'Neyge,' a two-day exhibition on Udupi Sarees, an initiative of Gandhi – King scholarly exchange program -US, in collaboration with Gandhian Centre for Philosophical Arts and Sciences, MAHE concluded the event with a valedictory ceremony on May 6th. Dr. Sulatha Bhandari, President, Manipal Mahila Samaj, presided over the valedictory ceremony. George Amman, a senior weaver from the Shivalli Weaver's Society Udupi, was the guest of honor. Mamata Rai, President of Kadike Trust, Ganesh Rao, and Lalita Kedilaya, GCPAS Head Prof Varadesh Hiregange, were the guests on this occasion. 

"Udupi region neither produced cotton/yarn or made colors, people developed the inherent skill as a response against the British, and the momentum gained importance during the Gandhian movement. Khadi was promoted under the "Make in India project" during the freedom struggle, co-operative societies gained importance, and weaving Udupi sarees was started as a resistance and people's swaraj movement. And the production of Udupi sarees became a part of the culture, and most of the homes started weaving irrespective of caste and religion," explained Ganesh Rao, son of U.Rama Rao, one of the founding members of the Udupi Weavers society. 

"I started weaving Udupi Sarees at the age of 12, and I am 80 now; I still feel there is a lot to learn. Like you have different subjects, weaving also has different techniques and processes to study, and it takes a lifetime," says George Amman, a senior weaver from the Shivalli Weavers Society, Udupi. Sulatha Bhandari addressed the gathering and stressed on buying the sarees and finding contemporary use of sarees so that the culture stays in momentum and flows along with modernity. 

A special session was conducted by Dr. Veena Rao, Head, Dept of Design, MAHE, on "Sustainable fibres for fashion." She explained the process of extracting yarns from banana stems and how agricultural wastes could be turned into useful resources for sustainable fashion. She also conducted a Banana fibre extraction workshop in which the students and guests tried their hands at making banana threads. 

Lavanya NK and Roydon, Gandhi-King fellows, shared their experience of ideating project "Neyge" as a part of their Art- Environment action research project, trying to converge ecology, art, and economy. Lavanya, an alumna of GCPAS, MAHE, mentioned how her master's course, Ecosophical Aesthetics, helped her ideate and weave the philosophy of the event Neyge. 

The two-day exhibition-lecture-workshop on the very process of handloom in general and Udupi saree, in particular, attracted a large number of people from Manipal, Udupi, and nearby areas.