The Cane Chronicles

The cacophony of the busy highway combined with the sweltering heat of the summer sun only makes their job harder.

In an age of luxury furniture stores,these roadside cane furniture sellers sweat it out to make a living

The cacophony of the busy highway combined with the sweltering heat of the summer sun only makes their job harder. With not even a shed or a tree to sit under,it is only raw determination that prompts people like Gangaya Swamy to sell cane furniture on the streets of the city. Its a rough job,but we like what we do, he says. Leaving our family behind at our village in Andhra Pradesh and coming here to sell furniture is not the easiest of tasks,but then we have to do it to make a living and survive in this world, he says with a resigned smile.

Such cane furniture sellers come to Pune from their hometowns during winter and sell their furniture till the monsoon season arrives. The cane comes from Andaman,and is unlike the thin cane found here in Pune, says 18-year-old Veeru as he rushes off to attend to a couple of buyers at the open stall located by the busy Mariya Gate police station on the old Mumbai-Pune highway. Swamy adds that the stall attracts more window shoppers than serious customers.

At Bhandarkar Road,Sayyid Alam has been managing a shop for the past 10 years. Hailing from Hyderabad,he gets his cane from Assam and Karnataka.

At Pimpri Chinchwad,again near the old Mumbai-Pune highway,is another road stall. Owned by Miral Shah,who comes from Baroda,the stall also has furniture made of cane from Andaman islands. We get cane from the Andaman islands as it is more durable. We make the furniture in Gujarat and then come here to sell it, says Shah.

Sofa sets,patio furniture,stools,lampshades,partitions and even Venetian blinds are all available at these roadside shops. Veeru,an expert at making furniture,says,We get the cane,heat it and then rapidly cool it which enables us to mould the furniture. Its all made by hand,and there are no machines involved. A sofa set here costs anything between R 18,000 and R 25,000; a lampshade around R 1200 and a chair or a stool R 500. This is not expensive, Shah says. Swamy further justifies the price tags: The labour involved in making one of sofa set is huge. Also,one set takes almost four months to make.

One finds these sellers in Camp,Bhandarkar Road and other areas in the city too. But they are constantly battling varied problems and issues. I wouldnt want my children to get into this line. I am illiterate and this is all that I can do,but they go to a school back home. They will learn to read and write and they will get a job. They will not grow up to simply make cane furniture, Swamy says with a steely determination as young Veeru continues to bargain the price tag of the lamp shade in the background.

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