Sit and Spin – Shakthidhama school in Mysuru is having quiet Charkha Spinning movement 

The school has a room dedicated to charkhas, where students spin their own yarn as a daily ritual, thus carrying forth a legacy. 

As students sit on a carpet and spin, the new ritual has become the order of the day. Children have spun around 650 metres of yarn to produce khadi in last four months.

This project was conceived by artist K.J. Sachidananda. After buying a charkha of his own, he has travelled across the country, spinning, and recounting tales of Gandhi.

The lush campus teems with women and children. On the walls are an assortment of pictures: the late Kannada actor Rajkumar, the writer Kuvempu and drawings by children. On the blackboards are jottings on Chandrayaan-3, English grammar, and biology. 

Charkha symbolised self-reliance and freedom. Gandhiji once said, “The message of the spinning wheel is much wider than its circumference.” The workshop is started to instill the value of simplicity, service of mankind, equality and living so as not to hurt others, 

Sachidananda organises spinning workshops in the city and elsewhere, in the hope of inspiring people. According to him, “Gandhi is not a noun, he is a verb, and he lives in every one of us. We just need to find him within and bring him out. That’s what I did with the children at the school.”

The students involved in the project were taken to Melkote trust, which has a noted khadi weaving centre, for a day-long workshop. 

As per children, the act of spinning wheel increased their concentration and patience.  Ashwini, a student, felt ‘empowered’. “I realised we could make our own clothes. We could provide employment to women, weavers, and tailors. If all of us in India learned how to spin, we would never have to depend on big corporations again.”

Witnessing the inspiring  outcomes,  they have already bought 100 kg of cotton, “which will be enough for the next six months,” as per school. And if the yarn can be sold outside, they believe it could support the children’s higher education. 

As they are  planning to extend this programme to classes VII and VIII, actor Shiva Rajkumar’s has reportedly invested in 25 new charkhas. 

Images by The Hindu

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