Renumai Misong, 36 swiftly operates her taat-xaal, an indigenous Assamese traditional hand loom with a range of vibrant threads intricately lined across the frame. She resides at Sissisumoni village in Dhemaji district, Misong dedicates at least an hour of her daily schedule engaging on the loom.

Hand-operated looms are ubiquitous across the villages in the Northern banks of the Brahmaputra, with the wooden structure nestled below the chang-ghar– traditional Mishing house built with wood and bamboo on a raised platform to protect them from the recurring floods. What noticeably distinguishes Sissumoni from the rest is the sight of the taat-xaal perched high above the chang, a technique adopted by the inhabitants to cope with the stress of regular flooding.

Located at 45 kilometers from the district headquarters, Sissisumoni village displays a stoical acceptance caused by annual floods and river bank erosions. A chronically flood-prone area, Sissisumoni and its neighboring village in Machkhowa block remain inundated for half the year resulting in the breakdown of agriculture and loss of traditional livelihoods. Activities like weaving are brought to an abrupt halt as the traditional throw shuttle looms completely submerged under water during that period, thereby reducing the number of working days in a year and restricting their efficacy. This further deters the women’s ability to channelize their heirloom skill towards income generating activities.

Underlying factors like this have given birth to the concept of Portable Weaving looms, which have taken the village by storm.  Popularised by Women Development Centre (WDC) under the aegis of Caritas India, these wooden looms weigh up to 35 kgs and can be easily mounted above the chang as and when required thereby enabling women to carry on with their craft.

“Now you can hear the traditional clatter of the loom even during peak flooding months”, Renumai remarks gleefully pointing towards the wooden frame. She further adds how this new technique has empowered her to take up weaving to supplement the household income and helped her earn a handsome sum of Rupees 28,000 last season.

“Earlier I could weave only 5 Mekhela Sador (indigenous traditional Assamese dress) in a year but this year I managed to weave up to 15 Sadors, thanks to this new concept”.

With more and more households embracing the new technique of portable looms, women have managed to accumulate substantial savings which are used to meet the educational expenses of their children and households needs during an emergency.