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How a simple, rectangular piece of wood brought smile to thousands of women at Arunachal Pradesh

It was first pointed out to me by Aditi, a researcher on the cultures and tradition of the north-eastern states in India. A post-graduate from Guwahati University, Aditi has also spent his childhood in Shillong, Meghalaya. Last month, while criss-crossing Arunachal Pradesh, and soaking in the beauty and cultural diversity of “the forbidden state”, we spent one afternoon at the Industrial Training Centre at Zero.

In the Weaving and Knitting Section, we found two ladies sitting in front of handloom machines. They were weaving Galles, the square piece of bordered cloth that most Arunachali women wear as a wrap-around long skirt flowing from their waist to the ankles. The two ladies were bringing in a dash of colour in the otherwise dirty and derelict building.

While I was more interested in the patterns and motifs that the weavers were creating, Aditi diverted my attention to the rectangular (about 6-inch by 18-inch) piece of wood that tied the women’s waist to the loom. On her request, one of the ladies unfastened the wooden piece and demonstrated how to wear it.

The process was simple. The piece of wood has holes in each corner through which the ropes bind the wood to the backstrap loom. To begin with, the weaver opens the rope from one side, slide in and reattach the rope. It looks almost like a belt or a backrest. The other side of the loom is attached to a stationary bamboo structure. Tension can be adjusted simply by leaning back.

Aditi explained that even five years ago, women used to hunch before the loom, attached on both the sides to a stationary frame, and weave for hours at a stretch. Weaving even a simple Galle takes about 5 days, with 10 hours of work every day. As a result, the weavers used to suffer from acute gynaecological problems, pelvic girdle disorders, spondylitis and other spinal ailments. They faced severe problems during and after childbirth.

Now with the backstrap in place, much of these sufferings are things of past. In fact, the use of the backstrap has become universal. May be not always a wooden piece, but a thick belt or a piece of cloth. We saw it not just in the government-run training centre in Zero, but every house of Apatani or Nishi villages, on the small balcony of houses on stilts in Kiming or Inqiang, or at the community centres of Along.

A simple innovation has changed the face of healthcare industry in Arunachal Pradesh.

Touch wood.