Session 6 summary
Challenging the capabilities and giving stories to the works of Gabada and Tharu tribes
Being with the people of the forest, Meghna says that she’s been fortunate enough to work at the grass root level by choice and circumstances. The two case studies with the Tharu and Gabada tribes are closer to her heart because they were done in her initial years and had a deeper impact on her way of working. Empathy and moral imagination had been an important part of her thought process while working with the two tribes.
Tharu tribe, consisted of the people of Thar Desert, in Uttarakhand. The people in this community are the descendants of MaharanaPratap, who at the time of British acquisition of their area, fled or hid in the forests in hope of survival. Later the women of this group started their families with the supporters who helped them hide. This is how Tharu culture came into being, and since they were from the Thar Desert they were nicknamed Tharu. Meghna’s empathy and moral imagination played an important role in the project which was a collaborative work with the watershed department of the place. This project had a personal story attached to it, of Meghna who had newly married an Uttarakhand guy which helped her form a connection to the place. When going for the project, they did not have any prior info about Tharu women, what did they do? Why? How? These questions were left unanswered. The watershed department officials criticize them for their young age. Since, for the traditional Uttarakhand a new bride cannot speak out of her boundary, so she politely replied them that there would be results at the end of the week. Being a new bride, Meghna was able to create a bond with the other new brides who came to the workshop. This bond helped her come up with something new to challenge them and nudge them to do more than they possibly can and co-create things. In the beginning of the workshop the women would work on one small piece individually. Then, by the third-fourth day, they started working in groups on a single piece. There was more focus on round shapes, so they tried to teach the women about self-sufficiency, making products that they buy which they can create by themselves. So the question of how to give corners to the round shapes was raised as most of these self-sufficiency pieces had corners. With trial and error 3 to 4 new techniques were discovered which they started using in their pieces. The men and the women of the community who didn’t make baskets also shared what they could do. Within a year they managed to get an export order on the products they had created.
Bharewas tribe, is the sub tribe of Gonds. Meghna had been overwhelmed by the fact that the people knew the language of the trees, their feelings. People were thriving by adding beauties to their surroundings and every action was thoughtful. The bharewas practiced lost wax casting. But they did not buy metals for creating something big. They used the bharewa technique only for the products they used, e.g. bells (for cattle). They would collect scrap metals from the surroundings then melt it, it would be a mixture of all kinds of metals. This project was a two year project and Meghna tried to inspire the people that whatever they create with this technique should reflect the surroundings. When trying out the first product, they decided to make the Sarpanch(head of the tribe/village), as he used to display the products he had created with the bharewa technique every day in front of his house, hence the Sarpanch product had a story which it represented. The bamboo basket community and the Bharewas were not in good terms. But a collaboration between the two communities would result in a new and authentic version of the products, so attempts were made to rebuild their relationship and finally they were able to co-create products which reflected the stories and the surroundings. These products are still in the market.
About the Speaker
Meghna Ajit
Furniture Designer and Social Entrepreneur
Founder Beeja
Meghna is a social entrepreneur who comes from a design background. She did Industrial Design from NID, Ahmedabad. She believes in the catalytic approach of design and design thinking. Her experiential knowledge comes from extensive time spent in the field and as a traveller. She studies cultures and coexistence of humans with material and their surroundings. Her areas of work and interests are community development, sustainable practices, cluster development, appropriate product development with rural and crafts communities. She deeply believes in the power of education.
