Vadivelu's fifty-year odyssey in the handloom industry

Eighteen thousand days. That’s how long Vadivelu has been dedicating his life to a craft he loves. 

In a workplace set alight by young talent and bustle, Vadivelu, a man of few words, resembles a remnant of a bygone era - a time when designs were painstakingly manually executed on cardboard and when the zari was always, always a glorious pure gold that is now deemed too pricey. Just as golden as that zari is his jubilee in the weaving profession; half a century ago, his family bequeathed their legacy to him - the handloom - and he hasn’t let go of it ever since. “I’m sixty-nine years old,” he says, but the robustness in his voice - in contrast to his appearance - begs to amend his age to sixty-nine years young.

In Kanchipuram, the city that wears the fragrance of incense like a silk sari, every drape whispers a story. Once heralded as the birthplace of some of the most splendidly woven saris, it has now, perhaps, become a shadow of its former glorious self, with weavers feeling orphaned as handloom struggles to survive and shops selling poor powerloom-created imitations. In an environment that reeks of a growing despair and promise unfulfilled, weavers like Vadivelu are a breath of fresh air. He first rendezvoused with the partner that would become his companion and anchor through clear skies and cloudy ones in the 1970s: his loom. 

And while old looms have departed and new ones have arrived, the solace each one richly gives - the comfort of carrying forward an ancestral craft - remains the same. Vadivelu and the loom, in triumphant collaboration, have gone onto create a whopping five hundred drapes, ranging from the fiercest of reds to the demurest of yellows, all burnished with the colour of his determination. Does he have a favourite, I ask, a magnum opus that marked the pinnacle in his career? He shrugs, clearly of the opinion that he holds all his creations close. “I don’t have a particular favourite,” he says. 

But even after so long, he has yet to witness the beauty he creates out in the world. “I’ve never seen anyone wear the saris I’ve woven.” Most weavers feel stripped of respect and appreciation and as debacles mount on more debacles, they feel the need to walk out of the occupation that is now severely deprived of workers. Vadivelu fondly recalls just one instance of recognition, back when he used to supply handwoven textiles to a Nagappan. His experience with Parvai, he notes, has been very much similar. “I like working here,” he smiles. 

He moves slowly yet deliberately, each line on his face a testament to the struggles he’s overcome while attempting to navigate an ever-changing industry. While the privileged complain of back pains; at nearly seventy, he doesn’t. He, instead, weaves day after day, his remarkable resilience shining in the whiteness of his beard. “My younger son is also a weaver,” he says. 

The family vocation, therefore, will not die with him. 

So much has changed since Vadivelu first sat down at the loom in the 1970s, but then again, so much has not. Even as the world around him spins with increasing urgency, even as explosive economic crises, climate change and a pandemic stop by to pay earth-shattering visits, even as the globe melts away and rebuilds itself again, the irrevocable connection between Vadivelu and his loom remains a gentle constant, as does the eternal beauty of the five hundred saris they’ve joined forces to create. 

Special thanks to Mrs. Jisha Sumesh, for her valuable help in translation and interpretation.

About the author: Malavika Rajesh is a sixteen-year-old author and student from India, currently living in Dubai. Writing from the age of five, she firmly believes that a pen is the most powerful weapon to bring about oceans of change. Her book "Watch Out!," a cybercrime thriller, has garnered praise in several media outlets as well at in a plethora of events. Rajesh uses her platform as an author to spread the simple message of using words to one's advantage, to inspire change and to give a voice to those rendered voiceless. She is a feminist and an advocate of gender equality, writing pieces in her blog and speaking extensively on the issue. Journalism has been her passion since she was nine; she has written for the national newspaper and anchored on national radio stations. She has won major literary and academic awards and also engages in community work.