Artisans around us: Kiranbala Harichandan

A multi-proficient artisan who weaves magic with hands:  Kiranbala Harichandan

Kiranbala Harichandan is the master handicrafts person who runs Seven Diamond Multicraft, that is a producer of handmade items . Situated at Lokeswarpur, Pallahat, Khordha District of Odisha, this organization has been functioning since 2005. Previously, it started with home creations however now their creative work has made its path to diverse stalls in the last fifteen years.

Their products include applique paintings, embroidery, straw art and paddy artwork which is made by trained individuals. They even create pillow covers, sofa covers and bedsheets, which they promote from houses or from stalls at Gopalpur, Bhubaneswar or anywhere else when they get a chance.

Kiranbala, besides being an outstanding artisan, she also gives training to young people at distinctive locations for which she is being paid by the government. She has 15+ artisans working with her at Seven Diamond Multicraft. They acquire the raw materials in bulk from places like Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri & Pipili and they an inventory for 3-4 months.

Their efforts in this is field has started to pay off because of the high quality of work. She shared that recently , they got an order for applique work for a temple for INR 28,000. However, the temple administration was so impressed that they paid additional INR 2,000.

She is a self-made artisan, who had this hobby since her school days and later converted this to a business. She believes that  "handmade products have much greater authenticity and beauty than the machine-made ones". At the same time, she expresses grief, that people nowadays are unaware of the high-quality produced by artisans and prefer the machine-made cheaper products. She is happy that our honorable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modiji has started the "vocal for local" campaign, and this she believes makes the case for artisans stronger. 

The current Covid-19 situation has posed a problem for her as the sales are down, however they are assured that they have got enough stocks of their artwork, which would start selling once things return to normalcy. 

That’s called optimism and our salute to many more Kiranbala's in India who are promoting local products and creating livelihoods for artisans.

(Interviewed by Neha Dash, KSOM 2nd year student during her internship with EnigmaticIndia. Photos have been provided by Ms Kiranbala)

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Artisans Around Us: Md Khurshid Ansari

“You got to pack anything, whenever you make a sale and that is an opportunity”: Khurshid Ansari

Md. Khurshid Ansari is a craftsman of Jute & Cotton working as a trainer in a production unit at Rishra close to Hooghly, in West Bengal. His organization is a part of the Bharatiya Mahila Sangathan since thirty years. Nine years into this organization as a craftsman, Mr. Khurshid has gained a great deal of recognition worldwide. Mr. Khurshid is not only a great artisan himself but also contributes to the society as a trainer at the Aditya Birla Institute. He has received many awards for his contribution to the society including Aditya Birla Jan Seva Trust for two years.

His organization deals with jute & cotton bags, canvas & Tisco bags. They make workplace  lunch boxes (which is their best-selling product). Apart from this they supply gunny bags to Supermarkets/malls. In the initial days, he struggled a lot to form his team, which comprises mostly women. However after months of training, the team is well settled and delivering well. The supply chain for the products  involve procuring the jute and cotton directly from the mills  through an agent. The raw materials are  bought as per the frequency of orders and it is converted into finished good in an impressive line-up of the  twenty-five (25) machines for  Jute  products  and  twelve (12) machines for Cotton products. 

He definitely wants his products to go global through online channel, however due to very high packaging and shipping cost, he is unable to do so. This is limiting the sale of the products just to exhibitions and small shops/retail outlets. As asked by our team regarding how the Jute and Cotton bags will be reach globally, he quoted “you got to pack anything whenever you make a sale and that is an opportunity that strikes us”. As there's slowly a ban of synthetic resin packaging, the demand of jute and cotton bags has seen an increase. He has seen that the craze for such eco-friendly products is increasing both in  Asia and Europe. Traveling within the country with these merchandise to various exhibitions, Melas, International Trade Fairs, noted exhibitions in cities. He has gained heaps of expertise regarding client preferences and also understanding the dynamical demands. Apart from these, he has tied up with a chain of providers in Odisha, which has a good uptake on Jute products (as it’s a Temple State and jute is considered to be a lucky material as per Mr. Khurshid).

Through this story he wants to reach out to individuals who support buying eco-friendly products /merchandises and also make us aware of the impact he and his organization is creating in generating livelihoods in his locality.

(Interviewed by Neha Dash, KSOM 2nd year Student during her internship with EnigmaticIndia. Photos have been provided by Mr Khurshid)

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Artisans Around Us: Sunita Mohanty

"If you dream it,you can do it": Sunita Mohanty

For each person out there who desires to realize their goals, their dreams however have faced tons of Obstacles, Doubters, have created mistakes and so finally given up…Well here’s the story of 1 Odisha woman who made it all on her own by breaking out of all the prevailing stereotypes. Mrs. Sunita Mohanty, associate businessperson and also the owner of Neena Crafts, five years past was a bit like the other Painter trying to find a chance to touch the lives of others through her work however rather than waiting, she set to form for herself a platform wherever she may level up in achieving her dreams and thus Neena Crafts was fashioned.

Neena Crafts is presently concerned with creating and commerce of Paintings together with the illustrious Pattachitra art form that is understood for its involved details and mythological narratives inscribed in it. Not solely Pattachitra however Neena Crafts additionally features a form of Wall paintings, hand paintings and even saree paintings that are splendidly referred to as Kalamkari. However what interests me a lot of is that the Pattachitra art form, for it's galvanized by the Hindu Mythology and to create only 1 Pattachitra it takes months or maybe a year of labour and patience to place in such a big amount of range of natural colours and portray a story out of it. The saree paintings and even the wall paintings created by Neena Crafts might be of our own alternative, it’s like we tend to may wear art in our sarees and walk and even adorn and style our dream house with all the fashionable nonetheless ancient wall paintings.

As we all know that there's a lot of demand of the hand sewn merchandise within the market and particularly paintings like Pattachitra and Wall paintings would need masterful artists of that, Neena crafts has recruited well-trained and economical operating individuals which permits it to finish the received orders from customers over the year and even reach resolute more audience by putting up their work in several Craft Exhibitions. Until currently they have their store in Odisha wherever the demand of Pattachitra paintings is extremely high however they're yet to create their on-line presence within the market.

It's true that Mrs. Sunita Mohanty broke out of the notion set that says that ladies shouldn’t work after wedding for she took a step and created Neena Crafts which is with success running nowadays, for at that point she gave her Painter Self an opportunity to Evolve!

(Interviewed by Neha Dash, KSOM 2nd year Student during her internship)

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"People Around Us" - Bikram Swain

Bikram Swain

Bikram 2 Bollywood

Car Washer to Tiger Shroff’s personal trainer

“My father doesn’t understand yet what I am doing here in Bollywood. Once or twice I have shown my selfies with Bollywood stars. But he said, "you don’t have a click with Sachin Tendulkar"? Two months back,  I got chance to take a click with great cricketer Sachin Tendulkar in Mehboob Studio, Mumbai. I sent that photograph to my father & he was so happy that I can’t even tell you. Now only he accepts…yes my son is doing something in Mumbai”: Bikram Swain.

Bikram & Sachin

Bikram’s life is not less than a Bollywood story. Being from a very poor family one day he shifted from Odisha to Surat to get some work as his maternal aunt was already there. He learnt embroidery work with a hope to earn more money. There he was earning Rs. 1300 per month. He used to keep half of that for himself and send the other half to his family. One day, someone suggested him that he should go to Mumbai. He came to the city with no money and started hunting for a job. This was in 2009. He worked with a shop for spakes frames colouring in South Mumbai and on Sundays & other holidays worked as a cleaner, used to wash cars to earn a living. While working as a car cleaner he became friend with a driver. He used to travel to Juhu every Sunday since it used to be his weekly off. When he went to Juhu beach, he saw some kids there doing gymnastics. He saw them and began practising with them. This became a routine for Bikram  on Sundays & on festival days. He got very good at it and was a fast learner.

Bikram & Tiger Shroff

“On one such day, "Tiger Shroff" spotted me. He was preparing for his debut film then. Even I didn’t have idea that he is the son of great bollywood star Jackie Shroff. When he saw me, he came and practised with me. After few such sessions, he offered me a job as his trainer. Back then, I didn’t know the language and I could hardly communicate with him. But Tiger understood me. He asked me to shift from South Mumbai to Andheri. He also bought me a phone and a sim card. Through that, we used to communicate. Since I didn’t know the language, he only used to message me the time at which we had to meet. Slowly, I learnt the language and now I can converse. Then, Tiger taught me how to browse videos on youtube, through which I learnt many new things.” Bikram.

Bikram is the first boy from his village Antarigam (Gunjam- Odisha) to have travelled abroad. His family & friends are so proud of him now. He has purchased some land in his village & built a home also. He helped his younger brother to be an MBA. His  village is affected by Naxalites and it is very under developed. In fact, Antarigam got electricity few years back only. Now Bikram is helping his village to be a developed one.   

“I also had a flair for dance and because of my flexibility, I got a good hang of it. I worked on that skill too and soon became very good at it. When I met Sooraj Pancholi via Tiger, he suggested that I should train him to dance. This began the next phase of my career. I now train Sooraj, Sayesha Sehgal (Dilip Kumar's niece) and Athiya Shetty. However, for me, Tiger is God. I travel the world with Tiger. I work with Tiger on all his dance numbers. But when Tiger is shooting, I am free. Hence, Tiger suggested that I get my Assistant Choreographer's card done so that I can assist Ahmed sir. I did it and went on to work with him on "Kick", "Phantom", "Hero", "All is Well among other movies.” Bikram 

(In conversation with "Saumya Parida")

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People Around Us "Safari Guides"

"KK"

The scorching heat of Central India was quite unbearable in May and sitting in an open gypsy (Jeep) we were quite anxious to quickly get into the Kanha Tiger Reserve safari ride. The previous two rides being unsuccessful in terms of sighting a tiger were weighing down on us and the kids were very eager to have a view of this majestic creature during this safari.

“Uncle who is going to be your guide asked one of them? Hope it is someone who is lucky”. That reminded me of a trip back in 2007 and a similar situation. With two safaris down and last one pending the family was eager to see a tiger in the wild. There came a guide  “KK” (popularly known in Kanha) who guaranteed us a sighting and before the ride was over he fulfilled his promise. Since then we had high regards for KK…but over the next few years we never got a chance to meet KK. This time around, I said to the kids may be it will be “KK” and soon after our driver comes back and mentions “we have the Chottu(small) guide with us”. I knew it was KK and when he appeared there was excitement around in the Gypsy. Rest is history…we had a wonderful sighting of Bhima at the BabaThenga lake in Mukki zone and to everyone’s heart content. Thank you KK.

Guides at Kanha Tiger Reserve,

Well the intent is not to describe my ability to prophesize or our excitement in finally seeing the majestic creature. It’s all about the Ecosystem around Safari parks and how the People around us make the experience good for us. Typically, most of the wildlife/Tiger Reserves are located in remote locations and adjoining a small village or hamlet. There would be a small road leading up-to the gate of the park and one can see a few Dhabas (restaurants), general stores, Handicrafts shops, Memorabilia shops and the Forest department offices. Off course there are the houses of the villagers and then comes the milieu of Resorts and Hotels.

There are many people who work in this eco-system who contribute to your experience. The hotel/resort staff, the shop keepers, the gypsy drivers, the forest staff (rangers, guards etc.) and finally the Safari Guides.  Most of us travel to such places, enjoy things around and come back to the urban jungle. Back there, the life still goes on and it is quite interesting to know & appreciate that there is a certain rhythm to this whole thing. The Tiger reserves operate only for 8 months during the year and between June and October these are closed to tourists. This is a period of emptiness and most of the things probably go back to a dormant mode, only to wake up in late Sept or mid October.

The question that comes to mind “What happens to the people?, “How do they earn their livelihood? “How does the ecosystem survive, that is so dependent on us (tourists)”.  “Why they chose this profession”? Also, what do they think about tourists, the forest, the government etc.

In this series, we would like to introduce you to two such key people i.e. “Safari Guide”, and “Gypsy driver”. The first in the series is an interview with “Neeraj  Pareste”, Safari Guide in Kanha Tiger Reserve.

Finally, we reckon that safari guides like KK, Neeraj, Tomar (all from Kanha), Bhupinder (at Ater), Baney Singh (at Bharatpur National Park), Neelkanth, Shravan, Dashrath (from Tadoba Tiger Reserve) and numerous other are an important part of our lives during such journeys and we owe then a  big thank you...

(Contributed by Enigmatic India team)

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People Around Us - Dinesh the Barber"

As we came out of the safari ride in the Pench Tiger Reserve(Nagpur,India), a young and thin guy approached our gypsy. Looked like one of the residents of Turia village(where Pench is located) and I was not sure what he wanted - maybe a guide or a gypsy driver wanting to enquire aboutthe next day trip.

He walks upto me and asks in Hindi "Sir, would you like to have a head or body massage". Not sure what made me answer "yes", probably the bumpy4 hour ride in the park. I asked him to come to my hotel room at the MPTDC and meet around 7:00 p.m. Madhu, was quick to add a word of discouragement"Sandip, the massage would increase your body pain and not comfort you", however I stuck to my decision.

We reached the guest house and after a quick round of tea, I was told that someone was waiting for me. There he was standing with a small bag and a big smile. I asked him to come to my room...and told him that I would like to have a head massage only. He was quick to add..."Sir...a body massage would be good". I opted for a head massage first with Navaratan oil, which I know is quite cooling.

As he started the massage I got into a conversation with him and his name was Dinesh and he was a barber by profession. Nothing surprising at all...till he went on to add that he came to Pench from Seoni every Saturday and went back on Monday. I asked him a barrage of questions"Why from Seoni", "What do you do there", "How do you travel" etc.



Dinesh while working his way through my head, started telling me his story...His parents lived ina place called Gopalganj near Seoni. Since his parents were poor he could not study. They were 2 brothers and 1 sister in the family and they owned 1 acre of agricultural land. As monetary needs increased, Dinesh decided to start working and who else to approach, his uncle in Karmajari who was a barber by profession. He picked the tricks of the trade from him and soon
established himself...by the way he is only 22 years old.

Soon the family moved to Seoni and Dinesh decided to get his brother and sister educated. The younger brother is in class X and the sister in class IV, both of them in a goverment school. Dinesh started working in a barber shop that operated in partnership mode i.e. all the earnings of the day would be shared between the barber and the owner of the shop. While he was able to generate INR 4000 per month it was not enough...so he started looking at alternative
source of income.

His uncle who worked in Karmajari, knew that Pench attracted a lot of crowd during the weekends and probably was a good place to be in. This was an opportunity that Dinesh wanted to capitalize and decided to make Pench his work of place during the weekends. Since last couple of years he has been going to Pench to earn the extra bit.

While in Pench he services the localites(shaving, hair cutting) and the visitors/tourists mostly by offering massage. He added that to save money he bicycles down from Seoni to Pench which is around 60 Kms and completes the journey in 3+ hours without a break.



On reaching Pench he starts his work and with the help of the only food place near Pench gate(Lalani Mess) - he stays overnight and also gets his food...this comes at a cost of around INR 60 per meal. With all this he manages a profit of around INR 800 - 1000 per week...adding around INR 3000 - INR 4000 per month to his existing income.He also shared that though they have one acre of land that has been given as "Thekedari", the family gets a return of only INR 4000 per year...which is hardly anything. The discussion carried on and he shared that he wanted to get a permanent job in any of the resorts in Pench which would offer INR 6000 per month + food/stay, also wanted to get his siblings married first before he decided for his marriage(probably a very nice thought but may not be practicable)

Slowly the massage came to an end and with that his story...Having paid him his fees, I wondered how difficult that world around us is and people are struggling every day to meet their needs... Dinesh was part of that bandawagon and his committment to his family is commendable. I have decided that next time I visit Pench, I will definitely meet him.



Good Luck Dinesh, and may God help you achieve whatever you wanted.

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Child Haven International - Caring for Children

As I sat in the verandah(sit-out area) watching the children play in a hot summer afternoon, a small boy approached me and was looking at me intently, not sure what to do next(I thought so). He seemed to be around 6-7 years, short and had a very pleasing smile on him.

Suddenly he says" Is your name Sandip Mishra?". Well, I was shocked as to how did this child who I have never met know my name(probably I was becoming famous). Yes, was my answer and I asked him "how do you know my name". There was a mystic smile on his face and he replied pointing at my ID card dangling "I read it from this card". I never did realize that I had my ID card and this smart boy used the information.

I decided to continue with the conversation and he said he was Srinivas, studying in Class2 of Little Flower high School at Rajendranagar Hyderabad. So, he sat down near me and asked a couple of more questions like are you from Hyderabad, what does my name signify etc. As we were chatting a few more boys/girls of various age gathered around. After a round of introduction, where Neha(class 6), Amit(Class 7), Yeshwanth(Class 3) and Kishore(Class 5) all reading in Little Flower High School, informed me that they were class toppers.

Well, I decided to quiz them on basic topics to extend this conversation and they were quite excited. I started off with spellings...Predicament and bang came the reply from Srinivas(the Class 2) boy and I was surprised. Then I went on to probe mathematics/logic with the 9 table, 8 table and Srinivas again was too fast for the others. I moved to environment sciences and Srinivas again was a winner.I was intrigued with this little boy who was a definite winner compared to the others.

As this was happening, I recollected something that happened earlier in the day as I watched the children play. In the Spoon race game, ten children were running and as the race ended a winner was declared. However the boy who was declared the winner by the judges went aside and told the judges that he was not the winner, rather came in third and pointed out who came in first and second position. I was astounded by the values/principles of this little boy who I now
realized was Srinivas.

Totally engrossed with the children I didn't realize the time/space/context around me. Suddenly someone tapped me on the shoulder and when I saw Bhabani, I knew where I was...  This was in Child Haven International(http://www.childhaven.ca) , an organization that assists children and women in 4 countries, who are in need of food, education, health care, shelter and clothing, emotional and moral support.

Started by Bonnie and Fred Cappuccino this organization was into social service. There were around 140 children there and the facilities were good and with new buildings coming up it was going to be better. The matrons and all the staff around seemed to be totally engrossed in what they were doing. Couple of volunteers from Canada and West Indies were also doing a three month internship program staying along with the children.

As a part of our organizational initiative, we had gone there to spend the day and what a day it was looking and experiencing everything around. The children seemed happy to have a home and friends around. Earlier in the day, we all sat down to have lunch. The children prayed and
then started their food. The smaller ones probably didn't like the taste and the matrons/care takers helped them. We also got engaged in various activities with the children like cultural program etc. Finally, the day was coming to an end and it was time for the award function. The prizes for various activities were handed over and the children were estatic.

As bid goodbye to our friends, I was totally humbled by what I saw and experienced. Each child there had a story to tell, one that was sad/difficult/had a struggle. However, the joy and happiness that each one of them exuded was limitless. ChildHaven was ensuring that all the children there grow up and become independent and I do see the determination in their eyes.

My salutations to the wonderful people at Child Haven International and this smart and wonderful little boy Srinivas who I am sure will excel in this world.

(Contributed by Sandip Mishra)

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People Around Us - " Story of Jagan the wood polisher"

The teak door frame of our house required another coating of wood polish and I requested the maintenance manager to send someone. Saturday afternoon, as I waited for that "someone", a short, middle aged(around 30 yrs) fair complexioned person wearing dirty clothes, carrying sandpaper, a bottle of brown colored liquid and couple of dirty cloth pieces walked in. "Sir, I will polish the door frame, please show me around he asked in hindi.

As I watched him do the work, I struck a conversation with him. Jagan, quite a common name is South India, has been a wood polisher since sixteen years. He works for a contractor Jagan Mohan Rao and what a coincidence, and has been working with him since 5-6 years(a greater case for future to understand employee retention).

A school drop-out after seventh grade...he did not study further as he failed once and all his classmates moved to the eigth grade. He felt bad about purusing schooling after that and also admitted that he was poor at English. His parents didnot force him, rather thought that he should add to the family income and there went another kid of this country towards child employment. Since then his life has been these few pieces of old clothes, different grades of sand paper, wood polish and turpentine(to clean the floor dirtied by the wood polish).

Jagan has four sons....Mahesh, Chandrasekhar, Sandip and Ramesh. Three of them are going to the school and the fourth one probably a recent addition to the family is yet to start school. His wife works as a domestic maid to supplement the family income. They live in a rented place i.e. 2 rooms with a bath and he informs that the basic eligibilty to get a house for rent is that the tenant has to own a gas stove atleast.

He works on weekly wages and earns Rs.180(around $4) per day, translating to around Rs.5,500 per month. He spends Rs.1,500 towards house rent and around Rs.500 for the education of his kids. He is interested in educating his sons, but feels that if they donot want to pursue he will not force them. Since he is not educated he send the sons for tuititions every month and spends around Rs.100 per child. The tuitition teacher as I guessed was the class teacher. Apart from the house rent he has to pay for electricity and water bills i.e. around Rs.300 per month. The rest of the money goes towards daily expenses and some degree of savings. His wife earns around 500 per month and even his motherr contributes another Rs.500 though stitching clothes.

As Jagan applies final touches to the door, he mentions that the day starts for him at 6:00 and around 8:00 he start for his work on a rickety bicycle. Paddles down for almost an hour to reach work which would change periodically depending on the contractors assignment. Leaves for home around 7:00 p.m. and reaches by around 8:00 p.m. Life as per him is though but he knows his limitations and is trying to do his best.

As I hand him Rs.50 for the work(even though its a part of my maintenance), I see a smile on his face and he said "Thank you sir"(in english), I will take home some sweets for my children".

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Needing Help...

The last two weeks have been very trying and tiring for the family attending to my father-in-law in the hospital. However during the whole process, I have realized rather reaffirmed to myself that I am have been very lucky, fortunate and
blessed compared to million others in terms of financial status, security, standard of living etc.

My father-in-law(who is in coma) is in a twin sharing room and his room-mate is a 24 yr old chap called Raghavendra.Raghav, who had completed his B Pharmacy met with an accident twenty days back in Moradabad, AP(India) and since then is in coma. He was rushed to NIMS(Hyderabad) immediately, however after three days the govt. hospital disowned him and suggested that he be treated in any private hospital. That's how he has landed up in KIMS(Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences)

While talking to his father today, I came to know that they are primarily farmers and had spend a fortune to bring up their son "educated". However, now they are in financial crisis and have not been able to pay the hospital bills since last 5-6 days(amounting to around Rs.70,000). Today, in front of me, the doctors stopped the medicines quoting that either these folks bring in on their own or make the payment.

The family have tried to approach the CM(through the local MLA) to get some money from the CM Relief Fund but in vain. I feel we all can bring in some positive difference to the lives of this family by contributing a token amount.
Any small amount contributed by you will go a long way in saving someone/supporting the family.

Incase you want to support this cause, please contact me at sandipmishra@sify.com or 98850-31242.

Thanking you for all your support. God Bless.

regards,
Sandip
p.s. This family has not approached me for any help.

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