Who doesn’t know Pochampalli Sarees! Now these beauties take incredible hard work to come into form. And the hard work obviously takes a toll on all the people involved. Here’s the story of Inventor Chintakindi Mallesham from Sharjipet, born in a family of weavers. He took his family business to the next level by his own stead and how!! Find out how!
It is made with a manual process called Asu to weave the traditional Tie & Dye Pochampalli Sarees.
This process involves the moving the thread around studs for 9000 times over a length of one meter. 4 hours of this work would weave one Pochampalli Saree.
Cut to Mallesham, who saw his mother go through this process everyday in pain because of this laborious task.
Despite joining his family business after discontinuing his studies, Mallesham decided he would find a way to change things for weavers like his mother. His efforts were ridiculed and discouraged but he did not give up hope.
He took off to Hyderabad, worked part time while also learning the intricacies which can help him build a machine that would change the lives of Ikkat weavers. He wanted to keep the family tradition alive sans the agony of manual labour.
His breakthrough happened in 1999. Although he already was adding different parts to the machine he was making for this process, the last piece went into it in 1999 making it a workable model.
Ok prepare to “Aww”. Mallesham named his machine Laxmi Asu machine after his mother! The machine would reduce the time for weaving one saree from 4 hours to an hour and a half!!
His invention was recognized and accepted well throughout the state. He has already sold 700 machines.
Icing on the cake: His machine turned out to be so resourceful that the Central Silk Board is considering providing the machine to weavers on a subsidy!
In Mallesham’s case, it wasn’t necessity, but it was his mother’s pain that was the mother of his invention.
Note: If you want to buy this revolutionary machine, you can contact Palle Srujana, a grassroots innovation foundation that focuses on promoting knowledge and innovation in rural parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Here's the trailer of the film, Mallesham, based on his life, played by Priyadarshi, Directed by Raj R.
