Saraswati Poojai.....

Saraswati Poojai.....

Vasant Panchami is normally known to be celebrated as Saraswati Pooja in most of the states in north India.
However in south India it is celebrated one day prior to Dasaharaa or Vijaya Dashami.
In fact in some parts of Maharashtra or Goa the celebrations start from Saptami or Ashtami days of Navaratri.
Saraswati Pooja has always been very special for me, more so because years ago I was born on that day. I was named as Vimala, as a tribute to her blessings. Maybe that is why I have been blessed with the desire to learn and to devote my whole life to gaining knowledge.
My mother a devote believer loved the song, " Annavaahan Devi Saraswati" and my father loves, the beautiful song " Vellai Tamarai poovil irrupaal" written by the revered and renowned poet Subramania Bharati.
No Navaratri would be complete without singing those songs and placing our books in front of Saraswati Devi seeking her blessings. We could not touch our books after that till the next day. This was one more reason why I loved this day all the more.
This year too, our day began with installing the photo and idols of Saraswati Devi and Lord Hayagreevan, the God of learning. Our books, laptops, Vishnu's cricket kit placed before them to seek their divine intervention to bless us knowledge and wisdom.
This is done in most of the homes in South India, where the pooja begins with placing a photo or idol of Saraswati Devi in their own homes along with their books and equipments. Children would be taking out books after worship on the next day, that is on Vijaya Dashami.
Vijaya Dashami is also known for Vidyarambham where children are formally introduced to the culture of learning music, dance, languages and other folk arts. Young ones who would be entering school are also made to write for the first time on rice.
Saraswati Pooja is therefore extremely special in south Indian homes. In fact till we grew up and went to study in University we only knew and performed Saraswati Pooja and never knew about Lakshmi Pooja.
Our son, Vishnu normally sings the shloka,
"Yaa Kundendu tushaara haaradhavalaa,
Yaa shubhravastraavritha, Yaa veenavara dandamanditakara, Yaa shwetha padmaasana, Yaa brahmaachyutha shankaraprabhritibhir Devaisadaa Vanditha, Saa Maam Paatu Saraswatee Bhagavatee Nihshesha jaadyaapahaa...."
As we bowed in reverence before Saraswati Devi and Lord Hayagreevan today we sought their blessings to bless us with the desire to learn, gain knowledge and use it for the welfare of our society.....
May the Goddess Saraswati protect us. May she remove our weariness, sluggishness and ignorance and spread the light of knowledge and wisdom in our lives.....

Mahalakshmi Saras....Umed Milap Conclave at Phoenix Market City, Dublin Square, Kurla West ...

Mahalakshmi Saras....Umed Milap Conclave at Phoenix Market City, Dublin Square, Kurla West ...

Mahalakshmi Sara's is an annual event of exhibition and sale of products made by women of self help groups of the MSRLM held every year in January at Mumbai. People wait for it eagerly for purchasing farm fresh grains, authentic spices, handmade products and handicrafts and also gorge on tasty rustic food. Lakhs of visitors thronging the exhibition reflect its uniqueness and popularity.
The exhibition presents the variety and flavours of the state. From hand pounded rice to aromatic ghee ( clarified butter), from medicinal haldi (turmeric) to hot tingling spices, from pulses and grains including tur dal, soya to raagi, from organic jaggery to tangy tamarind everything from the villages is available there. Among processed foods are various health products like raagi and soya biscuits, soya, Jowar, baajra chivda ( Namkeen) , khoya pedhaas, variety of chikkis and other mouth watering products.
Handicrafts apart from being handmade add value by being  environment friendly with jute and cotton bags, purses, exquisite gond and warli paintings, copper bottles, lamps, banjaraa finery, handmade godhadis. Handcrafted jewellery have their unique place too whether white or black metal, terracotta, silk threads.
Fabrics add their own colours with various weaves and shades from irkals to baatik. Among masalas are a variety including the tambdaa paandhraa rassaa, non-veg masalas, godaa masala, sambar masala, chilli powder, turmeric powder etc. And all this under one roof.
People have always demanded that the products be made available throughout the year. The government has therefore made this possible by creating the Mahalakshmi Saras Mart at Gram Vikas Bhavan Kharghar where all these products are available throughout the year.
To facilitate people's demand a new experiment of making the products available at R-City Mall Ghatkopar was possible thanks to the generosity and kind support of Ms.Sangeeta Lalwaani, FICCI Flo Pune, Bridgestone and the Runwal Group.
Looking at the response and demand ,a bigger exhibition of more products was therefore planned at Phoenix Market City Kurla West on 13th and 14th October. The support provided by FICCI, FICCI Flo Mumbai and Phoenix Market City made this too possible.
The exhibition was inaugurated by Mr.Aseem Gupta, Secretary, Department of Rural Development and is open till 10 p.m today.
With Dasheraa and Diwali fast approaching, Munbaiites have this fabulous opportunity to shop or place orders for festival gifting at the one and only Mahalakshmi Saras.
So do find time and visit Phoenix Market City today, you will not only be adding to your own smiles but also to the smiles of fiesty rural women from Self-help groups.

Navratri, Maa and blessings....

Navratri, Maa and blessings....

Today is the first day of Navaratri. It is also the first Navaratri without Amma. The installation or Golu, ghatastapanaa by Tamilians is done on Amavasya. So effectively our ghatastapanaa happened day before yesterday. I was in a hurry to leave to Delhi for a meeting and had no time to think or brood as I completed installation of the kalash and praying to God.
I felt the pinch of her absence yesterday as we installed the " Golu". My methodical husband and enthusiastic son were helping me to set the dolls of "Golu" and made things easy.
As Vishnu , called out to me, I remembered my mother, Amma.....
Amma loved festivities, festivals and people . She specially looked forward to Navaratri when many people would come home for the traditional "vettalai paaku" or "Haldi Kumkum". Singing devotional songs and eating yummy "sundal" ( bolied lentils or nuts seasoned in oil with mustard seeds) is an integral part of Navaratri. This was something she loved. It was but natural for me to remember her and miss her even as Appa said on the phone that this was the first Navaratri he too was away from Mumbai.
As I prepared prasadam in the morning , a sudden sense of loss overcame me. How could one reach out to someone is who is no more? The mind, the heart and the umbilical cord kept me connected with her even though physically she was no more. I could almost feel that lump again in my throat when I brushed aside the gloom and started singing praises of Sriman Narayana.
There was a sudden transformation in my thoughts as I connected with the Lord. I was in unison with Him as I stirred the prasadam and sang praises of the Lord.
I had managed to channelise my thoughts positively and remember my mother fondly without despair. Of course the void created by her physical absence was there but mentally, I felt more composed and agile, more connected to her.
I could sense her smile, her appreciative nod and soundless claps as I sang, " Kurai Ondrum Illai" a very popular tamil song written by the Governor-General of India, C. Rajagopalachari. Sung by the revered M.S.Subalakshmi the song is unique as it expresses thankfulness to God.
It goes on to say that he had no complaints against the Lord as he knew that he was sustained by the Lord who was compassionate and bountiful to grant him everything without asking for it!
Much at peace with myself after chanting Govinda Govinda, I realised that ultimately it is the mind which makes us strong, it is the mind which enables us to reach out to our souls and it is the mind which makes us follow the correct path in life.
Navaratri which essentially emphasises on the victory of good over evil and the empowerment of our minds through shakti was an occasion to strengthen our minds through the blessings of Devi.
Amma as a mother was no less than that. My mind free from clutter I continued chanting Govinda Govinda as I stirred the prasadam seeking his blessings to receive as well spread the sweetness in everyone's life and to make each one's life truly blessed.

Haatkargha, Handwoven, Handmade with FICCI at Constitution Club....

Haatkargha, Handwoven, Handmade with FICCI at Constitution Club, Delhi....

"A thing of beauty is joy forever" and when that thing is handmade it brings greater joy. India has always been known as a country housing timeless art, tradition and culture. Handicrafts were an integral part of this legacy. They prospered under the royal patronage from immemorial times. However, the industrial revolution created a dent in that lineage. Within a capitalised economy assembly line clothing became a norm due to its easy availability and lower cost. Indigenous art and crafts dwindled till Mahatma Gandhi gave the call of Swadeshi. Khadi became a part of every home and created a revolution. Despite all the honour attached to it, Khadi or handwoven and hand spun was not considered trendy. It had also not changed with the times. As result it had to bear the brunt of low patronage.
Interest in Khadi was renewed when it was metamorphosed into trendy colours and softer weaves. Similarly handicrafts and handloom as a cult have been preserved by the policy makers and saviours of the cottage industry.
It is therefore encouraging that FICCI has organised the Haatkargha, a B2B conclave where artisans could display their art and also promote their business.
The event was inaugurated by the Hon'ble Minister for Textiles, Ms.Smriti Irani. In her address as the Chief Guest and also during her interaction with Facebook she emphasised on the need for upskiling artisans to keep pace with the times. Recognising an artisan was the first tribute to his art. When we buy a piece of art from him we literally buy from a piece of his legacy. We therefore needed to recognise the craft. Some weaves are languishing despite geographical importance. We needed to nurture and protect them by adding value and also by hand holding such arrists to upgrade their skills.
She emphasised on the need for better packaging, branding while stating that simple products in the international market made a mark due to appropriate presentation, packing and branding. We needed to learn to design, package and present. We also needed to diversify the product range.
Handloom was not necessarily expensive neither had it remained coarse. It had transformed over the years into beautiful colours, shades and weaves. Another advantage is that it also lasted long. Most of handicrafts had stories to tell of the people, the tribes, the villages and their culture. They spoke the local dialect. In fact the essence of a craft was in it's mothertongue. The artists should be free from our conformations. We had to conform to their way of life. It was therefore important for us to speak in the language of the artisans instead of them speaking in English because their art spoke their language. She also suggested propagating handicrafts by attaching it to tourism, homestays, local art and cuisines.
FICCI had to recognise the potential business in handloom and strive towards making it more succesful.
During the last four years the government had exported handicrafts over Rs.1,36,000 crores. Efforts were also being made to educate the weaving community through NIOS and IGNOU. Over 100 Community Service Centres, CSCs were working to make weavers IT enabled. The idea of Direct to weavers would also make the buyer as well as seller happy.
Handloom was all weather and lasted long. Youth should also be attracted to use handlooms by infusing digital design and marketing its uniqueness.
Handmade was therefore something made exclusively with love and care by the artist seller for the buyer.
And in reality, when we buy a hand made product, we are buying more than just an object, we are buying hundreds of hours of failure, experimentation done by the artist, we are buying days, months and weeks of frustration, moments of poor joy, we are not just buying anything, we are buying a piece of the artist's heart, a part of his soul , moments of someone's life, we are buying time for the artist to do something more passionate
It was therefore important to value craftsmanship instead of valuing ruthless efficiency. Mecahnisation has made our lives dreary but we are not machines. Art and crafts are not luxuries. As humans we need them as much as we need to pause and look at handiwork and to see their beauty amidst utility.
The Haatkargaha Exhibition at the Constitution Club in Delhi till tomorrow is one such opportunity. MSRLM Umed through its MILAP programme in collaboration with FICCI has sent 10 different artist.
Please do visit and take home with you a beautiful part of Maharashtra and India....

DDUGKY, Dhatri Foundation, Stars and Superstars....

DDUGKY, Dhatri Foundation, Stars and Superstars....

Soft spoken and gentle Ms.Hyma of the Dhatri Foundation, an award winning PIA under DDUGKY at MSRLM came to my office one afternoon and said that she wanted to organise an alumni meet for about 150 girls who had been trained at her DDUGKY centre in Nagpur and placed in Hyderabad. She wanted me to be there for the event to felicitate the girls. Hyma's undying spirit and passion is exemplary. She runs 'only girls' batches and not only mobilises them personally but also pays personal attention to them by calling them and visiting them in their establishments. I had always been curious to see how she managed to spin off this success and readily agreed.
The event was organised at Hotel Swagath Grand in Habsiguda at Hyderabad which incidentally employs 105 girls trained under DDUGKY at Dhatri Foundation in their various establishments.
As I entered the hall I saw over 100 girls smartly dressed, full of life and enthusiasm, chatting chirpily, savouring the moments of their success.
Yes, all these girls were from villages near Nagpur and Wardha, from poor families. They all came to know about DDUGKY in the mobilisation camps of Dhatri. All of them had to take a tough decision for staying away from home to get trained. And after training they had to take a tougher decision for moving to Hyderabad for work far away from their families, in a new place.
But the trade off was worth it , all of them were successful in their jobs, earning over seven thousand rupees.
Sanjana trained in hospitality and working in Swagat Presidency last 10 months feels at home in Hyderabad because her employers treat her like their daughter. She manages her own expenses from the tips she receives and sends her salary to her parents.
Sweety switched over to Airtel from Megas and earn over Rs. 14000.
Everyone was amused with SoorjKali working with Levi's Jean's. A girl who had health issues and was afraid as she had never stayed without her parents didnt hesitate to market Levi's Jean's to the gathering. She has a bank balance of Rs.80,000 and dreams of making her sister a graduate.
Pooja is a daredevil who literally ran away from home to do the course. She is from the first batch working at Metro Cash , earns over Rs 8700 salary. She has 2 of her friends working with her and feels elated at the confidence reposed in them as they handle cash worth Rs. 2 Crores at times. In fact she singularly handled cash of Rs.50 lakh once.
Namrata working in Naari Mann was so shy of her bad voice that she would avoid speaking but is full of confidence now as she expresses gratitude to her employer who encouraged her to speak and put life into her and her friend Priyanka who also rarely spoke. Today both of them could stand in front of this audience and both earn about Rs.8000 each and send almost Rs.6000 home.
Whether Aarti working in Dwarka Restaurant or Archana and Ujwala at PVR Cinemas, Priyanka at K.S.Bakers, Damini of Megas or Priya in DMart each shared a story of success.
Nilofer Sheikh's confession of getting freedom despite being a girl from the Muslim community and her plea to all from the community to give a fair opportunity to girls from their community wrenched each person's heart. She is proud to have gifted a mobile to her brother. Her parents had come all the way from Nagpur to share her joy.
Sooraj Kali's father, a farmer living a hand to mouth existence was grateful to DDUGKY for giving this opportunity to his daughter who now sends him money for managing their house. He sees a marked change in her attitude as she has got over her stage fright and has become very confident.
Among the employers, Ms. Nessie form Megas says she is really happy to get trained  and good quality staff who put in a lot of effort. She now does not have to struggle for manpower and contacts Dhatri whenever in need of good personnel.
Mr.Tyson of Asian cinemas has taken 7 girls and15 boys feels that DDUGKY is a great initiative.
Mr. Balram of the Swagat group has taken 105 students feels that the opportunity is unimaginable. He admires the attitude and dedication of the girls along with their interest to learn. Their transformation from
Nagpur to Hyderabad is remarkable.
Mr. Anwar of Dwarka felt that they are stars and Dhatri was the super star
Mr. Satya of K. S. Bakers pvt Ltd took cudgels against his organisation which had never employed girls for 19 years and convinced them to take 7 girls. He now has more than 40 girls.
One rarely comes across any project in which all stakeholders are happy. That's was the most amazing part of the evening.
It is significant to note that all these girls came from remote villages near Nagpur to Hyderabad. They had never left the safe haven of their homes. They neither knew the language nor the industry. None of them were accustomed to the hyderabadi food and did not like it. Yet each one had a desire to listen and learn. They had the capacity to assimilate and adapt. For them it was not just any job but an opportunity to realise their tremendous potential. Today their language has changed and they have become polished, suave and stylish with the right attitude.
Each student was full of praise and gratitude for Hyma, Prabhakar, Naveen, Pranjal and the Dhatri team. The passion and compassion of Hyma and the day to day management of the team, their continuous touch and interaction with all the girls placed in Hyderabad gave them the confidence of being in a protective family.
Dhatri, like the mother earth had laid the foundation for these budding flowers to blossom. Me and my team too had many reasons to smile.....

Wardhinis of MSRLM....ever growing, thriving to increase prosperity....

Wardhinis of MSRLM....ever growing, thriving to increase prosperity....

Maharashtra State Rural Livelihoods Mission (MSRLM) - UMED, is working for the empowerment of women through self help groups (SHGs). Social and financial inclusion and sustainable livelihoods are the ultimate goals to be achieved by creating community institutions. There has been a phenomenal growth in the number of SHGs in Maharashtra during the last two years with their numbers increasing from about 80,000 to over 3 lakhs. The number of families benefitting due to this social inclusion has also increased from about 8 lakhs to over 30 lakhs. This has been possible due to the dedicated services of the Wardhinis.
Bringing people together, making them understand the importance of community institutions and forming self-help groups is the first step towards social inclusion and is perhaps the most daunting task. It requires immense skill, dedication, will-power , grit and determination.
The support of Community Resource Persons from Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) - Andhra Pradesh was initially taken for mobilisation and Institutional building in the new villages. Though SERP is a specialised agency there were some constraints which included the language barrier, limited number of trainers and time lag. Consequently the need of creation of a cadre of CRPs within the state was felt.
Maharashtra had a pool of bare foot animators –called Sanghatika which existed since 2008 in the SGSY programme in Wardha district. Learnings from the NRO & SGSY created cadre gave insight to MSRLM to create Wardhini, a cadre of their own to facilitate social inclusion. The services of these fiesty women from this cadre were used to facilitate formation of SHGs under MSRLM.
‘Wardhini’ means “evergrowing” ,"increasing", "thriving", "bestowing prosperity" . True to their description Wardhinis have been transforming lives and creating an atmosphere congenial to overall growth in rural areas. Today the state has about 5000 Wardhinis dedicated for social inclusion.
Wardhinis are given the task of training SHG members, newly identified community resource persons and book-keepers along with formation of SHGs. Selecting a right candidate as Wardhini is therefore very important. Rural women who are educated with basic skills of reading and writing and have had school education appear for the written test, group discussion and personal interview and are selected on the basis of the results.
They then undergo a thorough training of 5 months in the methodology for inclusion of village into the NRLM fold, assessment of poverty with PRA tools & household survey , master training of SHGs in the module for social mobilisation, SM-1 Module & Book-keeper’s module, SBK-1 Module and of course the Dashsutri.
Wardhinis are external Community Resource Persons who facilitate mobilisation in the villages of different blocks of the districts to which they do not belong.
The pattern of working of Wardhinis is known as “rounds” which is of 15 days. In each 15 day round for each village the five member team of Wardhini stays in the host village to understand the issues related to poverty, identification of the poor and for mobilization of the poor households into the SHG fold. The woman members of the households are motivated to become member of the SHG. They are then capacitated with trainings of SHGs, bookkeeping etc.
The SHG formation and related activities accomplished by Wardhinis have been cost effective compared to the CRPs from SERP. The cost is almost halved in Wardhini Rounds. The Coverage of block has also speeded up as targeted. Wardhinis thus contribute for creation of social capital for rapid mobilisation and expansion of mission in other districts and for further empowerment of the villages
Wardhinis hail from economically weaker/Below Poverty Line households. Most of them have overcome their economic problems and in some cases social issues with the support of SHGs and surfaced as a role model for others.
The Wardhinis not only bring together the rural women for inter loaning but they also encourage and facilitate them for linkage with the Institutional Financial Systems. The bank linkage enhances the financial literacy and inclusion of the otherwise deprived women.
A woman hailing from the weakest section of the rural society leaving her home and household responsibilities for 45 days at a stretch for the economic and social empowerment of other women brings out the uniqueness of the Model.
Thus, Wardhinis reflect the emancipation of the rural society from the patriarchal mentality to a large extent. Their contribution to the empowerment of rural women has given a lot of strength to the community.
In my recent interaction with the Wardhinis at Wardha last week where they had assembled for assesment of their work in the present financial year and planning for the next 6 months I was able to interact with over 250 Wardhinis. Their enthusiasm was palpable as they shared their experience of staying 45 days in 3 villages allocated to them
Sangeeta Hise, of the Aanapoorna SHG , is a farmer's daughter. She is 12th pass and was married at 18. She has two sons. Her husband works in a private company and earned barely Rs.800/- and their living was hand-to-mouth. She supported him financially by doing odd selling jobs. She also had to bear the troubles of having a drunkard husband.
Her life changed after she joined the SHG and the VO. She started doing small business and earning money. She soon applied to become a wardhini and got selected.
When asked how has the experience has been at Solapur in the Akkalkot block where she went, she said that initially getting a response was difficult. During their visi, they had reached the village in the morning and not having cut ice with the people had no place to stay even for the night. It became dark and they had no place to stay. They managed to get permission to stay in a temple at 9.30 PM thanks to one local boy. With no food to eat all day, they shared the tiffin they had brought. They received no support from the local.people. In fact a press reporter scornfully said even if the Wardhinis stayed in their village for 15 days in the village, nobody would come. Women also did not show any interest nor did anyone attend the mahila sabha. Finally the wardhinis felt they should approach the husbands of the women. So they organised a kopra baithak ( corner meeting) and asked the husbands to join. That was the first breakthrough and they were finally able to form eight SHGs.
She sincerely felt that ," Adchani aahe mhanoon wardhini aahe" , that is Wardhinis were there because difficulties were there and they had to be overcome. Ultimately Wardhinis held a sabha attended by 160 persons. They even held sabhas for youth girls.
It was their determination which led them to success.
This story is one among the hundreds of stories of empowerment through enterprises. . Wardhinis true to their word are the leading force and their positive attitude will surely strengthen the mission and lead to overall development of the women.