Weaving diversity

Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his  book The Black Swan describes how human beings are biologically inclined to turn complex realities into soothing but oversimplified stories-tend to squeeze unrelated facts and events into cause-and-effect equations and then convert them into easily understandable narratives.

These stories, Taleb writes, shield humanity from the true randomness of the world, the chaos of human experience, and, to some extent, the unnerving element of luck that plays into all successes and failures. Perhaps nature by design loves variety, diversity and nurtures unique characteristics in living and non-living beings across geographies and time zones. 

Nature therefore prefers to ask  "kitne prakaar ke aadmi the" (variety of people who were there) to "Kitne aadmi the" (how many people were there) -a famous dialogue of Gabbar Singh in movie Sholey

Handlooms in India are true epitome of this variety, this diversity, this uniqueness which every weaving cluster represents through its weaving vocabulary. In our attempt to simplify we club weavers as one category of artisans but doing this would perhaps be like taking a sip through fire hose.

I recently visited two blocks in Nagaland which practice weaving. One in mountains- Chizami block (3 hours drive from Kohima) and One in plain land- Dhansiripar block (45 minutes from Dimapur railway station) 

In contrast to weaving clusters of Varanasi, Bhagalpur, Bhuj, Maheshwar, Mangalgiri and so and so forth, WOMEN Weave in Nagaland and get due credit. 

(Women also weave in other weaving clusters of India, its a different matter that they dont get credit for doing so.)

Weaving in Nagaland is on a loin loom which is narrower in width and is omnipresent in every rural household. 

Traditionally, as it was the case in all other weaving clusters, weaving was done in natural fibers and in natural dyes extracted from nature. Despite the undulated mountainous terrain and small land holding, cotton was grown, hand ginned, hand carded and hand spun for weaving shawls. 

Much to my dismay, in contrast to other weaving clusters of India, dilution of natural fibers has happened at much faster pace in Nagaland (if these two blocks can be considered representative sample of Nagaland). Local merchants prefer acrylic yarns and provide/coordinate supply of pre-dyed acrylic yarns to the women weavers. Majority of the weavers have shifted to artificial fibers and earn about Rs. 2000-2500 per month for a 4-6 hour weaving in a day.

Villages in Nagaland are very sparsely populated and this definitely is reflected in density of weavers in a given location. 

In my quest and strong belief that there would still be someone in these clusters who still doesnt believe in use of artificial fibers in handloom, I found one women Vesaolu in Sakraba village who cultivates her own cotton, does hand ginning and hand carding. Since she has never used pesticides/ chemical fertilizers, her cotton is organic too

It was very interesting to see the hand ginning by Vesaolu and I recorded it for benefit of handloom textile lovers.

We will come back to the original question on viability of handloom textiles in future posts.

Its easy to talk to those who agree with you- I am trying to disagree with myself in this journey and will therefore go slow to make sure we dont commit Narrative Fallacy which I shared from Taleb's  book when I began this post

Leaving the readers with some serene pictures from the Sakarba village.

Handloom, Sampling and Beyond

"Babu Moshai Jindagi Badi Honi Chahiye Lambi Nahin" , this famous dialogue from movie anand connects so strongly with the fact that handloom textiles are at their best when unique designs (badi jindagi) are woven in shorter warp lengths (lambi nahin).

Continuing from my last post , where we examined in great detail that handloom textiles from India had a glorious past; now we will try to analyze what can be done to make sure that handloom weavers start earning respectful and remunerative income.

We have understood clearly that it is cost intensive for powerlooms and mills to weave new designs in shorter runs. Normally, mills and power-looms look for orders in same design for atleast 500 meters or more

Therefore it is clear that 1-500 meters is the clear playground for Handloom textiles. 

Last few days I had many rounds of discussion with young weavers from different weaving clusters in India. Some of them have understood this 'playing field of handlooms' and are doing sampling for buyers extensively. 

They shared that normally buyers, particularly designers, approach them for developing new samples. The weavers earn a premium on these 'sampling orders' not because of sympathetic reasons but because it is cost-ineffective for these buyers to get their sampling done on powerlooom and mills.

This evokes a feeling of good. Weaver's are experimenting more and re-skilling themselves in this process.

Contrary to their hopes and desires, Weavers reckoned that they are facing a new challenge while traversing this journey of weaving unique products in shorter runs. 

Majority of these buyers who get their sampling done on handlooms (for cost-effectiveness reasons), place bulk orders on these samples to powerloom and mills (again for cost-effectiveness reasons).

This is causing a double whammy to weavers.

Paromita Banerjee also highlights this in her Mint article

"I often see a rash of fashion entrepreneurs who call themselves designers arrive at weaver clusters, assign a few months’ worth of work, then disappear. It lets weavers down, it renders them cyclically grasping for livelihoods, and gives them false hope."

Where does this lead to? Will Handloom weavers earn better income only in sampling? Will they not receive larger orders on the samples which they or their fellows weavers weave? If they dont receive bulk orders on their samples, how will the sector survive; the sector which provides employment to more than 3 times the number of employees which Indian Railway has (largest organized sector employer of India)?

Vertiginous distance to be traveled ! More questions than answers ! We need to delve more deeply.

What we know clearly is that shorter runs (less than 500 meters) is handlooms core strength playground. We now need to find and rejuvenate (if required) ground conditions of this 500 meters playground to win the right match.

Without being mawkish, As Circuit in movie "Munnabhai" says "Bhai tension nahin lene ka"  

We will find the answers and I again I am saying it  more fervently that Handloom weavers are

 not in a state of problem, they are in a state of possibility. 

Handloom textile & Luxury

"Bhai, tension nahin lene ka bhai" we have heard 'Circuit' saying very fondly to "Munnabhai" in the movie "Munnabhai MBBS". (Brother-there is no need to be tensed)

As I said in my last post , Handwoven textiles have the potential to be fabric of future - in shorter runs and as bespoke products. Powerlooms and Mills don't stand a chance in this space. So, "Bhai, tension nahin lene ka bhai."

In this post, I will talk about one of the questions raised in last post "Was Indian craftsmanship always bad?"

India's love affair in experimenting different versions of clothing is as old as civilization itself. Not only luxurious fabric was handwoven but there were strict policies for weaving defect free. Weavers earned good remuneration and PAID taxes.

In the annals of history of India the travel accounts of Fasiyan, Huan Tsang, Warthima, Bernier, Garriri, Tavernier, General Ormi and Marcopolo spelt out the glory of the handloom industry in the by-gone days.

Wilson (1979) writes

The Greeks with Alexander the Great wrote of the fine flowered muslins and robes embroidered in gold they had seen in India.The Arthasastra gave the penalties for fraudulent practices and listed the taxes to be paid by weavers.

Writers proclaimed on the sheerness of Dacca muslins, called evening dew, running water, or sweet-like-sherbert. Seventy-three yards, a yard wide, weighed only one pound. By comparison, the finest Swiss cottons ever made were at best sixteen or seventeen yards to the pound.

The fineness of the hand woven fabrics were such that poets of the Mughal durbar likened muslins to baft hawa (woven air), abe rawan (running water) and shabnam (morning dew).

Shashi Tharoor, in his book Era of Darkness writes "Her textile goods-the fine products of her looms, in cotton, wool, linen and silk-were famous over the civilized world"

According to historian Nick Robinson, Indian textiles made up the bulk of the Company’s trade by the 1680s. In 1684, for example, they comprised 83% of the Company’s total trade amounting to some 17 lakh million pieces of cloth, which came from as far afield as the Coromandel Coast, Bengal and Gujarat.

 Daniel Defoe who described how "everything that used to be made of wool or silk, relating to either the dress of women or the furniture of houses, was supplied by the India trade".

And it is not just handwoven textile but other handcrafts also which were admired.

Referring to one of the India made craft jewellery, the anklets used by peasant women at Bundi in Rajasthan state of India, during a lecture in 1901, Sir T. Wardle wrote: “I bought for a few annas a bronze chain anklet, but all cast in one mould together, quite a common thing, but so wonderfully made that one of our best foundry owners told me he did not think anyone could do it in Europe”

These examples definitely illustrate that Indian Craftsmanship was not just good but exemplary.

What has gone wrong?

We all understand that ways of doing business have transformed many folds. Technology, particularly, internet has revolutionized the methods of business communication. Businesses which responded and worked in sync with these changes have flourished.

For Artisans, we never had a specialized business or a design school. Knowledge has always been passed on verbally and through on-loom practice from one generation to other. With changing business environment, ability of artisans and their market interfaces have remained limited.

While there is no denial that entire craft sector is reeling under pressure from cheap goods made by machines, it’s equally true that misgivings attribute to the way artisans and their market interfaces have responded to the changing circumstances.

Broadly speaking, three market interfaces have worked of the weavers

1.     Master Weavers: Despite all the criticism, master weavers have played a very important role in providing market linkages and credit support to weavers. However with changing business environment and rapid entry of powerlooms, they are not equipped to fulfill the role with same rigor and attention as they did in past.

a.     For instance, in an attempt to compete with products made by power-looms and mills master weavers have started pushing artificial fibers like nylon and polyester to handloom weavers , even in places like Varanasi which are considered to be Mecca of Handlooms.

b.    With artificial fibers making inroads, entire ecosystem of handloom weavers which include pre-loom and post-loom service providers has started vanishing into cities as security guards and migrant laborers.

c.    Adding further blow, master weavers in all major weaving clusters have started using napthol based dyes to give their sarees machine like finish and shine.

d.    Ramifications of these actions have been far and wide. Weaving wages have gone down further. In order to earn a daily living from the decreasing wages, weavers, as a result, minimized experimenting with new designs and have started looking for large orders in one similar design.

e.    In this price war, weavers have forgotten that machines can very easily copy simple designs and weave volumes at fraction of the cost. As a result, weavers, particularly younger ones no longer find association with the pride of past and income of the present.  It doesn’t require chip on the shoulder to imagine the situation when younger generation hasn’t learnt from elderly and in next two decades elderly masters will not be around.

2.     Collectives and Apex Federations: In the larger policy dialogue, producer collectives are ‘assumed’ to be the solution for all primary producers. Logically speaking, economies of scale and scope have yielded bargaining power to the primary producers and coupled by value addition and professional marketing, dairy and sugarcane cooperatives have done what private sector couldn’t do.

a.    However unlike dairy and sugarcane collectives, where milk or sugar is a commodity and with value addition and professional management, viable producer-marketing collectives have been formed, crafts are, verily, quite varied and distinct.

b.    Each craft and each cluster for a particular craft requires different intervention. This is the key reasons why apex collectives in crafts, barring exceptions, couldn’t reach a commercial viability, despite years of dedicated efforts by government and civil society.

3.     Not-for-profit Organizations: Excellent organizations like Dastkar Andhra, Rehwa Society, WomenWeave, Khamir, RangaSutra and so on and so forth have worked with weavers ‘collectively’ on the aforementioned problems and have created commercially viable, equitable and fair handloom textile businesses.

a.    However if we look at the number of artisans, requirement is humungous.  And if we ice it with the fact that young generation is drifting away from the handloom sector, problem becomes terrifying.

b.     It will be unfair to assume and expect that these not-for-profit organizations should engage and work with all weaver collectives or act as umbrella collective for weavers everywhere and anywhere. Also it is nearly impossible to create replicas of these organizations as each organization has a different context and a different group of passionate individuals who took this activity as their life mission.

We are standing at a critical juncture. Having acknowledged that going forward master weavers will have limited role, producer collectives will have limited bandwidth and we cannot have likes of DA and WW at all locations, we need to experiment an alternative model.

Actions taken up now will decide whether after two decades we will continue to witness the sound of shuttle being thrown left and right on the handlooms in India. Arresting this drift of artisans, particularly younger ones, essentially calls for a paradigm shift in making craft based livelihoods not just remunerative but also a respectable vocation. Easier said than done, this requires comprehensive approach cognizant to geographical and craft specific needs. The approach should ideally establish the connect between pride of the past with income of the present

Disquieting implications indeed, visible to all the hoi-polloi, but with no quick solutions!

But as I said in the beginning - "Bhai, tension nahin lene ka bhai" . 

Handloom has some core strengths and it high time to play the game with those core strengths to make it Fabric of the Future.

Handwoven - Fabric of the Future ?

Handloom weavers are not in a state of a problem, they are in a state of possibility.

As a part of my travel to different weaving clusters, I recently visited two districts in Assam and my belief on above quote got emboldened further.

If you talk to anyone on the street, they will say that fabric woven on powerloom and mill would be much cheaper than the fabric which is woven on handloom. Therefore, in their understanding, for all commercial reasons powerloom and mill fabric will gain market acceptance.

Agreed but with a caveat. Machines can and will always do tasks at a cheaper rate which are monotonous and repetitive. Perhaps this is the key reason why we travel by automotive bikes or cars and not on bullock cart anymore.

However, votaries of this machine vs. hand logic, fail to understand that powerloom and mill fabric is cheaper only when it is woven at certain MOQ (minimum order quantity) in the same design. This MOQ runs into 1000's of meters in one design and mostly as a blend of man-made fibers like polyester and acrylic.

So, if someday you go to a powerloom or mill owner and tell him that you need 5 meters of a specially designed unique fabric in finer counts of cotton and silk, the larger possibility is that owner will laugh at you or will ask for an exorbitant price for weaving this 5 meter fabric for you. This is where handwoven fabric comes into the picture.

In Handlooms due to manual nature of the operation, several permutations & combinations are possible for developing intricate designs which will not just change the design aesthetic but also functional properties like texture, drape, strength, dominant stability, wrinkle control, fall and hand feel AND in a very cost effective manner compared to powerloom and mills.

All these can be ingeniously manipulated by simply changing treadling order or changing the combination of tying treadle with the frame. And if you decide to make changes in yarn, count,  drafting, extra weft and post loom processes you can literally create magic in every 2-3 meters of fabric.

To cut the long story short, this essentially means that one can get a very unique piece of fabric in a very cost effective way only on handloom! Isn't that a luxury? Can this luxury be commercially exploited for providing respectable and remunerative livelihood to artisans?

With very few exceptions, European luxury continues to tell and sell this story of its hand crafted, French and Italian artisanship in a big away. Can Indian artisanship be presented and sold this way?

Not sure. When it comes to Indian artisanship the image which we start visualizing is of defective, badly woven and color bleeding fabric.

Was Indian craftsmanship always bad? I am sure it wasn't.

 What has happened? Can something be done? What is required to be done? Who will do it & When? 

Organizations like Dastkar Andhra, WomenWeave, Khamir, KGU etc. in the not for profit space and Good Earth, Anokhi, Fab India, Jaypore.com in the for profit space are trying their best. But need is humungous 'pilots' can be good sedative in the moments of utter despair but they need to scale up to become solution.  

In next two decades, we are about to the lose the heritage of thousands of years to museums. 

I have more questions than answers. 

But,

If it can be done then that would be a golden period not just for weavers for but for India as a whole as 90 % of worlds handwoven fabric is produced by India. 

And,

If it's not done the government would never to be able to provide alternative skilled employment to such a large work force.

Intelligent people do what they love, genius will do what is needed. 

Where are geniuses??

मान लिया

मान लिया;

नहीं गा सकोगे राग नहीं बना सकोगे ताल
कम से कम भाव भरी मुस्कान तो लाओगे
एक गीत तो गाओगे।

मान लिया;

नहीं बन सकोगे सूरज न बन सकोगे दीपक
कम  से कम आईना बनकर उजाला तो फ़ैलाओगे
एक गीत तो गाओगे

मान लिया;

नहीं बाँध सकोगे समुद्र को न बांध सकोगे नदी को
कम से कम प्यासे को एक कटोरी पानी तो पिला पाओगे
एक गीत तो गाओगे

मान लिया ;

नहीं कर सकोगे इनमे से कुछ भी
कम से कम जो करने की कोशिश  कर रहे हैं उनका हौसला तो बढ़ाओगे
कोई  गीत न गा सके तो यह गीत तो गाओगे

Rs. 10 to convert powerloom fabric to handwoven !

By virtue of their provenance, handloom fabric are known to have the reputation of carrying weaving defects. For the uninitiated, some defects are intrinsic to the science of hand weaving while some owe their origin to improper and sometimes careless pre-loom or weaving processes. 

First category of defects I call as 'effects of handwoven fabric'-lack of certitude and celebration of greyness. Isn't it !

Prahladji teaching weaving defect at THS
Photcredit: WomenWeave

During my earlier association with young weavers, our team tried to inculcate best practices to overcome the latter category of defects. The young weavers, from the vantage point of their sagacious elderly weavers, often used to narrate 

'Sir, its handwoven and therefore it has defects' 

&

I had this witty reply ready to reckon, which one Japanese client condescendingly told to one of my colleagues

 'I agree its handmade but whose hand it is, human or a monkey?' 

This argument beckoned  young weavers and they tried their best to set the systems right for precluding 'avoidable' weaving defects.

However for hoi-polloi, handloom fabric still has immutable and impermeable identity as having weaving (d)effects which powerloom or mill based fabric cannot create.  

Abhas (intution) and andaaz (estimate) still are the key elements which a craft lover looks for and weavers fondly explain so, despite the degree of textile engineering which runs behind the handloom weaving intuitively.

Why am I talking about defects?

Powerloom community and other related doohickeys have made strong inroads in the handloom weaving villages. Known to few and unraveled by experts for all, powerlooms make blatantly cheap imitations of handloom fabric. 

It is tough to discern a handwoven fabric from its mill counterpart, save apart the unmistakable evidence of the d(Effects) which handwoven fabric carry. Such attempts to imitate are innocuous but the recent story  which I 'heard', if true, will be a big blow to handlooms.

During my recent visit to Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, I got to know about another expedient action of  the powerloom community  to get the benefits reserved for the handloom sector and sell as handwoven fabric.

I was informed that sarees made on powerloom, are being given to children to 'artificially' create defects by paying them Rs. 10 per Saree. This artificial 'defect imitation' makes it difficult even for handloom experts to differentiate between a hand woven and machine woven fabric. These are interesting times indeed !

I was intrigued by this human ingenuity to challenge the very idea of handmade which will further denigrate handloom weavers. 

To make such a speculation will be criminal but I am sure that its ramifications will be far and wide. Intent is not to tarnish all for the sins of few but the real question is how will handloom weavers save themselves from depredations and tricks played by the preposterous powerloom community? 

As much sincerely one can muster, Handcrafts, afterall, are not just about financial numbers but more about cultural legacy which they represent. This desire to imitate d(Effects) by powerloom will be a double whammy for the handloom weavers.

Someone rightly said 

"​ We either accept the problem or live in denial, either ways we are right- it shall pass away"

1st May, Labor day is a good day to reflect how we can help artisans transcend from being mazdoor to karigar to kalakar

अच्छा हो या बुरा ये भी गुजर जाएगा

बस याद रखना,

अच्छा हो या बुरा ये भी गुजर जाएगा

जब खुशियों के पल नहीं रुके तो गम भी कहाँ ठहर पाएगा

कौन है जग में ऐसा जिसे मुश्किलों न छुआ हो

कभी चोट न लगी हो कभी  दर्द न हुआ हो

सुख-दुःख जीत-हार ये बारी बारी  आएंगे

तेरे सब्र को हर बार चरम तक आजमाएँगे

बस याद रखना,

अच्छा हो या बुरा ये भी गुजर जाएगा

जब खुशियों के पल नहीं रुके तो गम भी कहाँ  ठहर पाएगा

गिरना उठना यह गंतव्य नहीं बस राह है

हर बार गिर कर उठना यदि तेरा चाह है

तो थोडा भरोसा खुद पर रख थोडा अपने खुदा पर

हर बढ़ते कदम से तू मुश्किलों को जुदा कर जाएगा

क्यूंकि ,

अच्छा हो या बुरा ये भी गुजर जाएगा

जब खुशियों के पल नहीं रुके तो गम भी कहाँ ठहर पाएगा

[चरम- last level/extremity, गंतव्य= destination]

अच्छा हो या बुरा ये भी गुजर जाएगा

बस याद रखना,

अच्छा हो या बुरा ये भी गुजर जाएगा

जब खुशियों के पल नहीं रुके तो गम भी कहाँ ठहर पाएगा

कौन है जग में ऐसा जिसे मुश्किलों न छुआ हो

कभी चोट न लगी हो कभी  दर्द न हुआ हो

सुख-दुःख जीत-हार ये बारी बारी  आएंगे

तेरे सब्र को हर बार चरम तक आजमाएँगे

बस याद रखना,

अच्छा हो या बुरा ये भी गुजर जाएगा

जब खुशियों के पल नहीं रुके तो गम भी कहाँ  ठहर पाएगा

गिरना उठना यह गंतव्य नहीं बस राह है

हर बार गिर कर उठना यदि तेरा चाह है

तो थोडा भरोसा खुद पर रख थोडा अपने खुदा पर

हर बढ़ते कदम से तू मुश्किलों को जुदा कर जाएगा

क्यूंकि ,

अच्छा हो या बुरा ये भी गुजर जाएगा

जब खुशियों के पल नहीं रुके तो गम भी कहाँ ठहर पाएगा

[चरम- last level/extremity, गंतव्य= destination]

The Engineer within

Flurry of messages on 15th September, forcefully reminds me that somewhere in past I did complete a course called Mechanical Engineering. I am not too sure whether the four year period inscribed anything what "3 idiots" movie believes engineering institutions should instill in the creatures called engineers. 

But there was certainly something special in the people around me in the institute, which motivated me to venture into social sector. These special people have cast a spell on my life and I owe them a lot. Few of them appear on the page Architects of my life and there are many others whose names are still due to be acknowledged. 

There was one such special being who taught us Thermodynamics. Buddies from SVNIT would have guessed by now, yes Prof HB Naik. When he got to know that I am changing the path, he shared a very interesting metaphor which serves as a best guide for me in the journey of development sector. He said "Sharda, in social sector you will find two interesting laws of thermodynamics at work. One law says that 'transfer of energy takes time', always remember that social change which you have in mind will not happen fast, it may take months, years and possibly decades. This law instills the faith, the perseverance, the patience whenever I am about to quit. Second law says that 'whenever transfer of energy happens, there is always loss of energy', therefore you should be happy if even 30% (carnot engine) of what you have dreamt gets accomplished. This law makes me re-energized to find out missing links and connecting dots in the hazy picture where all the dots and all the links vanish even after getting linked.

ना  हार  से  ना  जीत  से
बस  केवल  एक  उम्मीद  से
वक़्त के पन्नों पर कुछ लिखता मिटाता हूँ
गीत नया गाता हूँ

BTW Happy Engineer's day!!!

Why do I love Cooperative's

Sunday was spent in grief over departure of the Milkman of Anand  to heavely abode. Today morning I went to a nearby shop for purchasing some stuff, Amul Pro was kept in the front row and I out of curiosity shared with the shop owner that the person who brought up "Amul" is no more. He thought for a while and replied with a relaxed note that now his son will take over "Amul". I was puzzled over the response.

I didn't know what to say. He was perhaps right in his own understanding. He including everyone else have heard, one Tata Leaving and another Tata or relative nominee with a mighty share holding pitching in, One Birla Leaving and another Birla taking the reins, One Ambani leaving and other Ambani becoming Chairman.........

But here is one organization may be not as big as any of the industrial houses whom we know but still considerably big (recently crossed 10,000 crore turn over), has a representative becoming chairman who is democratically elected/nominated  and represents the farmer member-owner of the organization. Here is an organization whose profits get shared back not according to the money invested by share holders but in proportion to the labor/produce contributed by any ordinary farmer member to the growth of the organization viz. Amul.
Without spreading distaste about other forms of organizations (investor owned capitalistic industries), the innocent reply of the shopkeeper gave me a sense of pride that the  institutions created by Milkman from Anand continues to inspire us.

May these institutions and future institutions of similar form in making will keep the spirit alive !!

As was the chief different so was the war;

The chief is gone but the war is on;

The madness, the dream, the revolution is all fresh again;

Asking where are the one's who will form the chain;

The chain of soldiers who will give producers of the nation a strength to fight;

A fight which will make 'cooperative's' a real might;

Chief has glorified the milk cooperative dairy with the little Amul fairy;

"I too had a dream" is left to make the chief merry'

Milkman from Anand.

Photo Courtsey: Satwick Reddy Thumu

 The thought that now this hand will not rise again, makes us sad;

But then it reminds us about the larger dream which made even most powerful mad;

The hand was of chief of army who won every war unfazed;

Now needs soldiers who will espouse the cause the chief embraced;

As was the chief different so was the war;

The chief is gone but the war is on;

The madness, the dream, the revolution is all fresh again;

Asking where are the one's who will form the chain;

The chain of soldiers who will give producers of the nation a strength to fight;

A fight which will make 'cooperative's' a real might;

Chief has glorified the milk cooperative dairy with the little Amul fairy;

"I too had a dream" is left to make the chief merry';

May chief's soul rest in peace.

Architect of the My life: 2011-12 year

Last to Last year, I had decided to dedicate a page for the people who have been a mentor, a guide, a path changer for my life on the eve of every teacher's day (5th September). Unfortunately this time I missed the date, but still going by the argument better late then never, I have this page for................

Mukul Kumar: There are different kinds of people whom we meet both within our work domain and beyond. Prof Raju used to classify people as BOHO (behavior of higher order) and BOLO (Behavior of lower order). I strongly believed in the two classes, untill I met and worked with Mukul. He perhaps transcends this classification and even BOHO will fall short off accommodating him. I will not talk about his contribution to Navjeevan Cooperative's evolution and growth because it is evident to the team here and will become vivid in some time to everyone else as Navjeevan grows and becomes one of the finest community owned enterprises in eastern part of the country. There is something more to him. Two incidents I will narrate which have moved me from within.
1st Incident:
 Majority of us purchase some or the other stuff for home from road side shops mostly being run under temporary sheds. Last summer me and Mukul were in cuttack for purchasing "vinachar" (Soft grass which when wet keeps home cool: used often in air coolers). We were in hurry, I paid for the joint strip of 'vinachar' and when I looked around, I didnt find Mukul. To my surprise, Mukul was busy with something else. The old lady who was tying up two strips as per our requirement in her little temporary shed, got hurt because of some drunkard who had thrown the glass bottle on road side last night. Mukul busy was arranging dettol and cotton and later gave her some money to purchase milk and fruits. I am sure I would have overlooked her pain and moved forward!

2nd incident:
Two week's back Mukul was returning back and on road side found a truck which met with an accident by hitting a electricity pole. Truck driver and another person onboard were badly hurt. There were scores of onlookers surrounding the truck but as usual no one was helping the injured persons. Mukul dropped me a message that he will be on leave for the second half. He arranged a trekker (autorickshaw's are known as trekkers here) and requested people surrounding the truck to help him shift the two injured bodies. Fortunately one person came out and with his assistance, he took them to the local 'sarakari' hospital. As expected there was no doctor. On enquiry he got to know that doctor had gone for extended lunch.(pun intended). He somehow located the doctor's residence and brought him to the treatment room. Upon arrival and after seeing the helpless injured truck driver, doctor said that it was not his time for treatment, fortunately in the crowd which got assembled at hospital sight one person was from media and he shouted back at doctor that if you will not treat him, he will ensure that doctor';s statement appears in tomorrow's news. Finally treatment happened.


Both these incidents reflect apparently small acts of kindness which all of us overlook. It needs sensitivity from within to see, understand and above all ACT to support people who need us but we don't know them personally. It doesnt call for being a development sector professional or a "NGO wala". This 'sensitivity' from within is something which cannot be restricted to dimensions of time, position and people. This comes from within and spreads to all needy. We need not be doctor or a big government official to help people in need. All it needs is a sincere and kind heart and equally willing hand to act. And therefore for the year 2011-12 I place him as an architect of my life.

Later on I got know from Mukul that few year's back he had met with a serious accident and was carried over to a hospital by a "sabji wala". He calls these incidents as "Paying it forward" the act's kindness. Will we add to the link of  "Paying it forward"

ये स्वप्न का सवाल है

न जंग का भय है न शान्ति का मुकाम है ; 

न जीत का गुरुर है  न हार का मलाल है ; 

चल सको तो संग चलो ये स्वप्न का सवाल है ; 

न धूप की अगन है न छाँव का सुकून  है ;   

न सुबह की उमंग है न शाम की थकान है;  

चल सको तो संग चलो ये स्वप्न का सवाल है;  

न भीड़ का साथ है न बड़ा सर पे हाथ है;

हाँ है खुदा का फ़र्ज़ ये  और मै उसका कर्ज़दार हूँ ;

हो मुझ पे जो भरोसा; 

एक मेरा हाथ है और एक तेरा  हाथ है;

चल सको तो संग चलो ये स्वप्न का सवाल है . 

नहीं है तमन्ना

नहीं है तमन्ना चाँद तारों तक पहुँच पाने की;
जो जमीं पर रहनेवालों के दिलों को छू पाए तो खुद को खुशनसीब मानेंगे.
नहीं है तमन्ना भीड़ से खुद को अलग दिखाने की ;
जो शक्कर के दाने बन सके तो पानी में घुल कर अपनी मिठास छोड़ जाएँगे .
नहीं है तमन्ना राजाओं से बड़े महल बनवाने की;
जो पडोसी के अधूरे घर में एक ईंट ही जोड़ पाए तो उसकी ख़ुशी में खुशियाँ  सजाएँगे   .
नहीं है तमन्ना अपने नाम पर पथ्थरों की मूर्तियाँ बनवाने की ;
जो अपनी आँखों से किसी की आँखें बन सके तो उन्हें पथ्थरों की ठोकरों से बचाएँगे.
नहीं है तमन्ना अपने जाने के बाद लोगों को अपनी कमी का अँधेरा दिखाने की;
जो जाने से पहले फिर एक दीपक जला सके तो खुद को जिन्दा जानेंगे .

City of Joy and "Uncommon" Common Man

Early part of this week I was in Kolkata often addressed as City of Joy, along with my colleague Mukul for finalizing catalogue for painting unit of Jajpur Cooperative.

This city has always been closure to the heart for its commonness which becomes vivid even to an outsider with 'ambassador' cars running all around. I also knew sweetness of this city known fondly for its 'misthis'. However what was unknown to me and my colleague Mukul was presence of "uncommon" honesty in common man of the city.

We took a taxi to MG road, got down there and realized after sometime that Mukul had left his cell in the taxi. We tried to follow the taxi but since traffic signal got cleared, taxi drifted away from our sight. As a last hope I tried to ring Mukul's number. Phone was picked by the taxi driver. He shared his current position and taxi number and requested us to stay back at the place where he had dropped us. Still with disbelief in heart we ran to the place where his taxi had turned after traffic signal and  the scene before us came as a pleasant surprise.

There were few people waving hand to board the cab and the taxi driver was refusing them, showing the cell out of taxi window and shouting that he has to go MG road for returning this. I was overwhelmed at this gesture of the 'common man'. While he was turning his taxi towards us in the traffic, we reached to his place. He joyfully handed the cell to us. Pedestrians around, requested us to pay something to the taxi driver ,which he refused to accept. I tried to persuade him and atlast he accepted the small sum when we told him that we are not paying for his honesty but for the happiness of getting back a cell which was gifted by some one very dear.

The 'uncommon' common man left with new passengers onboard and we left the place with an everlasting imprint about another 'uncommon' commonness of the 'City of Joy'

निशान

जब लगे मंजिल है दूर कदम है मजबूर;

जब कारवां न हो  साथ, गिरने पर थामने को न हो कोई हाथ ;

जब खुद का खुद से उठने लगे भरोसा ;

जब गिरकर फिर उठने  का साहस न बचा हो जरा सा .

तब शिद्दत से याद दिलाना खुद को ;

वक्त लगेगा हिम्मत को परखा जाएगा  ;

लोहे को  लोहा कहने से पहले ज्वाला में सेका जाएगा;

अगर फिर भी राह में कोई मिल जाए और कहे कि सपनों की डगर होती नहीं आसान;

तो उन्हें कह देना इसीलिए इन पर चलने वालों के मिटते नहीं निशान;

मंजिल  यक़ीनन  मिलेगी  ये  एहसास  खुद  को कराते  जाना ;

अगर मंजिल  से पहले ही  साँसे  उखड  गयी  तो  भी कुछ  गम  नहीं ;

उन उखड्ती साँसों में  जिन्दा था एक इंसान, उस इंसान का निशाँ बनाते जाना. 

Mayurbhanj Cooperative Experiment: July-September Update

Dear Initiators, Supporters, Wellwishers, curious Observers and Vocal Critics of Mayurbhanj Cooperative Experiment

I think I will be pardoned for copying words of Steve Jobs when I say ‘joining dots of life looking backward’ : Now I feel April turmoil was the best thing that would have happened with the Mayurbhanj Cooperative experiment. Due to april turmoil, experiment on one hand truly became people’s initiative with individuals contributing in the range of Rs.500 to 25,000 and on other hand it led cooperative members come out of dependency syndrome. They now understand that there might be some individuals/organizations who are no longer with them but there are many many individuals who even though don’t know them but still they believe in their act of coming together and members don’t want these individuals to be let down.

Quantitative Update

As shared in last quarterly update, 90 quintals of Mahua Flower was sold through village cooperative branch by linking to ‘one up level trader’ and on an average members receivedadditional Rs.75 per quintal compared to what they were receiving earlier without cooperative in place. Amount close to 150 quintals of Mahua Flower is in stock with the cooperative members and is due for sale during mid-October (near Kali-Puja prices are highest).  For sale of this 150 quintals considering last year prices, members are expecting to get additional Rs. 300 per quintal.

Without taking any credit, I must confess that this was possible only due the efforts put by two field staff Prabhakar and Diwakar, who mobilized the community for the collective action.

3 More cooperative branches have been added to Marshal Cooperative, taking membership of the cooperative to 590 in total.

Qualitative Update

This quarter witnessed extra-ordinary role from the representative board members of the cooperative.  From earlier stand of being a mute follower of what field staff or I used to communicate, they have transcended towards doing things on their own and taking initiatives. This might sound very easy but is  perhaps the most important & difficult part towards making cooperative ‘self-reliant’. Some of the specific initiatives taken by the board members I am sharing here

*In the board meeting which was held on 2^nd of July, they decided that for member compliance and cooperatives growth it’s imperative that cooperatives business domain must move beyond NTFP which is seasonal.  (This was latently in my thinking when we initiated the experiment, but at the core level I never shared.  Our design towards the experiment was to build ‘collective action’ from the existing product/s value chain where ‘apparent exploitation’ from  market agents is present. Succinctly put, other than spiritual/religious purposes, people come together only when they see cost of coming together is minimal compared to the gains which they can derive by joining hands. This was vividly ingrained from the existing trade of NTFP and therefore Mahua flower became the entry point. However I was sceptical about ‘how ‘, ‘when’ and ‘what’ next to be added for making cooperative operational year-round. I was absent in this board meeting when they decided answers for ‘how’, ‘when’ and ‘what’ for ensuring cooperative’s growth.)

*They decided to refrain from ‘prescribing’  one common activity to the village cooperative branches. Set of activities ranging from Poultry, Fishery, Floriculture, Beekeeping and Vegetable Cultivation at collective level was floated. Respective representative members of the board organized village wise meetings and shared this information. (I didn’t attend even one such single meeting and members outperformed my expectation of handling this on their own)

*Gaipani village where Marshal Cooperative’s registered office is present will perhaps now become another “Gambhira Cooperative in making”. Gaipani Branch members have taken Panchayat’s 1.5 acre pond with another 2 acres of vacant plot and 200 cashew tree plantation on lease. They intend to experiment an integrated collective livestock cum farming project. Taking pond as base, 5000 fish fingerlings will be put in the pond by 13^th of October. A poultry shed for 200 birds is prepared by the members through ‘collective labor’. Excreta of the birds will serve as food for the fishes in the pond. This month 200 Papaya and 500 Banana trees will be planted around the pond. Chili and tomato will be cultivated in 2 acre vacant land which will be irrigated from water of the pond. Cashew plantation which was done by Horticulture dept 2 years back and was lying idle will be ready for harvesting in March.

They have designed a schedule whereby each day one member will have the responsibility to stay in the project location and take care of the assignment primarily in three aspects ‘irrigating the papaya, banana and vegetables, feeding the poultry birds and fishes, ensuring the safety of the farm and livestock produce. (This is going to be a thrilling experiment for me as well !!)

Similar such other projects are in pipeline in other villages

* President and Secretary have now started meeting government officials and getting work done without me accompanying them. Ranging from small legal obligations like getting Pan Card, Sales Tax number (those who have applied in past can understand the pain !) and discussing with respective line department officials for availing applicable government schemes were all handled by them. (As a small instance to share: they were initially reluctant in talking to Excise Superintendent and Sales Tax Commissioner fearing them as ‘big’ government officials who will not entertain them. However I became bit rigid and told the board members that I’ll not come with them. Finally they went, talked to them, returned and very happily shared that ‘Sir, unne bahut achche se baat kari’ and perhaps their fear is gone. For next year license fee’s exemption President and Vice President of the cooperative are going to meet District Collector next week on their own. As a facilitator of the experiment, probably this is the happiest moment seeing the kid stand on own!!)

* At individual level 30 members have taken 380 “Vanraja” breed birds. Money for purchase and transport of the birds was contributed by the members. This at surface level seems to be very simple, but has an innovation built in. They got to know from me that in Jajpur Cooperative (where I am currently engaged in through sister concern of Harsha trust-Renaissance), poultry is one of the major revenue generating activity for the community. However in Jajpur cooperative, broiler farming is being practiced. Broiler is high capital intensive and due to active financial support from tata steel it is being attempted. However in Mayurbhanj as external capital support is limited, they cannot go for broiler farming.  Typically they used to keep 2-3 ‘desi’ birds as backyard poultry which was primarily for their own consumption. These birds normally fed themselves by scavenging across. Vanraja which is hybrid of Desi and Broiler is more disease resistant and gains weight earlier. These members thought of a unique approach. Approach was what in Buddhism they call as ‘middle path’. They decided to keep 10-15 ‘Vanraja’ birds which is not very costly. However with increase in bird size, feed available through scavenging on kitchen and farm waste will remain limited and therefore for feeding they decided to go with semi-scavenging which implies that one time feed will be given by the rearer and rest birds will search by scavenging . With this cost of feeding is reduced to half. (This is not new, it is being practiced in Bangladesh which I later on got to know from literature review but since the members didn’t have access to literature/internet, it can be safely termed as innovation from them)

Where experiment didn’t work

All is definitely not well!! Cooperative is still financially dependent upon grants being sent by my friends and professors from beloved alma-mater viz IRMA and NIT-Surat. I must thank my dearest friend Trinadh for an overwhelming support of 500 USD in August and my senior NagaChetan for arranging interest free loan of Rs.50,000 for 3 months.  Member’s savings in most of the villages is low, which is definitely not a good sign for financial stability of the cooperative. Due to dormancy of village representatives, two villages in particular have gone off-track.

What we are doing to recover

We are now putting forward proposals specifically for integrated collective livestock farming and Semi-Scavenging Vanraja Poultry to institutional donors. Our proposal has major component of zero/low interest loan and negligible grant. If any one of the proposal clicks in, with the proposed activities Cooperative will achieve financial viability in 8 months time. As a supplement, we are now seeking zero/low interest loan from friends. Total loan amount sought is 2.5 lakhs, which will be returned to respective loaners by the end of 8^th month. Member’s savings have been low as they have invested their small income in paddy (this year rain was particularly good). With additional earning coming from the proposed activities, members will be able to deposit the regular monthly savings.

Support sought from you:

We thank from heart to people who have made us stay afloat. We request the grantees to stop the monthly grant from Februray 2012 and instead raise loan to the cooperative to the tune of Rs. 5,000-10,000 which will be returned at the end of 8^th Month. Thereafter cooperative will be in a position to take loan for its activities from the existing market based financial institutions. (Those who need details about financial viability plan can kindly let me know as a reply mail, I’ll share the same)

Where is this experiment heading to

Membership base expected by March 2012: 1100

Prospective average increase in annual income in the calendar year 2012: Rs.6000-8000 per active member

I thank once again to one and all. May Almighty's wish prevail!

"And somewhere there are engineers
Helping others fly faster than sound.
But, where are the engineers
Helping those who must live on the ground?"