Sanskriti Talwar

Naveen Macro

Dipanjali Singh

Editor

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Shashi Rupeja is
not completely sure but she does think she first caught her husband’s eye while she was embroidering. “He must have seen me threading phulkari and thought I was hardworking,” Shashi says laughing at
the happy memory, a half-finished phulkari piece in her hands.

It is a winter’s day in Punjab and Shashi is sitting with her
friend Bimla in her neighbourhood, enjoying the mild winter sun. Their hands
are busy as they chit-chat, discussing their everyday lives. But their
attention never wavers from the sharp needles they hold with coloured threads
that are making phulkari patterns on
the cloth. 

“There was a time
when women in every household here would embroider phulkari pieces,” says the 56-year-old resident of Patiala city, as
she adds another careful stitch to the flower she had been embroidering on a
red dupatta. 



Phulkari is an embroidery style with floral patterns and is commonly used on
garments like dupatta, salwar kameez and saree. The design is first traced on
the garment with ink using carved wooden blocks. Artisans then embroider in and
around the markings with colourful silk and cotton threads sourced locally
from Patiala city.

“Our locality
Tripuri has always been famous for phulkari,”
says Shashi, who moved from neighbouring Haryana to Punjab’s Patiala district
when she got married nearly four decades ago. Shashi was 18 years old when she had come to visit her sister married in Tripuri, and learnt phulkari “simply by observing the women here,&quot; she says. A year or so later, Shashi herself was married to Vinod Kumar who was a local resident.

Phulkari, for which Punjab, Haryana and
Rajasthan received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2010, is commonly practiced by women in this region who are seeking to work from home.
They usually form collectives of 20-50 artisans and divide the commissioned
embroidery work.

“These days, only a
few continue to make phulkari pieces
by hand,” says Shashi. The cheaper machine-made embroidery is slowly taking over. Even
so, the markets are teeming with the craft – in Tripuri there are numerous
shops in the main market that sell phulkari
garments, both hand- and machine-made. 



Shashi received her first earnings from the craft at the age of 23. She
bought and embroidered 10 sets of salwar kameez and sold them to local
customers, earning a total of Rs. 1,000. Embroidering phulkari has supported her household through tough times, Shashi
says – “Besides educating the children, there were many expenses.”

Shashi’s husband
was a tailor and facing losses when she first began working. When his health
deteriorated and he was forced to work less, Shashi took charge. “When my
husband returned home from a pilgrimage, he was surprised to find that I had
changed the setting of his tailoring shop,” Shashi says, recalling how she had
removed his sewing machine and added threads and blocks for tracing designs.
She accomplished all this with her savings of Rs. 5,000. 

The seasoned embroiderer recalls travelling to busy areas like Lahori Gate in Patiala city
to sell phulkari-embroidered goods
crafted by her. She even took the train to Ambala district 50 kms away to sell
door-to-door. “With my husband, I organised exhibitions of phulkari garments in Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Karnal,” Shashi adds.
Eventually tiring of the hectic schedule, she moved out of her sales role and
now embroiders as a hobby. Her son, 35-year-old Deepanshu Rupeja manages the
business of selling phulkari garments
and works with artisans across Patiala. 



“Handmade phulkari garments
remain much in demand despite the advent of machine-embroidered pieces,”
Deepanshu notes. Other than the finesse, the difference between the two styles
is also in their pricing. A handcrafted phulkari
dupatta is sold for Rs. 2,000, but a machine-made one fetches a price
between Rs. 500-Rs. 800.















“We pay artisans based on the number of flowers
embroidered and the complexity of the design,” Deepanshu explains. The remuneration also depends on the skill of the artisan – ranging from Rs. 3 to Rs. 16 for every embroidered flower. One of the artisans Deepanshu works with is 55-year-old Balwinder Kaur.
A resident of Patiala district’s Miyal village, Balwinder travels to
Deepanshu’s shop in Tripuri – some 30 kms away – about 3-4 times every month.
There she receives threads and garments with inked phulkari designs over which she embroiders.

Balwinder says she can place 100 flowers on a salwar kameez in just two days. “No one
formally taught me to embroider phulkari,”
says Balwinder, who has been practising this craft since
she was 19 years old. “My family did not own any land nor did we have a
government job,” says Balwinder, who has three children. Her husband used to be
a daily wage worker but was unemployed when she first began working. 



Balwinder recalls her mother saying, “hun jo teri kismat hai tenu mil geya hai. Hun kujh na kujh kar, tey kha
[You&#39;ve got what&#39;s in your fate. Now do any work you find, and feed
yourselves].” Some of her acquaintances would take up bulk orders for phulkari embroidery from garment sellers
in Tripuri. “I told them that I needed money and asked if they would let me
embroider a dupatta. And they did.”



Initially when Balwinder was commissioned garments for phulkari,
sellers would seek a security deposit from her. She would often have to deposit
a substantial sum of Rs. 500. But soon, “the sellers gained trust in my skill,”
says Balwinder, adding that now every major seller of phulkari garments in Tripuri knows her. “There is no dearth of
work,&quot; Balwinder says. She is now commissioned about 100 pieces to embroider
every month and has even built a collective of phulkari artisans to whom she passes on some of the work. “I do not wish to depend on
anyone,” she adds.



When Balwinder started working nearly 35 years ago, she used to earn Rs.
60 for embroidering a dupatta. Now
she earns about Rs. 2,500 for one requiring intricate work. Some of Balwinder’s
hand-embroidered pieces are carried as gifts by people travelling abroad. “My
work travels to many countries – America, Canada. I feel good that my work is going to foreign
countries even when I haven&#39;t gone there myself,” she says with pride. This story is supported by a fellowship from Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation (MMF).

In Patiala, the thriving craft of phulkari

پٹیالہ میں پھلکاری کا پھلتا پھولتا کاروبار

పటియాలాలో ఫుల్‌కారీ కళ వికాసం

பாடியாலாவில் தழைக்கும் ஃபுல்காரி கலை

ପାଟିଆଲାର ସମୃଦ୍ଧ ଫୁଲକାରୀ କାରିଗରୀ

पतियाळाच्या फुलकारीचे रंगढंग

പാട്യാലയിൽ നിലനിൽക്കുന്ന ഫുൽക്കാരി കല

ಪಟಿಯಾಲ: ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಕಾಣುತ್ತಿರುವ ಫುಲ್ಕಾರಿ ಕಲೆ

पटियाला में फलती-फूलती फुलकारी कला

પટિયાલામાં સદાબહાર ખીલતી ફૂલકારીની કળા

पटियाला मं फरत-फूलत फुलकारी कला

‘फुलकारी काढ़-काढ़ के हम आपन घर बनइनी’

মেয়েদের ফুলকারি সূচিকর্মের দৌলতে পাটিয়ালার রমরমা

পাটিয়ালাত নিপুণ হাতত বাচি আছে ফুলকাৰী

ਪਟਿਆਲਾ, ਜਿੱਥੇ ਫੁਲਕਾਰੀ ਦੀ ਚਮਕ ਕਦੇ ਫਿੱਕੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਪੈਂਦੀ

Patiala

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In Patiala, the thriving craft of phulkari

Shashi Rupeja and Balwinder Kaur are master craftswomen who embroider intricate floral patterns in this popular craft practiced in Punjab

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