A Trip To Sualkuchi -- Manchester Of The East

(In the picture :the entrance gate of Sualkuchi )

A week back we took a trip to Sualkuchi ,the silk village of Assam.It is one of the world's largest weaving village often called the Manchester Of The East. It is situated on the north banks of the river Brahmaputra and is approx. 35 kms from my city Guwahati.It is a thickly populated village.Weaving is the major occupation of the people of this village.In Assam weaving comes next only to agriculture in terms of employment generation.The purpose of my visit was to buy few Mekhela Sadors ( Assamese traditional attire for women) and also to show my kids what weaving is all about.We have a fly shuttle loom at our house ,it is my mom-in-law's.Presently it is disassembled as the weaving room is still under construction.

(In the picture-our regular shop from where we buy our stuff)

One can easily find a vast range of silk in Guwahati itself ,but buying from the shops in Sualkuchi is all together a different experience ,you can even order a saree /mekhela sador in colors and designs of your own choice.One more important thing is that the stuff is cheaper here than the other places.
(In the picture : display of shop-owner's favorite designs )

The golden muga,white paat and warm eri are three unique varieties of silks that Assam produces .The aesthetic and artistic sense of the weavers here is remarkable.On Jan 9 1946 ,Mahatma Gandhi visited this village.One artist presented him a piece of pat cloth where his face was woven-the weaving was so fine that his smiling face showed even his two broken front teeth .Mahatma Gandhi remarked that weavers could weave dreams in their cloth.Mr.A.P.J. Kalam is the first President of India to have visited this place on 17th Oct 2006.
(In the picture - Dipu the salesman showing me a 100% pure paat -muga mekhela sador)

I wanted to buy a 100% pure pat-muga mekhela sador .Dipu showed me this one -i really loved the design and the texture but wanted few color changes .I ordered them one as per my choice .This particular piece is expensive because of its purity of the silk yarn used.Unlike other silk it can be hand washed and has got a muted glaze.I was surprised to find a very high rise in prices this time.I was told that it is due to the price rise in the silk yarn at Bangalore (silk exchange) from where the mulberry silk is supplied to Sualkuchi.The tassar yarn comes from Bhagalpur (Bihar)and Chattisgarh (Jharkhand).
Here are few colored paat-silk sets. 

My daughter was not happy with my color choice ,she wanted me to buy one of the pinks and dark blues.

(Here are few more mekhela-sador sets )

The lack of a government policy of supplying raw silk yarn to weavers here through a controlled market network has pushed the local weavers into the grip of both middlemen and the business men who control the entire raw silk yarn market.It is very sad that many loom less weavers are now loosing their job. Because of a sudden decrease in purchasing capacity,master weavers have decreased the numbers of loom they keep .

(One of the set that i bought that day.)

After good one and half hour we finished shopping.Later we requested the shop- owner to take us to their factory .Dipu ,the salesman wanted us to wait for one more hour as all the weavers were on their lunch break. He said that kids would enjoy the trip more if they see weavers in action .It was already too late so we decided not to wait for the weavers.We all followed Dipu-a narrow lane took us to the factory which was almost 100 mts away from the shop.

After 10-15 minutes walk we reached there - it was a three storey building.We climbed  the first floor and reached this room where there were 15 nos of looms.The second floor had another room containing 20 looms.

This sight welcomes you through the main door.Honestly,the room was cramped and extremely hot.Dipu gave us a guided tour of the room. This is a traditional fly shuttle loom.
Silk thread spools (mohura is the assamese word for it) were spread all over the floor .
Some more colored silk yarns ...
Look how closely packed are all the looms ...
Thees are shuttles(maku is the assamese word) made of buffalo horn .
Paat silk thread basic spread ,on which designs are created.
These are hard paper cards on which different patterns are marked - these are used as guides for weaving the designs on cloth.
This is a bridal wear ordered by an NRI  couple for their  son's wedding .

Finally Dipu explained and demonstrated how weaving is done on the loom - my kids looked very attentive while my son was excited by the sound of the loom my daughter asked Dipu few questions .The trip had made kids tired and hungry.I always carry home made lunch packs, Dipu took us to this food-joint and left for work.We invited him for lunch but he was in rush .We all thanked him for giving us his time.

(Park Fast Food Joint .... the board looked pretty interesting )

This is Hotel Park...it is a small fast food joint ,we had  our lunch and also some rolls  from the joint .The place was clean and the snack we ordered was good too. The joint doesn't serve any tea or coffee but  we had a flask full of home made tea and disposable cups with  us. After an hour we left for Guwahati.We bought some local vegetables on our way back.If you ever visit Assam, i highly recommend a visit  to this silk village .