Hemanth Handlooms

Our place, Hemanth Handlooms, is located right near the Aparnadevi Temple in Gollaprolu. You can usually hear the sound of the looms if you walk through Subrahmanyeswara Colony. It’s a rhythmic sound that’s been part of our lives for as long as I can remember. The shop at 7-25 is where we keep the finished pieces and all the thread we use. It’s not a big showroom with air conditioning or bright lights. It’s just a regular building in B. C. Colony where the work happens. We spend a lot of time checking the warp and the weft to make sure nothing is loose. My hands are usually a bit rough from handling the cotton and silk all day, but that’s just part of the trade. Sometimes the weather gets too humid and the yarn behaves differently, so we have to adjust. We don’t do much advertising; mostly it’s just people who know we are here or folks visiting the temple who wander in. It’s a quiet life for the most part, except when a festival is coming up and everyone wants something new. We just keep our heads down and keep the shuttles moving. The patterns we make are ones we’ve known forever. It’s honest work that keeps the traditions of Gollaprolu going in our own small way.