There is a gloom over Balaramapuram looms nowadays
The difference, however, is the enormity of the sound. Until some decades ago, the sound was a soothing hum, now it is the bold clatter of the electric motor that runs the system which spins the yarn.
'I get `150 per day for work from 7am to 3pm,' says Arumugam, 69, who learnt spinning from the time she got married into a household of handloom artisans.
The work is part of the stage that runs up to the final weaving, the preparatory being procurement of cotton and silk thread from Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, and then making yarn out of it which will then be woven together as the white fabric laced with the customary gold border.
'All the houses on the Shaliya gramam used to do this. Now, there are hardly any. The youngsters don't see it worthwhile. My children too are in other professions. Even my husband is now running a lottery agency in Mavelikkara,' she says.
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