Fabric of the Future: Reviving the Age Old Art of Charkha weaving and Handmade cloth and remembering Gandhi.

Issue #009, 2022                                                                              ISSN: 2581- 9410 Creating a sustainable cycle of Organic Desi Cotton. Nothing can so quickly put the masses back on their feet, as the spinning wheel can. Charkha the Life line of India Mahatma Gandhi COTTON: The Magic Fibre: Cotton fibre gradually becomes hollow during its growth, turning from a solid rod to a spirally twisted hollow tube on maturity. The porous structure allows air to pass through and makes it uniquely absorbent, able to hold 20 times its own weight in water. The capillary action allows cotton to be the most suited cloth for humans. It keeps us cold in summer sand warm in winters. The 6 yard cotton trees that Marco Polo saw in Gujarat no longer exist, and what he described as ‘the finest and most beautiful cottons that are to be found in any part of the World’ no longer woven. Indian cotton dates back to Harrapan civilization & we made the finest cloth in the world called Dacca Muslin. This legendary Ducca Muslin was dubbed aab-e-rawan (Running water), shabanam (Evening dew), beft hawa (woven air), because it would float like a cloud if thrown in the air. India became the ‘Sone ki Chriya’, the golden bird, because of the Cotton it traded. Until the British came and systematically took it apart making us a marginalised cotton textile industry. Every part of India has its own indigenous variety of Cotton, that was suited to that environment. Sh...