Siju Naran Mandan

It was here, in Bhujodi, in the year of 1983, when the loom was passed down to me. My father was ill and it was time for me to step up. I had just finished the tenth grade and like any other child here, school, work and play filled our days. We however had not been so financially fortunate.

I started out on my own, young and with the hope to be able to stand on my own two feet. Independence is what I wanted. It was never as easy as I expected. Material was a problem I faced several times. I soon joined my uncle, working for him for many years. Over the twenty years of work with my uncle I worked with only two designs. Looking for a way out, I found how do diversify my work on my own eventually. That was in 2006. A year later my son joined me in weaving. He was trained to be an electrician. He too had picked up weaving as a child. His heart lay in the loom. After all it was the art of his ancestors. We work together on one loom now, but we are looking to get two more.

I have never wanted to do anything else. As years have gone by and I weave threads together I have also woven together a life for myself deeply rooted in the art of my ancestors.