© Penelope Gan – All Rights Reserved – Old Manali, Himachal Pradesh, INDIA

What appears to be distinctively distracting as you drive down the lovely and pristine road connecting Kullu and Manali with the roaring Beas river flowing pass and alpine landscape soaring way way above the skyline, are countless of shops selling mufflers, stoles and shawls, and in your face “Traditional Kully Shawls” signboards posted above or beside what appears to approximate the size of the shop itself!

Interestingly 20,000 to 22,000 people are said to be engaged in weaving around this valley and many of which are women.

During my trip to Manali, I was fortunate to be invited into 3 homes of weavers, two of which were part of a women weaving cooperative society. I was informed that 90% of the weavers in the Kullu Valley work with or is in some way affiliated to the many well-organised weaving cooperative societies, most of which are operated by women for women. Not only does these cooperative societies assist in organising the weavers, procuring bulk raw material and marketing the finished product, the societies have provided employment across the entire value-add chain in the weaving industry to women in this valley which has made them self reliant both from an economic stand point but more importantly in terms of acquiring new skills and experiences that they would otherwise never have had the opportunity and exposure.

Being an integral part of the lives of people in the Kullu Valley, every home has at least one loom; be it being used for commercial reasons or for their own consumption. Not surprising then the Pattus is their traditional attire – a characterless 18-22″ wide blanket like piece woven in the natural colours of wool – black, grey and white (and occasionally dyed with vegetable dyes) that serves the bare necessity of covering their bodies and protecting themselves from severe cold. Worn as a single piece wrapped around their bodies, the Pattu is held in place with a piece of cloth that serves as a belt and fastened at the top with a delicate chain with two clips at its ends.

Today, 70 years after the weavers from Bushehar (Shimla) handed down their weaving knowledge that includes hand looms, geometric designs and synthetic threads  (all of which was possibly from the influence and transfer of know-hows by the British) the Kullu Valley now offers an impressive array of woolens for sale in many exotic designs and from the subdued colours of apricot, olive, ocher …et cetera achieved by the natural vegetable dyes to the vogue and fashionable synthetic dyes.

Handicapped by language and under tight time constraint, I regret that I was not able to better understand this art form and the people creating them. I remain curious about the real economic value in these delicate time consuming pieces they create and the actual portions of the economic cake the weavers are entitled too.

Interestingly, I am yet to see any of these hand looms pieces for sale under those blinding “Traditional Kullu Shawls” signage that dots the Kullu Valley and chocks their mainstreet malls. What I’ve seen seems to me to be over-priced machine woven shawls that are widely available all over India – a far cry from the traditional shawls spunned and weaved from natural fibres by hand looms in almost every veranda, garden shed or room in a Kullu home.

So, where do the real Traditional Kullu Shawls go to?

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More shots and behind the scene story HERE {warning: just rants by me}