DHUNURI

One of winter’s enduring ballads, as narrated by the twangs of a “Dhunuri” moving from one chilly lane to another crying out for people to make quilts and mattresses, might soon get lost forever.
“It’s difficult...there is no work these days. The working season has also reduced,” Asif, a 70-year-old Dhunuri or cotton carder from Bihar’s improvised Chapra district said, as he cleaned the cotton covering himself up with dust and cotton alike.
Like Asif, Md. Iqbal too a Dhunuri from Bihar has been working during the winter season to make quilts and mattress for the past 20 years. “Work is difficult to come by these days,” he too rued.
Almost all Dhunuris single-mindedly say that they would not teach their children this profession. “I would not teach my children this profession. There is nothing in it only dirt and hardship,” both Asif and Iqbal said poignantly.
Asif, whose foot digits are crooked from the pressure it endured over the years cleaning cotton said, balancing the “Dhanush” for hours and then meticulously stitching the mattress and quilts is no easy work.
A good Dhunuri can stitch the mattress or quilt in intrinsic designs, an art handed over from one generation to the other. “Every Dhunuri has his own designs of stitching. In quilt the design can range from flowers to birds or other motifs. In mattresses the button stitch is usually preferred,” Asif said.
He said after all the hard work he can think of earning Rs. 300 these days. “Earlier it wasn’t like this and now on many days we don’t even get work,” he added.
The “Dhanush” or the tools used by these cotton carders are unique in their own right. The broad surface is made from Sal wood, while the neck is made from wood from kharia tree.
“The Dhanush is manufactured only in Bihar, the string is made of Camel or Buffalo vein and is manufactured in Meerut. The total cost of the Dhanush is about Rs 3000,” he added.
Most of the Dhunuri attribute this downfall in their trade to the advent of cheap blankets and mattresses in the market. “People do not want to make quilts and mattress anymore. They instead go for the ready-made blankets and mattresses,” Iqbal said.
Another aspect has been the dwindling and mild winter seasons. “The season has shortened and the chill is not the same as it was 10 years back,” Asif said. These Dhunuris would return to their native villages in Bihar after the end of the season some perhaps never to return again