Dhobi Khana in crisis as work dries up

KOCHI: Never in their 300 years of settling down in Fort Kochi have the members of Vannan community at Dhobi Khana imagined that they would be deprived of work.The disruption of the tourism and hospitality industry owing to the lockdown has rendered them jobless. An app that was in the making remains dormant and a project with ‘Save the Loom’ to revive their trade, establish a cultural connection and provide a space of dignity too has also come to a halt due to the pandemic. 

M B Kannan, treasurer of the Vannar Sangham, said jobs were scarce in the weeks leading to the lockdown and were completely nil in April and May. Foreign tourists placed a lot of value on our ancestral work and would contribute regularly. In the past two months, we decided that we wouldn’t entertain any visits in keeping with the rules of social distancing.

Life has been so hard for the 40 families engaged in the trade that they had to depend on community kitchens. Primarily, our dependence was on homestays and a few hospitals but the former are completely shut and the latter do not place a lot of orders these days,” he said.  It is believed that the Dutch army brought the washermen community of Tamil Nadu to Veli in Fort Kochi to wash their uniforms in the 1720s. “It was just a 13-acre land with several ponds back then. Later, a part of the land was taken away and sheds to dry the clothes and an ironing yard were built for us,” he said.

 Ramesh Menon, founder of ‘Save the Loom’, had initiated a cultural project at the Dhobi Khana in March. “At Save The Loom’ we have a programme called FACT (Fund for Artisans and Craft Traditions) which primarily creates social action for supporting and aiding human capital in traditional sectors. This initiative is two-pronged -- to protect the human skillset and traditional crafts and arts, and bring recourse and resource to the traditionally skilled artisans, craftsmen, and workers,” he said. 

‘Save the Loom’ which has been working with Chendamangalam weavers wanted to create a cultural exchange. “When woven, the cloth is starched in a certain manner. Nowadays, people prefer unstarched material. There is a post-loom process where we tend to reprocess the textile, rewash it and make the same lighter.

So we contemplated associating with people who have been already engaged in that line of work. We wanted to bring pride in their work, celebrate the tri-centenary, and have a beautifully handwoven product processed traditionally. All handwoven sarees are hand-washed, sundried and ironed with the charcoal iron boxes. Besides providing employment,we follow the principle of handmade goods being energy conservant, and is part of a social campaign. However, more is required, as our project isn’t enough to sustain the people,” said Ramesh.

FACT Scheme
The programme Fund for Artisans and Craft Traditions aims to create social action for supporting and aiding human capital in traditional sectors. The initiative aims to protect traditional crafts and to bring recourse and resources to the traditionally skilled artisans.