MUMBAI, INDIA - Sea Jewel, Mumbai, the venue of the SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association), Lucknow exhibition was bustling with activity. At 4.00 pm I approached the hall only to be enlightened on the SEWA movement, which has taken parts of Lucknow by storm and made history in modern times.

Ladies are flocking to the counters to buy their wares. There is a kurta, sari and a linen section. The chikan embroidered kurtas, saris and lehengas were a spectacle to behold. The classy ladies were buying hordes of them and the cash counters were clinking to the sounds of money. Packing in cloth Sewa bags is an art, as brisk business was getting done. Coming to this envious stage has been a struggle for the pioneers, Ms Runa Banerji and Ms Sehba Hussain, and this success story of SEWA has been a culmination of long years of determination and tenacity.

Lucknow in UP, North India, is the centre of chikan embroidery, which is done on cotton fabric. While the garments are first stitched and then embroidered, the shirts, saris and table linen are first embroidered and then stitched. The craft is first known to have flourished in the Mughal Nawab dynasty and later with British influence the designs have become more formal and ethnic.

I asked one of the participants, Ms Umraojan, and her niece Ms Rehanna about the exhibition and SEWA: “We have a departmentalized set up in Lucknow,” Ms Rehanna said. “The cutting, sewing, hemming, printing, appliqué, embroidery, jali, weaving and tailoring are some of the departments. The garments are costed and we expect a fair price. We have 3000 workers, 12 washing gents, 35 sewing masters, and 25 printers. Our products now sell even in London,” she said proudly. There was an amusing incident in London. They could not follow the local English accent and to beat the cold weather, they had gestured to the English folk for hot coffee and they were served cold coffee!

“The biggest hurdle for us was to come out of our Muslim veil,” said Ms Umraojan. “When I lifted my purdah, there was a ruckus from my Muslim family and relatives, but seeing our independence now, the noise has dimmed a little. This is all thanks to Ms Runa Madam.”

The SEWA Women’s Association has succeeded in bringing these hapless women a strong means of livelihood through the hereditary craft of chikan. These Muslim women were hopelessly dependent on the menfolk and treated as slaves. The middlemen were eliminated by SEWA and they ensured a fair wage to the women labourers. With quality going up, the price went up as well, and SEWA started in rural centres, with two vans transporting goods to the main city. SEWA now earns a modest sum at the exhibitions at the metros of India .

“SEWA has made us financially independent,” says Rehanna. “We work hard at our chikan embroidery as we know we can gain with our wages coming on time.”

These women now use the gas stove instead of the coal stove and this indeed is a sign of social and economic progress. Many SEWA women have bought pucca houses with the help of loans.

The kurta section at the exhibition is the main crowd puller. The lady at the counter counts the cash, as SEWA products make their way to haute and celebrity homes. SEWA is recognized by the UNICEF and accomplishments in the form of awards and international recognitions have made the SEWA movement and this exhibition  a memorable one and this itself, is a fulfilling experience.

-- by PWI Regional Reporter Central India - central.india@peoplewebinternational.com
1 Comment