Kerala nun, priest face action for Bishop stir

Waynad/ Kochi, Sept. 23: A Jacobite Priest has been warned of disciplinary action and a Catholic nun restrained from church duties in a fallout of their participation in protests in Kochi demanding the arrest of rape accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

Sister Lucy Kalapura, who returned to her parish in Wayand on Sunday morning from Kochi, claimed she was informed orally by the Mother Superior that she should keep away from holding catechism classes, conducting prayers and other activities related to the Syro Malabar catholic church.

Priest Bar Yuhanon Ramban, belonging to a dayara in Ernakulam district, said he had received a “warning” letter from his church headquarters in Damascus in Syria for supporting the protest. The letter also said he had campaigned for the implementation of Church Act, he said.

Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 23: A tiny handmade doll made out of soiled and damaged fabric has become a symbol of survival and hope for a group of weavers, whose dreams and livelihood were washed away by the loods last month in Kerala.

A month after the deluge had ravaged Chendamangalam, a traditional handloom village in Ernakulam district, the weavers are pinning hope on ‘ Chekutty’, dolls fashioned with handloom material spoiled in the floods, to rebuild their life. Demands are now pouring in from across the globe for these dolls, conceputalised and designed by two social entrepreneurs to help the weavers raise funds out of the damaged fabric stock through crowd- sourcing.

With the support of hundreds of volunteers, they are now collecting sarees that had been left soiled and destroyed beyond reuse in the looms of Chendamangalam, post floods. They chlorinate the textile, boil it to disinfect and convert them to Chekutty, the handmade dolls, Lakshmi Menon, a co- founder of the initiative, said. She said the weavers had no option but to burn the severely damaged textile. But the same soiled stock is now expected to fetch them much more through the cloth dolls. Cutting across geographical barriers, people are placing bulk orders through website, Facebook and WhatsApp for these dolls after coming to know about it through the media.

A mobile app was launched in Silicon Valley on September 21 to take the desi dolls to a larger global audience. It would become functional soon, she said. One of the seven Chendamangalam weavers co- operative societies, with which the doll- makers are associated, has already received ` 5 lakh through online booking.

“Cheru means mud and kutty means child in Malayalam. So Chekutty can be read as the child who survives the mud. It can also be read as the kid of Chennamangalam,” Lakshmi said. “Chekutty has scars... Chekutty has stains. But she represents each one of us who survived the floods. I am so happy to see that our doll has now emerged as the mascot of Kerala, which braved the devastating floods,” she said.

The entire amount raised through sales would go to livelihood programmes envisaged by the handloom weavers cooperative society, said Lakshmi.

◗ A tiny handmade doll made out of soiled and damaged fabric has become a symbol of survival and hope for Kerala weavers