Now that malkha has created a name and a demand for itself in the market, we in the Decentralized Cotton Yarn Trust and the Malkha Marketing Trust with our technical collaborators Fractal Foundation have to put all our energies into streamlining production. This is not easy, as some of the earlier blogs have discussed, because the pre-spinning activity is entirely new to villages... or can be considered new since it has not been done at this level [and certainly not in this way] for at least half a century except in the extraordinary villages of Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh, where they still use traditional technology. Certainly the Gramaspinner pre-spinning machinery with its micro-processor controls is new to rural settings.

The entire production process has to work smoothly, employing people who have never before worked in such an enterprise that combines a traditional artisan activity such as hand-weaving with the running of state-of-the-art pre-spinning machinery, and which includes either mechanized spinning or domestic motorized yarn spinning. Each stage has a different speed and rate of production, and of course each stage is dependent on the one before, so all the producers must collaborate and co-operate for the whole operation to work.

Though that is a huge problem an even bigger drawback is the lack of electricity, with swingeing power cuts reducing working times: this is the biggest drawback to productivity that we face today. In the long term we hope with the help of Fractal to address this problem by trying out alternative energy sources, but in the short term this is a serious handicap. However, we cannot wait for solutions to the power problem before we go ahead with setting up more malkha centres. We hope that while we go ahead and commission more malkha production that the various experiments currently going on - in the country and throughout the world - in generating energy through sun, wind or bio-mass will come up with a viable solution for small-scale, dispersed, low-energy, village based production.

The malkha stall at the Nature Bazar has done well, reaching its target sales figure in four and a half of the 10 days of the Bazar. For the first time there is a malkha garment, a plain, well tailored unisex tunic at a reasonable price in 4 sizes. Prints and natural dyed fabrics have been selling particularly well. Much of the sale, as is usual in Delhi but not in Bangalore, has been of large quantities to retailers. In Bangalore on the other hand 90% of our sales are direct to customers.

We have also managed to offend a customer who wanted fabric that had already been sold but not yet packed, but have assured her that we will produce and deliver the fabric later.

The Malkha Project, an initiative of 3 designers Mayank Mansingh Kaul, Peter D'Ascoli and Aneeth Arora was launched at Melange boutique in Mumbai on October 18. The designers now plan to hold more such events in other cities. Malkha also figures in Tarun Tahiliani's grand finale show at Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week in a few days. Ipshita Maitra's film team has already filmed the Mumbai event and will be shooting Tarun's show. They will also shoot at the Nature Bazar and at malkha production centres.

A malkha culture is being built, based on on mutual respect among producers, marketers and customers. In this way of doing things, producers learn to do quality work, marketers learn to charge fair prices from customers and to share returns with producers... and customers too are changing. In the old way all three tried to extract more from the process for themselves at the cost of the others. Producers were the weakest of all and got the least share of the value. The customer was king and he, she or they often abused the privilege of power. Intermediary marketing agents approriated value from both customer and producer.

But when the protocols of market exchange do not evolve in tune with prevailing socio-political norms and conditions individuals at the weakest end of the production chain refuse to accept unfair roles. This is what is happening in the handloom industry of India today: weavers are leaving the profession in droves, as much because of the lack of respect they get from market agents and customers as because of their low earnings.

In the malkha process democratic traditions are slowly taking hold. Malkha Marketing Trust introduces weavers and pre-spinning machine operators directly to customers at exhibitions, and they see that their products are valued and in demand. This promotes trust and transparency and makes producers proud of their work and therefore interested in quality aspects. Customers appreciate not only the qualities of the cloth but also the story behind it. It is rare that a customer questions the price. And MMT hopes to become a model for commercial marketing agencies that treat both customer and producer fairly.

This is one of the new prints, designed by Vaishali Bahel for malkha, that will be ready in time for the Nature Bazar in October. The blocks were made at Gangadhar & Narsaiah's workshop. We have tried to retain the characteristic creeper format of traditional kalamkari, but would like to introduce local plants which would be familiar to the block makers and printers, rather than the stylized tulips and carnations that have been the basis of kalamkari for perhaps 400 years. Ideally, we would like to involve the block carvers and printers too in the design process, but this hasn't happened yet. We cautiously asked Gangadhar's opinion of Vaishali's designs [this one of course is the peepul, the other is the gulmohar]. "Baag unnaii kaani kalamkari ledu" he said ["Very nice but not kalamkari"].

Its a continuous source of wonder how different colours change the character of the design.Would love to get comments and suggestions.

The malkha film

The film crew who is shooting the malkha film includes Saravanakumar of Ecotone who has shot the beautiful pictures on our website. His usual field of action is wild life photography: he is one of the tiny group of Indian wild life photographers. He edited the highly acclaimed 'Wild Dog Diaries' and his work is often featured in National Geographic magazine. The film will be directed by Ipshita Maitra, a theatre and film director, and produced by Anand Ramachandran, who describes himself thus: 'Humorist. Game designer. Gaming columnist. Comics creator. Gamer dad'.

The team will be shooting at the Malkha stall at Dastkar's Nature Bazar, IGNCA, Janpath, Delhi on the evening of October 23 and the next morning, so all of you who want to speak your piece about malkha please use the opportunity to broadcast your views.

Harry Rivett-Carnac was sent to India by the colonial government in 1867 as 'Cotton Commissioner for the Central Provinces and the Berars'. At that time this area stretching eastwards from Nagpur was one of the most productive cotton textile regions of the country. Originally ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad, it was wrested from him by Curzon [the Nizam was compensated by an empty British title 'Grand Commander of the Bath'..."Gave Curzon Berar" was his bitter comment].

Rivett-Carnac zealously set about his task of emptying the region of cotton through improved rail and telegraph. The result is chronicled in Laxman D Satya's Cotton and Famine in Berar: 1850-1900. In the course of his duties Rivett-Carnac as is the wont of the 19th century European official, meticulously recorded his observations which are available in his Report on the Operations of the Cotton Department for the Year 1867. In the Report he quotes from another Report, this one on the Assessment of the Land Revenue of the Chimmoor Pergunnah in the Chanda District, December 1864:

"An important article of trade in Chimmoor which finds its way to the weekly fair, and which, strange to say, has not been much affected by the great rise in the price of the raw material, is the manufacture of coarse cloth, which is entirely in the hands of the Dhers, who spin the thread and work the looms. The cloth is coarse and strong, and is in great favour among the Kunbees of Berar, hard-working practical men, whom the comparatively flimsy, but smart looking English-made cloth does not suit..."

The author goes on to detail the number of stalls at the Jamoorghotta weekly market; of which 572 of the 1424 deal in cloth, yarn and cotton. Of these 572, by far the largest segment is the 350 Dhers selling 'coarse cloth of their own manufacture'. The market itself he says '....it must be remembered is but one of the many places to which the peasantry flock for the cloth made by the Dhers...' He reckons the 'annual consumption of cotton in these Provinces to be not less than 60,000 bales'

Dhers, of course, were not weavers by caste. Caste weavers would not make their own yarn whereas the Dhers seem to have ginned and carded the cotton themselves and woven the cloth too. I wonder if they figure at all in our estimates of the scale of the Indian cotton textile industry of that time. If there are 350 sellers of the coarse stuff at one of the many weekly markets of the area, besides 110 'Rungarees, dyers, selling stamped and dyed cloth, native, 25 shops selling expensive turbans, dhotees, shawls &c of native manufacture, 5 Koshtees, weavers of finer native cloth, and 5 Salewurs selling coloured cloth for women besides 25 wholesale traders of cotton and 25 sellers of cotton thread' what would have been the total annual local production of cloth? [There are also 5 'shops selling English cloth &c']. And how many families would have been employed in the spinning, dyeing, printing, weaving, transport and trade? And what would have been the value of the local textile industry?

"Your cotton has been amongst the most comfortable I have ever worn" writes Prabha Patodia from Mumbai, having bought "almost all your prints that you had with you" at the Kala Ghoda show in February of this year, and asking when we were going to be in Mumbai again. Indeed the prints designed by Sutanu continue to be a huge hit at all our public appearances. Particularly the black butterflies, which are now teamed with black malkha fabric-dyed in Kutch.
Since we will not be in Mumbai till the next Kala Ghoda festival in February 2011, we'll send Prabha pictures of the new prints expected soon, and supply her through courier. Though much of our business is through wholesale to retailers we enjoy the direct contact with users at exhibitions or through the mail.