Many things have changed in Meghalaya over time. These include the never-ending rain cycle. While people here are craving for the warmth of the sun, umbrella sellers in the city are doing brisk business.
Talking about umbrellas, the changing time has its impact on people’s daily practices too.
Traditionally, people in Meghalaya, which boasts of the wettest place on Earth, used knup, a head and body gear made of bamboo, during rainy season.
Knup is made in many places in the state, especially where the rain is heavy and continues for months. There are many advantages of this traditional umbrella. It is hands-free and hangs from the head. This way, it makes it easier to work or carry things. Also, it protects not only the head but also the body from torrential rain. And the best part is that a knup is pocket-friendly even for the poor.
There is a smaller version of knup called knup rit, which is used only to cover the head. Both the varieties are sold in Bara Bazar and a few selected shops in the city.
Bio Langpen, who is from Syntein in Mawsynram, makes both the large and the small traditional covers and supplies to most of the shops selling cane products at Iewduh. She says the entire village is engaged in making knup and even children help elders in chores like collecting raw materials. “The buyers of knup in the city are mostly farmers but there are others too. Many people buy the knup rit for decorations and that is why it costs more,” says Aibanjop Kharmawphlang, a 21-year-old shop owner at Iewduh.
Langpen, who was sitting nearby, says the biggest advantage of knup over umbrella is that it protects one even from hailstones, which is a common phenomenon in the state, and it does not fly away when there is a storm.
Kharmawphlang informs that with the recent rain and hailstones, the sale was “really good” and he has already sold 1,200 pieces in the last few weeks.
A medium sized knup costs Rs 120 and the bigger one comes for Rs 150. Some are specially made with a layer of plastic cover for better protection and these come for Rs 140. But a knup rit is highly priced at Rs 300 and is of intricate make.
Langpen informs that different varieties of bamboo are used in different places. “In Mawsynram, we use slew, a local variety. But at Rngi, a village in Mawkynrew block, the makers use sla met (a type of large leaves which grow naturally),” she adds.
“But the best knup is made in Sohra which you will hardly get in shops in Shillong,” says Q Kharbuli, another shop owner who too sources her knup from Langpen.
Kharbuli says she still uses knup while running outdoor chores.
The process of making a knup is tedious and takes a long time, Langpen informs.
Rngi’s Grandmother
At Rngi, a remote village in East Khasi Hills that experiences incessant rain from March to October, many villagers are engaged in making the traditional umbrellas. With no commutable road from Mawlyngot, it takes around an hour for an outsider to trek to Rngi.
The Mei ieid, or the maternal grandmother, stoops over an unfinished knup in a small workshop behind her thatched hut. Her granddaughter, a schoolteacher, shows the way to the workshop. But Grandmother was too busy and shy to even look up. She continues sewing the sla met on a cane frame of the knup. After minutes of cajoling, she finally agrees to talk.
Grandmother makes 7-8 knup a day and each takes around two hours. One has to make two bamboo frames and put them together with the large leaves sandwiched between them. Then comes sewing the layers and it is followed by putting the bamboo frame in place to make the knup durable.
The septuagenarian informs that knup is made mostly by women in the village. “But men too help by collecting the leaves and bringing the bamboos from the nearby forest,” says the Grandmother, who refuses to give her name to a non-Khasi stranger.
Her knup is sold at Rs 80 and is supplied to the Smit market, Mawlyngot, Jaintia Hills and Ri Bhoi. However, she says there are difficulties for knup makers. “One has to work hard and trek a long way to the forest to collect raw materials. And to add to the woes, it rains all the time,” the granddaughter translates for her.
Life in the city
Despite its many advantages, knup has lost its grace to the colourful umbrellas in the city because of the changing fashion trend. City-dwellers prefer umbrellas as it is easier to carry and keep in houses. The Shillong market is flooded with Chinese and Korean umbrellas. There are “made in India” products too. Sadly, Meghalaya does not have its own industry of making umbrellas.
A seller at Police Bazar says he buys the umbrellas from wholesalers in Bara Bazar but there are some shop owners who directly source the products from Kolkata. “I do not keep branded umbrellas but a few big shops do. I have different varieties like two-folds, three-folds and extra umbrellas which come in a huge range of colours and designs. The sale is good now and on a good day, I earn around Rs 4,000.
Sushan Paul, whose shop in Foreign Market inside Iewduh is over 30 years old, says he gets the umbrellas from Kolkata and retailers buy from him. “But I keep mainly two-folds.”
Bokul Paul has all the varieties. He too gets the umbrellas, both Chinese and Indian makes, from Kolkata. The shop owner says the cheaper varieties are in demand “but now the market is not good”.
The fashionable designs and myriad colours have taken over the same old yellow-coloured bamboo knup not only in Shillong but in villages too. On the way to Mawlyngot, one can spot villagers working in farms with umbrellas. But some old-timers in the city, like Darity Phanwar, still own a knup or a knup rit.
“I inherited the knup rit from my mother and it is over 30 years old. I am not sure from where she got it but it is a good make and now it adds to the decorations in the house. However, I use it sometimes when I cannot find an umbrella in the house. But none of the young members in the family uses it,” says 68-year-old Phanwar as she shows the knup rit with golden embellishments sitting unwanted on a cane murrah.
~ Nabamita Mitra & Olivia Lyngdoh Mawlong
