Last August, the handloom village of Chendamangalam in Ernakulam district in Kerala was ready with hundreds of crisp new saris and dhotis for Onam, the State’s biggest festival. But nature had other plans. The once-in-a-century floods in the State submerged hundreds of weavers’ houses and handloom cooperative societies in the village, destroying livelihoods and drowning hope. Five societies with 600 weavers lost their finished textile products, traditional weaving instruments and huge stocks of thread, yarn and dye. Chendamangalam stared helplessly as a centuries-old craft, whose products received the Geographical Indication tag in 2012, and an entire heritage were on the brink of extinction.

But help poured in.

Fashion designers bought the muddied clothes, got them cleaned and sold them through their stores and social media. Clothes that seemed beyond salvaging took the shape of dolls called Chekutty, the child who survived the dirt, just like the little Tsunamikas of 2004. Run entirely by volunteers, sales of the dolls soared. Corporates and the government offered support.

“Those who returned home from relief camps had to start from scratch. Fashion designer Shalini James came to our rescue and helped us sell off whatever that could be salvaged. A survey was then conducted to calculate the loss. Riding a wave of goodwill, we have been able to restore all 28 looms at the weaving centre and the 71 domestic looms,” said P.A. Sojan, secretary, Chendamangalam Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society.

In October, the first loom was back in action. The first bulk order was for uniforms in government schools. Slowly, every loom wove its way back to revival. Today, hard work has helped Chendamangalam stay afloat after the deluge. The smell of new cloth fills the societies, the shelves are stocked with brand new saris once again and the weavers have got back their smiles and livelihoods.

Chendamangalam is busy weaving for itself a beautiful future.

Text and images by Thulasi Kakkat