Come marriage season or festivals, the demand of silver anklets aka payal will increase in Hyderabad as a custom, the silver wearing for their girls on these days will get luck and hapiness in their lives. In the demand of these professional workers of making payals, Hyderabadi ‘karigars’ will get handful of jobs in these days.
Thirty five-year-old Rasheeduddin is a busy man these days. Thanks to the Ramzan festivities and the upcoming season of marriages, Rasheed is actively involved in the fine art of making the ‘payal’ or in the words, the anklet that adorns the feet of women.
“The demand for payals increases in the run-up to Eid and the marriage season that follows it. We have to spend at least 10 hours a day on the work to be able to complete the orders in time,” he says.
Rasheed is among several workers in Hyderabad who help jewellers in making various forms of traditional silver anklets worn by women. The jewellers outsource the work to small-time craftsmen like Rasheed who make the chains in different patterns, at times embedding them with colourful stones.
“The chains vary depending upon the customs and traditions. There are many patterns and each differs from the other,” says Mohd Abdul Zakeer, another craftsman.
There are several workshops dedicated to manufacturing anklets in the areas of Gulzar Houz, Mitti-ka-Sher, Tallabkatta and Panjesha Road. The silver material is provided to the smiths by jewellery shop owners.
“The wages depend on the workshop and in a week we can assemble around ten chains. It is a time consuming process as the small metal pieces have to be fastened to each other in the form of a chain. We use gas moulding for this process,” explains Mohd Mushtaq, a smith from Tallabkatta.
On an average, in a month a group of silversmiths make around 40 chains. “Workers are paid Rs 500 a day for the job because it has to be done meticulously. We cannot hurry with the work otherwise the entire anklet piece will get damaged,” said Mushtaq.
In search of livelihood, workers from various parts of the country including West Bengal, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh come to Hyderabad and get employment in the famed silver anklet workshops of Hyderabad, which are spread across the old city.
The finished product is sold at several shops in Laad Bazaar, Gulzar Houz and Panjesha Road. The pricing of the ornament is done by the shopkeepers keeping in mind the quality of the work, silver and the pattern or design. #KhabarLive
