A glimpse of the Hindupur's Government Cocoon Market

-
Yesterday, on the way back from Lepakshi, in the outskirts of Hindupur in Anantapur District, Jayshree Hatangadi and I chanced upon some silk farms.
There were large sheds with beds of wooden trays in which the worms were reared for around 3 weeks and fed mulberry leaves. After which they were transferred to another shed where they were harvested.
Later they were shifted to the the auction house and sold. The rates for yellow less dense cocoons is between Rs.350 to Rs. 400 per kg. The denser white cocoon is sold between Rs. 500 and Rs. 600 per kg.
Then they went through further processing. We were surprised to learn that a single cocoon could yield around one kilometer of filament!
They are spun into yarns, dyed in brilliant colours and sold in reels to weaving factories where they produce the gorgeous silk sarees. One weaving unit can produce three sarees a day and the more complicated Jacquard ones take a whole day to produce.
The whole process is seen near Hindupur and at Muddireddypalem in Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh.
This is the type of tourism opportunities our tourism department should explore instead of spending crores and crores on frivolous garish artificial structures.

Do watch a detailed video on ' Silk route- How silk is extracted and made into a finished product' below 



Here are some pictures for you. I hope you are as thrilled as we were.

Government Cocoon Market, Hindupur

Below are the procedural steps on how silk is extracted


Harvesting sheds




Worms rearing in wooden trays feed on mulberry leaves


Mulberry leaves


Silk worms munching away


Harvesting the cocoons


Cleaning and sorting



Harvesting shed




Cleaned cocoons ready for market




Cocoons




Inside the cocoon market. Auction in progress




Pricing sheet




Silk cocoon stocks load




Weaving in progress




The brilliance is striking




After thought ... Here is how the yellow and white cocoons look


Final Product 












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Science of Urinals

-
Image
The science of urinals The high urinals Have you noticed how high urinals have become? Walk into a men’s restroom and look at the urinal. You will find that it is perched high on the wall, challenging your ability to deliver your stream accurately into it. I have seen it in offices, restaurants, cinema theatres, bus stands, railway stations and umpteen public places. In the old days even our airports had these high mounted urinals. Now with better standards the new airports and multiplex toilets are built to international standards and they have the urinals at the right height. I have been wondering why the urinals are built so high so I interviewed some urinal attendants, plumbers and contractors. Here is what I found Their logic goes like this...  The urinal must be high because if you delivered a stream into a low urinal it would somehow splash out of it on to your trousers and chappals. Instead if you delivered it high, it would only wet your shirt To pr
Read more

Whats your pole number?

-
Image
Whats your pole number? Do you know your pole number? You know ... that electrical pole outside your apartment or villa? If you do not know, then as a good citizen, go down and take a look. What do you see? Does it have a number on it?  I don't mean the number of the packers or movers, or the friendly local electrician. I mean the number of the pole itself as allotted by GVMC or EPDCL. Why would you need the pole number? Well, if the street light is not working in your part of town, you will have to call a GVMC  number to lodge a complaint. To do this you will first have to know the street light not working complaint number.  This telephone number is not displayed anywhere prominently for the general public to see. Going by how few people know this number I assume it is a top secret classified number . But, have no fear, I will reveal it to you. The number is   155304 . However if you call the number to lodge a complaint, they will ask you for your POLE NUMBER. You will plead
Read more

Vizag's famous and historical Kurupam Market gone for ever

-
Image
It is with great sadness that I inform you that our beloved and historic Kurupam Market gateway towers have been demolished by GVMC last week.  The market was donated by Raja Vyricherla Veerabhadra Raju of Kurupam to the then Vizagapatam Municipality on September 1, 1914, to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VII. As it was Going Gone I am told that a new building is planned there. Only two weeks ago INTACH had offered to provide expertise to restore the iconic clock tower arch way but it appears to have fallen on deaf ears. It is very unfortunate that this monument was brought down without public consultation. Our uncouth city administration has driven another dagger into our city's rich heritage. No doubt a  monstrosity  will come up at the spot. It will be typical of Vizag's public buildings, no dignity, no class. No doubt that our heritage will die a little more.  One wonders who these ruthless, insensitive and heartless people are who are
Read more