Travel: How a khadi centre in India has become the heart of sustainability and empowerment

“If we have the khadi spirit in us, then we should surround ourselves with simplicity in every walk of life.” — Mahatma Gandhi

Often associated with the freedom struggle and the swadeshi movement, it is not an understatement to say that Khadi is a revolutionary fabric. Synonymous with self-reliance, this hand spun or hand-woven Indian cotton fabric traces its origin to 1917-18 when the first piece of the cloth was woven by Gandhiji on a ‘charkha’ in Sabarmati Ashram, Gujarat. Given its slightly coarse texture, it was christened ‘khadi’ by the Mahatma and since then the cloth has been an indelible symbol of Indian heritage. And keeping this legacy alive is the Badanavalu Khadi Gramodhyoga Kendra located in the seemingly non-descript village of Badanavalu just about 30 km from Mysore in the southern state of Karnataka. This centre is entirely run and managed by the Khadi & Gramodyoga Sahakara Sangha Ltd., Holenarasipura.

Steeped in history

Having started early in the morning from Bangalore on a Friday morning, I reached the sprawling centre well before 10am and as I entered it, the tranquil ambience and serenity all around was unmissable. “It is a tad early and the weavers are expected to arrive soon,” says centre supervisor, Somashekhar J S. I decided to take a stroll around the campus spread across an area of about 7.5 acres. The centre was built in 1927 and was believed to have been started by four Dalit women. It is interesting to note that the centre was also visited by none other than Mahatma Gandhi at that time. “This is indeed a historic centre as Gandhiji called a meeting here along with all the villagers and inspired them to take part in the Swadeshi movement. He implored them to boycott British goods and adopt the usage of khadi which could be easily manufactured by them in the centre,” says Somashekhar.

He adds that while the industry flourished for a few decades, there was a lull around the early 1980s when the production of khadi in the centre declined. “Most people moved out to work in industries set up in Mysore and other nearby cities. But in 1987, the government took up an initiative to revive the khadi industry and since then, the centre has been a source of employment to about 50-60 women. Since then, the production of khadi cloth has been a constant here,” says the 31-year-old supervisor.

A statue of Mahatma Gandhi within an enclosure and a stone emblem denoting the commencement of the centre stand in the middle of the large expanse of land. It also serves as a subtle reminder to the fact that the centre is almost a century old. “We have a spinning and a weaving unit here and we manufacture various products like cloth for men and women's wear, handkerchiefs, towels etc., which are supplied to the khadi retail stores in Hassan, Holenarasipur, K.R. Nagar and Mysore,” explains Somashekhar.

Lessons in sustainability

As we continued to admire some old photographs of Gandhiji’s visit in one of the rooms, a distant, almost synchronous, vibratory sound in the background indicated that the women had arrived for the day. The sight of women, some as old as even 80, sitting on the floor and spinning yarn from raw cotton on their charkhas was quite a revelation. Somashekhar revealed that the yarn is bundled into units locally called laddis and on an average, a person could produce three laddis in an hour. “I have been working here for over 65 years and can manage to make about 12 laddis in a day,” says 76-year-old Puttsubbama. The centre produces about 600-700 laddis a day, which is commendable considering the fact that the entire process is manual. Each laddi holds about 1,000 metres of yarn.