Fading away:Coir rope making provides livelihood for a good number of families in Cuddalore.
CUDDALORE:
Coir ropes that were once ruling the roost are now gradually vanishing from the market. The demand for this natural product has shrunk drastically, and hence, those pursuing the trade are placed in an unenviable situation.
Earlier, coir rope was the much sought after agent for tying rafts and thatched roofs in huts. But with economic growth, there is a paradigm shift in choosing the building materials. As the huts are being phased out at a frenetic pace, there is a discernible shift in preference for asbestos roofing or terrace and this has cut into the coir rope business in a big way.
The truck operators too have switched to nylon rope for securing the cargo. Even for drawing water from an open well, a bucket tied to coir rope was used. But with deep borewell being sunk and electric motors fixed to draw water, the coir rope has become redundant. Therefore, in the current socio-economic milieu, the coir rope has come to play a minimal role, that too only in remote villages where it is being used for tethering the cattle. Though the coir rope business is on the decline about 100 families in Cuddalore, for want of any other alternatives, are still persisting with the trade against the odds.
Nylon takes over
M.Indiran (45), who has been in this trade for over a decade, told The Hindu that now nylon had become the sole substance for rope making. The coir rope compared poorly with the nylon rope because the latter was lighter, stronger and much more durable. Moreover, the nylon ropes were coming in various sizes and in attractive colours. The coir rope on the other hand was less aesthetic, unwieldy and difficult to handle when it gets wet.
But one salient feature about the coir rope was that it was eminently biodegradable, a credit which the nylon rope cannot claim. Mr. Indiran said that the coir rope making was dependent upon manual efforts or at the least, on simple machines. It would require a set of three people to manually twist the coir rope and above all they would have to walk up and down for the entire stretch of the rope to make sure that the husk fibres bond well without forming knots.
Only the husk obtained from the fully ripe coconut would have a rich fibre content and quality, and, the seasonal plucking of ripe coconuts lasted five months — from January to May. The rope makers used to procure the husk fibre from the indigenous “mills” at a rate of Rs.530 for a 30 kg bundle. The finished products could be sold from Rs.1.50 to Rs.200 a length (about three to five feet). Unfortunately, the youth were not enamoured by the trade because of low wages, hardly Rs.120 a day, and uncertainty over the demand. Therefore, the survival of the trade was in the realm of conjecture, said Mr. Indiran.
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