I am Abdul Majeed Bhat from Boh, Noorabad.
We are presently at Selkhanen, Noorabad.
You are watching (Qaleen) carpet weaving here, but the art is dying now.
I am associated with this profession since I was ten years old,
today I am a master weaver, and I used to teach others.
Since 2014 the profession is declining. Our Kashmiri carpet was prominent where ever
you go whether it is foreign countries like America, Iran, France, Turkey, or
other states of India like Mumbai.
Our Masters or middleman exploited us we were paid less. They make their fortune
out of our hard work and dedication. See how these girls are toiling hard to make these
carpets that sell in crores. But we didn't even get lacs for it.
In the end, we got 100 to 150 rupees a day. That is the main reason for the decline.
*Instructions*
How many people were associated with it? How many are left today?
I think four to five thousand people from this (Noorabad) area were associated with
the profession but now there is one among hundreds.
From 10-15 people.
What are they doing now?
They do nothing, some manual jobs, assist someone on farms,
they were habitual of weaving they can't do other jobs.
we can't make our livelihood without this. Now we are used to accepting 100 to 150 a day.
Our master pays us 100 out of a thousand and we were less benefited.
Our work is different compared to other foreign weavers we make it colorful, and
we work according to design (written on paper), and we use many colors like red, yellow,
pink, green, violet, blue, etc. They use few colors but we don't compromise on quality
is concerned. We are weaving carpets; here in Kashmir, we work minutely.
We earn somehow better in this minute artwork; we are being paid 1200 for a foot
while in other rough work we are being paid 600-700 rupees a foot.
But four artisans together can't complete a foot in a day. We can
complete only seven to eight inches in a square. It takes 1.5 days to complete a foot.
That means eight people are completing a foot on 1200 to 1500 rupees
you can imagine how much we earn.