I learnt Kantha embroidery from my mother.
In Birbhum’s villages, you’ll find women in almost every household doing Kantha.
Kantha gives free rein to our imaginations.
The work is replete with folk motifs, themes and characters from mythology and epics. There are stylised birds, plants, fish, flowers and other scenes too in Kantha embroidery.
You’ll also find the dreams and hopes of artisans and everyday village life reflected in the work.
From my village of Sattore I moved to Bolpur as a 19-year-old bride, married to an Indian Army man.
Within days of our wedding, he returned to his post at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. As he came home only for vacations, I took care of the family and raised my children single-handedly.
In the beginning I trained some young girls from nearby villages to improve their Kantha skills and then hired them.
I embroider elaborate and complex designs exclusively on hand-woven tussar silk fabric, creating sarees, stoles, scarves and even dress materials.
A saree can take between four and five months to complete depending on the design’s intricacy.
Initially it wasn’t easy to convince the local women to work with us. It was even harder to convince their husbands to allow them to work.
But since my husband hails from this village, he has a good rapport with the community. So he could convince his friends to allow their women to work.
In the last three decades I might have trained over 250 women. I have to train new people when the young women get married and move away.
Now I have a kantha unit registered with the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises.
I’m happy that I provide work to about 100 Kantha artisans. Each artisan makes between Rs 3,500 and Rs 4,000 for a saree.
Having completed his tenure in 1994, my husband returned home. Since then he has been buying the raw materials, assigning jobs to the artisans and then taking the finished products to retailers in Kolkata.
In 2012 I had the privilege of attending the World Travel Mart held in London, along with other West Bengal folk artists and craft persons.
It was a proud and happy moment when all our products got sold.
Though I’m a school dropout, I made sure that both my daughters got a good college education.
But then in 2017 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. In between my chemotherapy sessions, I embroider to keep my mind off the illness.
Around December 2021 I received an unusual request to make a Kantha saree with motifs of London and Kolkata skylines, the Queen’s visage, Big Ben, a red phone box and the Tower of London.
It was difficult making the Queen’s face perfect. Photos available on the internet were a great help.
An NRI lady wore the saree at the Royal Ascot this June I learnt. It was written about a lot in the London and Indian newspapers. When I came to know of it I was overjoyed.
I did a Kantha embroidery stole too, which I am told will be gifted to the Queen.
I have received several district and state awards. One day, I dream of receiving the national award for being a master craftsman.
Photographs courtesy Nancy Kassim Farran, Pixabay and Bablu Mallick.
Reporting by Hiren Kumar Bose, a journalist based in Thane, Maharashtra. He doubles up as a weekend farmer.