January 23, 2000

Speaking Up For Shahtoosh

I believe that if shahtoosh is banned, our master weavers in Kashmir will lose the trade of generations becaues of the white woman's avariciousnes. An entire community will be wiped out because the ultra glam women of Begravia and Hamptons couldn't get enough.

Since July, the US Fish and Wildlife Service have subpoenaed the ultra-rich, ultra-thin icons of the State of New York to hand in all the shahtoosh shawls in their possession. Like schoolgirls, most handed over a near fortune spent on this coveted 'pass through a ring' shawl, while moaning and whingening in private about yet others who had one in every colour under the sun - Valentino, the designer, being the latter. Their booty was collected in clear plastic bags with 'evidence' stuck across it.

It bodies ill for these denizens of New York's A list, as the allegations of endangering the chiru antelope pale in comparison with the swap of poached tiger bones at the China-India border near Tibet. That the shahtoosh endangers our dwindling tiger population make one sit up in shock. I have not bought a shahtoosh shawl in close to 10 years, but I do own a few which I love more for sentimental value than for a fashion statement.

That the antelopes grazed on thorny grasslands where the wool was later harvested was the common opinion of most women in the know. Now the women in the facts coming to light show that chiru antelopes are being massacred en masse and part of the exchange is a packet of tiger bones valued in Chinese medicine. The shawl in India is still a creamy layer, a deluxe object - at Rs 20,000 a throw it has to be - but in the US the same shawl costs between $2,000 and $15,000. So who is really profiteering from these unscrupulous mark-ups to create a morbid competitive, I want more tush, greed there? These go-betweens are the ones making handsome profits but paying a pittance in comparison back home.

I truly believe that if shahtoosh is banned totally, our master weavers in Kashmir will lose the trade of generations because of the white woman's avariciousnes. An entire community will be wiped out because the ultra glam women of Belgravia and HAmptons couldn't get enough.

Though the selling of shahtoosh has been controversial even in India, the Chief Minister of Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah, has vociferously campaigned for the weavers and embroiders, the artisans of the trade so that a tradition carriers on. If demand and supply could be kept in check and farming of the animals started with shearings done annually, then perhaps a reasonable demand can be met and the fashion statement of a prized shawl met, with no adverse effect on the chiru population.

Till then, we must thank the US wildlife wardens for their relentless raids to track down the middlemen who barter away the trade of a proud Kashmir race.

That the shahtoosh wool fibre is almost seven times thinner than human hair and that it is the finest cashmere is a fact. That we have master weavers who can weave the shahtoosh is also a fact. To take away their livelihood seems cruel. It may seem prohibitive to levy a fine of $25,000 on a person for selling shahtoosh and a five-year sentence or $50,000 and jail for companies that violate the ban, but till the balance is restored, 200 and 300 shawls per person does deserve punishment, as a Valentino perhaps does. The word scapegoat comes to mind, but in the final analysis, shahtoosh was nothing more than the flavour of the year. And gifted weaver, who will be made the ultimate scapegoat, and to me therein lies the ultimate tragedy.

 

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