindi. “I don’t even know

what it’s called or what it’s made of. But it tastes good.”

Strange as it may seem, visitors shared Narain’s sentiments -- not

about the food but the rugs he weaves. They didn’t know how the rugs were

made or where they came from, but they loved the way it looked on their

hardwood floors.

The weavers were able to make the trip across the globe thanks to a

partnership between the United Nations Development Program and the Indian

government. For all three, who have rarely left their village, it was

their first time on an airplane.

“Everything is so clean here,” Patel said. “I don’t feel like I’m out

of place, although I don’t understand the language. I think it’s because

the people are so nice.”

On Friday, the trio sat cross-legged in front of the 12-foot-tall

wooden loom that weighs almost 5,000 pounds as they cut and knotted

threads, working on a 9-by-12-foot carpet.

A carpet that size is made up of more than 2 million knots and takes

six months to complete with four weavers working three to four hours a

day. They weave colorful woolen yarn into a panel of cotton threads that

serves as the base for the carpet.

Back home, the weavers said, they mostly work during the day because

of erratic power supply. Most nights, there is no electricity.

These model weavers at Glabman’s wore traditional Indian clothes --

cotton o7 kurtaf7 and o7 pajamaf7 , a loose shirt and pants, a

hand-woven vest and a white cotton cap.

In their village and in scores of neighboring hamlets where people

work from their mud and brick homes, weaving is not an art or a craft.

It’s a vocation, which they know will put food on their tables.

These part-time weavers make as much as 3,000 rupees, about $60 a

month. When they are not making rugs, they farm the land bequeathed to

them by their ancestors. They grow rice, wheat and seasonal vegetables.

None of them ever took courses in weaving. It is knowledge that has

been passed down from one generation to another, said 40-year-old Patel,

who started weaving when he was 17.

“I was never interested in all of this when I was a boy,” he said.

“But I realized I have to take interest. There’s nothing much I can do in

my village but farm and weave.”

Narain, 35, had a similar experience. He was barely 14 when his father

introduced him to weaving.

“I was just playing and goofing around,” he said with a laugh. “I

never went to school after second grade. I’ve grown up watching my dad

weave. I guess it just came naturally.”

The designs are provided by Masterlooms, the company they work for.

Masterlooms employs more than 200,000 weavers near the Varanasi area,

said Mahesh Ohri, the company’s production coordinator for India and

Nepal.

“This is a great opportunity for these three,” he said. “They would’ve

never imagined in the wildest dreams that they would come to the United

States.”

For visitors, it is an education, event coordinator Kathy Jarvis said.

“We wanted to stimulate an appreciation for this art among customers,”

she said. “But more than anything else, it’s to show them that these are

people, and this is what they do, and this is how they live. It’s simply

amazing.”