It is a clear moonlit night. It
is the full moon, an auspicious day on the Hindu calendar. I am making my way back to Hubli – The
bustling industrial town in North Karnataka, driving through uneven mud roads
snaking in and around small villages. I see groups of young girls and women
dressed up complete with Flowers in their hair, their bangled hands tinkling holding
small plates with Diya’s burning bright making their way to the temples to
offer prayers to their presiding deity’s in this auspicious Day. This Full moon or “Poornima/ Hunnime” that it
is called is a special one. It is called the “Gauri Hunnime “the full moon when
female deity’s are given great importance and worshipped with reverence.
It’s getting closer to nine pm
and I am still about 50 kilometres away from Hubli, our destination for the
night. Our drive back has been slowed down not only because of the lack of
proper roads but also the fact that there are Festival gatherings and Melas or
“ Jatre’s “ in most of the towns we are driving through. As I pass another small little town encapsulated
by stone hills on all sides our driver tells us that interestingly none of the
houses in this town have doors. Houses
are open and residents are always safe. There is no fear of accidents, thefts
etc. According to local Folk lore, anyone disturbing this social ecosystem
always meets with a quick and unnatural end. An interesting tit- bit of
information, even slightly unnerving given the darkness of night and the play
of shadows around us, the moonlight shining through.
There are a range of emotions
flowing through me...coming to me as a result of what I have seen, the women I
have met and finally the significance of the Day – “Gauri Hunnime” – The
worship of the female Deity.
I am actually driving back from
Shirahatti – home to my associate and friend Sheela Patil. Sheela is from Gadag Dictrict in North
Karnataka, born there, married there and living there with her family. Having
made the town of Shirahatti her home after marriage she has single handedly
trained and runs a self help group of over 50 women all engaged in hand
embroidery. These women are from all over the district and not restricted to
Shirahatti alone.
North Karnataka is home to traditional Kasuti
and Negi forms of embroidery. This is
pretty much a well known fact. For
Sheela, these are forms of embroidery that she learnt from her mother and
grandmother – A traditional skill passed on through generations. With this basic knowledge she has taught herself
over 3000 different types of embroidery stitches and techniques and is also
adept with Kantha, Kutch work etc …
With the aim of promoting and
providing livelihood to women in the region Sheela has herself trained the 50
odd women she works with. She says that
training programmes can range from A couple of weeks to several months. There
have even been instances when she has travelled four hours each day to and from
Shirahatti to more distant villages and towns. While some of the women who show interest and
come in to be trained continue with the craft and work on embroidery orders for
a livelihood there are also others who simply learn out of interest and to add
a skill. Sheela Patil in this manner has
created a sustainable means of livelihood for herself and in doing so has also
done the same for several women. Her only
motivation has been to provide a means to other women like herself to create a
foothold for themselves in the mainstream.
There have been several challenges
along the way!!! All these women including Sheela have homes to run, husbands
to look after and children to bring up.
Their biggest motivation to find time for embroidery, take orders and
make a livelihood out of this are their children! Each one of them has a dream
for their child and unanimously feel that their income out of what they are
doing will help them fund their children’s’ education and support their future.
There are younger un- married girls who are part of this group. They use the
income they generate to pay their school/ college fees and also tell you this with
a sense of pride.
Sheela says she has tremendous
family support for her enterprise. It is heartening to know that this is the
case with the other women as well.
Despite having started this work
independently basis her own initiative and enterprise, Sheela Patil is today a
well known figure in her town of Shirahatti and other villages around. She has
the support of the local town council and other social groups in the
region. With her work being recognised
far and wide she is also a “Navodymi” Award winner at the Deshpande Foundation
( www.deshpandefoundation.org)
based in hubli.
This is a small and heartening
story of a self – motivated woman with a dream, a vision driven by a deep
rooted sense of initiative and enterprise.
I have reached Hubli and as I
come to the end of what has been a long day, I am left with a multitude of
impressions – Of Sheela Patil and her home, of the women I met who work hard to
realize their dreams small and big, of the young girls I have seen along the
way all dressed up and of the “ Gauri Hunnime” and the worship of the female
deity. … 
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