Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Teliya rumal, we presume
|
The arcane but magical designs of teliya rumal sarees are disappearing
|
LOST ART Teliya Rumal sarees have faded away into history
"Where can you get teliya rumal sarees in Hyderabad?" was the poser of a colleague. "What sort of a rumal can be a sari? Will it drip oil?" guffawed the folks around as they parsed the language. But is there something called teliya rumal sari?
The salwar kameezs, Ts and skirts, denims and tank-top generation in Hyderabad had no clue about this exotic sounding sari.
We plunge into the flowing river of information on the Internet and come up with teliya rumal: A resist dyed hand-woven textile double-ikat (the Chiralas and Pochampallis) with a variation which involved oiling the cloth as well as the process of tying and dyeing. The result: a soft fibre, silken in appearance and rich in design.
Down memory lane
Tantalisingly, there was a family of weavers who were honoured by the State government for the craft. All of them hailed from a village called Puttapaka in Nalgonda district. A phone trail ended at Murali Sari Emporium (24067062) in Dilsukhnagar. A winding road near Sai Baba temple ends at the Murali Sari Emporium. More home than a shop, the tale of this long forgotten fabric unwove itself here.
"We no longer make it. It is a very time consuming process and people are unwilling to pay for the labour that goes into it," informed a relative of G. Goverdhan. "There was a time when we used to export to Gulf countries and the rich sheikhs would use it as turbans as they believed the oily nature of cloth repelled heat. Now we are using the techniques to make saris that sell and we can make a living," he says.
The Teliya Rumal has been part of documentary by Dev Benegal called Anantarupam and also a study by Bina Rao, a National Institute of Design alumnus. Though these two efforts drew focus to the art and the craft, they couldn't create a market for it. Part of the problem lay in the lore. According to Bina Rao's research, the dyeing process used alizarin, indigo and vegetable oils. The colours were dependent on the oil mediums used and the finished cloth has a strong smell of oil.
Now, who wants clothes smelling of oil? Hanging on the wall in Murali Sari Emporium, framed in glass, are the brightly designed abstract patterns.
The rough hued designs with sharp edges draw attention to the sheer size and the boldness of form. Teliya rumal, we presume?
SERISH NANISETTI
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
|
