18 May 2008

We stopped quickly at a veterinarian’s house that raised dairy cows. They were lined up outside and perhaps some of the cleanest animals I have yet to see. They almost looked ready for show. Even as we were there, as soon as an animal defecated, someone would run up and sweep it into a pan to discard. These cows are kept in the back of his house where he and his family live. Families are quite large here, with the husband, wife, and husband’s parents living in a house with their children. The house is quite nice too, and we are offered some Indian soft drinks. Glass bottles of Limca (lemon lime soda) or Thumbs-Up Cola were quite refreshing. Several of the cows had an extra teat, which seems to be somewhat common. He has sold some cows for about RPS 55,000.
We were traveling now outside Bangalore to see how silk was manufactured. Perhaps one of the earliest bioreactors, the silkworm caterpillars have been harvested for many years to produce their valuable fiber. We saw the process in reverse order, but for sanity’s sake, I’ll rearrange it from start to finish for the reader(s). Male and female Silkworm Moths are placed in small containers where they mate and the female lays her eggs. The eggs are laid on the bottom of the container, which is actually a sheet of paper with disk outlines where the container fits over. These papers are hung up until the baby silkworms hatch. The hatched eggs are placed in a basket of shredded mulberry leaf where the young caterpillars eat to their hearts content. The livestock is kept organized by the number of molts it undergoes. They are generally kept in dark cool rooms. The leaves don’t seem to be changed, even when they dry out, but the caterpillars make it through just fine. After the caterpillars mature, they are placed in large boards with concentric circles of woven plant forming compartments where the caterpillar will form their cocoon. The cocoons are harvested and sold at market by the thousand. The cocoons are bought and brought in baskets to a room where they are placed in boiling water. A spinning wheel catches the fiber that is released in the water, weaving together a thread of silk to a large spinning wheel. This silk is then brought to another machine that spins together three of these threads into one single thread. The discarded cocoons can be used as cattle feed after they are dried in the sun. The silk threads are then treated with dye to take color. This also seems to have a softening affect on the fiber, creating a truly wonderful feeling tread. The thread is then woven by semi-automated machines that follow a pattern dictated by punched holes in wooden blocks, much like a player piano, or old computer. The thread can be mixed with other fabric threads and have metallic accents added to create spectacular vibrant patterns. The finished product is six feet of material suitable for a saree.