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Video Producer: Maaz Hasan
Video Editor: Sandeep Suman
The city of Ghats, Varanasi, is famously known for one of the world's finest silk sarees—the Banarasi sarees— the craft of which dates back to 14th century. In the narrow lanes of Varanasi, there are many small colonies of weavers who have preserved the ancient craft of making sarees.
Zakir Rehman, a resident of Varanasi, guides me through these lanes in which small factories have been running for centuries. Across these narrow lanes, I saw groups of elderly people sitting beside the fire to beat the chilling winter cold.
Upon asking, Shamin Ansari says, "We aren't sitting here just to beat the cold, but also because we don't have work." And further, in the conversation, he told me that he has been weaving Banarasi sarees for over four decades and his family is in the craft for 5-6 generations. He is now struggling for livelihood.
The silk weaving neighbourhood comes under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency. Weavers say that even before the pandemic arrived, they were struggling for their livelihood. Lockdown turned out to be the final nail in the coffin as demand dropped to all-time low leaving the weavers no option but to leave the city to meet their ends.
Moving further inside the colony through the narrow lanes, I met Shiv Prasad, a weaver, in a vacant plot that had boundary walls made with raw bricks. Prasad says, "During the lockdown, the saree mill owners had to take loans and sell their valuables to survive and pay for the rotis of weavers who were unable to go back to their homes during the lockdown."
The uncertainty and intermittency of lockdowns have also made the lives of the weavers very difficult.
On one hand, if there is unpredictability over lockdown, then on the other hand, inflation is hitting them hard. Before the pandemic arrived, the threads used to cost around Rs 200-220, now it costs Rs 300-320.
Uttar Pradesh goes for elections from 10 February. The community of weavers complains that none of the political parties care for them or even think about working towards protecting this ancient craft. So, how much effort was taken to safeguard the craft? This shouldn't be taken just as a question but as a point to ponder over the lives of the weavers.
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