StyleSpeak: Fruit of the Loom
By Wendell Rodricks
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit caressed the sari exclaiming,” It
feels so wonderful. It feels like the hands of the weaver have given it
lightness, a softness….How can I thank you enough for what you are doing?”
“Ma’am, wear it with the happiness it was woven with”, I replied.
Over at 10 Janpath and at Lodhi Estate, the sari woven in the style of
Kunbi weave enjoyed a similar reaction from the Gandhis.
What a crazy two weeks this has been. I felt that the Gods and the
planets were propelling my dream forward.
Two weeks ago, my assistant Sheryl told me, “This is such an important
collection. You need to document it on film. And we need to get someone
to model it. I need photos for the Press”.
Eyeball deep in fabric, I thought only of how to get the forty final
garments completed in the two weeks. Fittings were looming up on 22nd
October 2010. To accomplish a collection, we must aim to do fifty five
ensembles and edit them down to forty. Edwin Pinto was given the designs
for the shoes to resemble grass. He delivered in under two weeks. A team
of villagers in South Africa wove the beaded belts, straps and bag
handles for the collection. When I look back, it is amazing that things
were falling into place like clockwork.
In July 2009, I employed a young NIFT graduate Poonam Pandit to begin a
weaving project and revive the Kunbi sari weave using natural
eco-friendly dyes. By November, reluctant and terrified Goan weavers,
who earlier wove only loin cloths and jodha ponchas in coarse cotton,
finally produced the first stoles. It was time to move them to a full
sari width of 45 inches. Understandably they were intimidated at the
prospect of doing an entire sari. I designed the sari to incorporate
Kunbi style lines, checks and ikat. By end September, we had not just
the saris but woven fabric in manjista red, guava leaf green, iron ore
black and indigo blue. On some looms, we managed to weave striped fabric
for shirts and kurtas.
I reminisced how everyone said it was an uphill task and this weaving
project in Goa would not take off the ground. Exactly what I need.
Nothing like a challenge to propel me into action.
How the collection rocketed to the studio racks I have no idea. In the
last week, confident that the studio in Colvale was up to do the fifty
five garments I estimated, I remembered Sheryl’s request to do a
documentary. One week to go, I called Sandesh Prabhudesai at Prudent
television. He put me in touch with Sainath Parab from Santa Cruz who
agreed to film the dyeing, weaving and studio shots I needed. He gave an
estimate of costs but on hearing about the Kunbi sari weave revival, he
refused to charge a rupee. “You are doing so much for Goa. How can I
charge?”
With passion and excitement, Sainath trailed us through dyeing vats and
shuttles flying across looms. We did a four minute video to be played
before the show.
Somewhere along the way, the Department of Tourism, Government of Goa,
joined in to support the project. It was a wise move since the video and
part of the collection can have an impression at tourism fairs.
Choreographers Aparna and Tanya in Delhi chatted about the show. “Apu is
coming to Goa. You should talk and settle the details”, Tanya Lefebvre
told me.
We met at Café Coffee Day in Miramar.
Apu was excited on seeing the saris and the fabric. “We should get some
ladies who like cotton saris to come in on this show. Make some of them
walk”.
The list of cotton saris wearers … How many are there? Sonia Gandhi,
Priyanka Gandhi, Sheila Dixit, Anushka Shankar, Nandita Das. No way can
we ask the Gandhis to walk. There was no time to present the sari and
get a video byte either. Anushka is a fan of my clothes but recently
married overseas. Nandita just had a baby.
My partner Jerome warned “Please don’t get Bollywood into this cultural
statement. I know we can get a Rekha or Malaika to do this but stay true
to the project and make the sari the showstopper.”
I called my Mumbai resident Goan friend, Theron De Souza, to do the
voice over on the video. I could courier the video to him and could he
do the dubbing in Bombay? This was a weekend and it meant I would loose
two vital days; plus courier time.
“Hey Wendell I am in Goa tomorrow. We will do it at your Altinho house.
I have all my recording stuff with me.”
As easy as that. The stars were smiling down.
We recorded the voice over next evening. His deep baritone is the best
voice in India. Sainath and DJ Troy Furtado began to mix the voice and
music track onto the video. Troy does all my show music. A friend
introduced me to T J Rehmi who did my Paris show music. I used four
tracks he gifted me. Troy layered in the sound of the shuttle hitting
the loom for the show music.
On a river cruise own the Mandovi, I spoke to a writer friend about the
project.
“Hey listen, why don’t you call Nandita Das? She is in town. I am sure
she will give you a byte.”
Now it seemed like the stars and the planets were cruising overhead at
top speed.
Nandita gave a fabulous ‘closing show’ byte, which Sainath recorded in
failing light. The result was cinematic.
Now we had the video pre show and post show.
Jasleen Dhamiija, historian and curator of Indian costumes in the best
museums in the world stepped in next. She had an impressive exhibition
for the Commonwealth Games at the Crafts Centre in Delhi. Titled Power
Cloths of the Commonwealth, I was certain she would be tired and refuse.
To my astonishment she agreed to open the show with a passionate speech
on the weaving we are doing and how important this sari is to Goa and India.
Four days to Delhi and more doors opened. Sheryl kept asking for Press
photos. At home in Colvale, photographers Farrokh Chothia and Denzil
Sequeira came over for dinner as our friend actress Lisa Ray was in
town. Over dinner, Lisa turned to me “Wendllie. I will pose for you in
your sari”. She did. The next morning. Now I was convinced the Gods
joined the planets and the stars to smile down on me.
I had Lisa’s photos just in time for the hasty Press Conference we
called a day before we left Goa for Delhi.
It did not end there. When a friend in Delhi heard about the Kunbi sari
weave, he got me into salons of the power list and access to the highest
offices in the country.
We did fittings and the models raved. A sure sign that a successful
collection is in the offing. How successful I did not I realize until I
walked out at the show finale… into a standing ovation.
Back in Goa, the real work begins. We need to revive the weaving for
young students, women and men in villages who can begin weaving at home
or in co-operatives. There is a lot that can be done in areas of
education and training. I revived a weave. Now we need to sustain the
interest in the first sari woven in Goa since possibly half a decade.
The Kunbi sari was lost to machine looms outside Goa.
There is a lot one can do with the tribals of Goa. The original
inhabitants of the land, they deserve dignity above the manual labour
and alienation we have subjected them to. When I visited the tribals I
was shocked how little is done for their progress. Weaving is only one
area we can begin to encourage them.
It is my sincere wish that the Kunbi “dance performers” at state events
and carnival floats are not made into caricatures of curious
entertainment. They need our co-operation, guidance and patronage.
May all of Goa rise to that occasion! (ENDS)
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First published in Goa Today, Goa - November 2010
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