About the Artisans: Bamboo Basket Weavers on K.R. Road, Bangalore

Weaver Profile

Name: Sujata 

Husband

Languages spoken: Kannada and Tamil

Hometown: Neelasandra, Bangalore 

Community: Mysore 

Lives: Gavigangar Devsthana, Bangalore

Sales: By the side of the road near KIMs Hospital, K R Road. 

Process:

• Observation
• Engagement as a student/ learner/ through making 
• Audio Documentation of conversations
• Questions asked
• Failed attempt at PLA

Media from the visit

Notes

• Through the course of the day there do not seem to be too many visitors or buyers at the shops. I see literally three people buying something along this road through the day. When I ask my teacher about this, she says. Yes, yes, it’s true. Hardly anyone comes
• Most of the shops now have at least a few basket designs with colourful plastic used in the weave. 
• Although there is a higher number of women on the road, the difference in numbers is not that large. There are both men and women weaving similar kinds of baskets. There are a few young men weaving together the bamboo curtains, but in some of the shops women too are doing this. There doesn’t seem to be a particular task assigned to a particular gender here in the market. 
• The women talk about a variety of things as they work - they discuss the lives of people they know, their own struggles, household chores, food and so on. There doesn’t seem to be much conversation about the business side of things. 
• As it starts to rain, the weavers drag all their things into their shops and start to wrap up. They wait for a while for the rains to abate but when it doesn’t seem to be happening they decide to close shop and head on home. 
• Despite selling the same items there seems to be a general sense of peace among the shops. They do not interact with each other during the time that I am there, yet they do not choose to set up shop somewhere away from the rest of the crew. 
• They do not have fixed times for coming and going. They come as early as they can and stay for as long as they can. They spend most of the day at the market and eat meals whenever it is possible to eat between the work that has to be done.