In the first week of June, 2022, the Killimangalam Pulpaya, a traditional straw mat indigenous to Killimangalam in Thrissur district in Kerala, began trending on social media. People from Kerala and beyond began placing orders. A ‘pulpaya challenge’, which urged people to buy at least one straw mat through various social media platforms, has sparked a brisk sale of mats that were lying unsold at the Killimangalam Pulpaya Neythu Cooperative Society, one of the only centres weaving grass mats in Kerala. Two weeks since the challenge was announced, the women making the mats have their hands full. Mats worth ₹4 lakh have already been sold.
A little away from the banks of the Bharathapuzha, where the society has its office, the weavers (four women) led by the secretary of the society Sudhakran N C, are happy that their efforts are now bearing fruit. The society had been selling its mats mainly through exhibitions and a few handicraft collectives, but since the 2018 Kerala flood, sales nosedived. The COVID-19 outbreak worsened the situation, and they had unsold mats worth about ₹5 lakh.
