October is when I do all my khaddar shopping. Khaddar as in the English adaptation – khadi — and a fabric that became synonymous with Mahatma Gandhi’s clarion call for independence.
I was in a different town, it was pouring and I was done with my purchase and on no whim asked a young lady at a plush khadi store on the origins of this rich heritage fabric and how it is made. She looked nonplussed and dashed to the senior lady at another counter who came rushing to explain its benefits — it will keep you cool in summer and warm in winter. “We have in various counts, colours and prints”. Is it made of cotton, I persevered. She nodded her head but was not entirely sure, “It is khadi, madam” was her diffident response.
Khadi is indeed made of cotton — its key differentiator being that it is handspun and handwoven, and therefore of uneven weave, look and finish. Earlier there was the charkha that is synonymous with the Father of the Nation, today that has been partially mechanised. Prototypes are on to use solar power instead of electricity. The government institutions that weave and retail khadi keep a mix of both the handspun and mechanised variety. However, if it is ‘pure’ khadi that you are looking for, then be specific in your request that you require the handmade, hand-dyed fabric.
Khadi, as was envisioned, continues to be a source of livelihood in countless villages, helping women to be independent, empowering the poor. In the words of the Mahatma, “khadi is not just a cloth, it is a thought.” He wrote in 1935 — “The mission of khadi is not merely to supply the townspeople with fashionable khadi that will vie with the mill manufacturers and thus like other industries supply a few artisans with employment, but it is to become a supplementary industry to agriculture. This mission still remains unfulfilled.
“In order that it may fulfill this mission, it has to be self-sustained and its use must spread in the villages. Just as the villagers cook their own roti or rice, so must they make their own khadi for personal use. The surplus, if any, they may sell.”
Today machine-made khadi is blended with a whole lot of other fabrics, even polyester, to make it more appealing to the younger generation. There’s also khadi denim. And as the call once again is for Made in India, vocal for local, go swadeshi, time it is to resurrect an ancient fabric.
