C. Sivagurunathan has spent all his life listening to the sound of the loom. “My parents would take turns and weave on a handloom that occupied much of our one-room house in Erode. It was our source of livelihood and we considered it the sole fortune of our family,” recalls Sivagurunathan, who is now a corporate employee in Chennai. “But unfortunately the handloom lost its lustre midway and many weavers migrated to other jobs. Though I am from a family of weavers, I don’t know much about the art.” Inspired by Gandhian thoughts, Sivagurunathan has now taken up the task of reviving community weaving. “Weaving was an occupation done as a cluster or society. People living in the street or area contributed to the entire process and the income was shared by all,” he points out. “Erode which was once a hub for handlooms has now been taken over by textile giants in neighbouring Tirupur.”

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