Rani Handloom

Down here in Mustafapur, things move a bit slower than in the big cities. We are located near the Puraini area of Jagdishpur. Rani Handloom is basically just a few of us working on the old wooden frames every day. You can hear the rhythmic thud of the looms from the street before you even see the sign. We work with a lot of cotton and local threads. It is a process that takes a lot of patience. You cannot rush the weaving or you will end up with a mess of tangles that takes hours to fix. Most of us learned how to do this from our parents or neighbors right here in the village. The workspace is a bit cramped because we have piles of yarn in every corner. We try to keep it organized by color, but it usually ends up mixed together. The light in the morning is the best for seeing the fine details of the patterns. By the afternoon, we are mostly working by feel. Jagdishpur has a lot of history with weaving, and we are just continuing that in our own small way. We do not have any big machines, just our hands and the foot pedals. It is tiring work and your shoulders definitely feel it by the end of the day. We usually walk home as the sun is setting. It is a simple life but it keeps us busy and the fabric we make is sturdy and honest.