Gypsies take the trade forward

CHENNAI: While there are no air conditioned showrooms or polite sale girls walking you through a purchase, run down cane shops in the city still retain their old world charm which begins with the glee of actually watching the furniture get made as you place an order. And of course, the option to bargain does appeal the ‘fist shaking’ Indian in all of us. In a modern day set up, you even have a catalogue to choose from, ranging from a price range of Rs 350 to Rs 40,000! Raja reveals, “We get a lot of orders for food trays and baskets from big hotels like the Breeze and the Taj Coromandel, especially during Christmas.”Despite a good number of takers for cane furniture in Chennai, it seems the weavers get the raw end of the deal, getting paid a sum of Rs 300-400 per day. And what about the increment? The answer is abysmal. Manikandan replies, “Maybe an increase of Rs 10- 15 every year.” On the bright side, many weavers choose the option of freelancing with their employers, which means that if orders are on the low that month, there is the option to do the same work elsewhere on a piece rate basis. For these reasons, most cane workers do not want their children following in their footsteps. Manikandan, who has been a weaver for the past 20 years, says, “I won’t bring my children into this job. Let them go to school and study, then decide their profession for themselves.” This is a sentiment echoed by most of the elderly weavers who spend their time weaving this wooden art in silence.Quite in contrast to this scenario are the pavement dwelling gypsies on Spur Tank Road, Chetpet. With three generations having been in this business, these families hailing from Chitoor, Andhra Pradesh manage a pavement-to-customer business. Kumar (45) and his wife Lakshmi (25), who have been married for seven years, opine, “There are 30 families who live on this stretch. Everyone has something to do with the (cane) business.” He adds, “We send our children to school, but when they come back, they do their bit to learn and help out.” As a big surprise, Kumar reveals that their monthly income per family is `10,000. “We don’t want to get a house, because where will we put all of this?” He gestures around at the numerous cane shelves, lampshades, baby chairs and so forth lying on the pavements.Well, it seems our only hope for the art of cane weaving to be passed on to the next generation quite literally, lies in the hands of the gypsies. A decade from this date, when ultra-modern steel homes dominate the market, a single wish to buy my kids a rocking jhoola (swinging chair), crafted by hand, without the stain of a corporate barcode, might not be too much to ask.