Bengaluru: You don’t need an NGO or a big group to bring about a positive change in someone's life. Sometimes all it needs is a passion and kind heart. “I have two daughters and both do not know crochet work. Despite me doing it since childhood, I felt that not many are interested in learning crochet. It was sad to see that my passion is becoming a dying art,” says Gopa Mukherjee, whose thought was enough to drive to preserve the work.
The work that started as an occasional gift in the form of shawls and shrugs changed when people started appreciating her work and coaxing her to take it to the next level. “In 2001, the mother of one of my dear friends gave me Rs 1,500 for three shawls that I gave her and I was surprised when she told me that it was my first earning. She had sold them, though I had gifted them to her,” she says with a smile. It was then that she realised that her passion can not only financially empower, but also boost confidence.
Her journey reaching out other women started seven years ago when the Young Women’s Christian Association, Bengaluru Chapter reached out to her and she did an exhibition. “It was massive hit and the YWCA asked me to join the board and I laid out a condition which was that I should be allowed to join their community service and development projects," she says. They agreed.
Gopa has been actively working with the YWCA since then as a co-opted member and also works actively with the community development team which runs a centre called Rangoli. “There I taught 25 ammas (elderly women) this work and have tried getting work for them,” she says. That was the start of something bigger. “I just realised that many of these women from slums have abusive husbands who get drunk and do not even go out to work for days, let alone give them money for the family’s expenses. Why would they have to answer their husbands for even a single rupee,” she asks.
She introduced them to knitting and crochet, and women started getting interested. She also started assisting them with opportunities. Currently, she trains underprivileged women in slums. “There are two slums that I go to every day and train 15 young and the middle-aged in the crochet work. One slum is in Rajendra Nagar in Koramangala and another is in KS Garden,” she adds.
“I have also introduced bag stitching for them so that it furthers their chances of making money and there are people who have promised me that they would get us a few orders,” she says.
Her goal has not just been this. In 2001 and 2002, Gopa had trained children from some 165 schools in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in life skills. “I was trained by WHO and then we took classes for children from standard eight to eleven and taught them life skills. I have always been trying to bring about some change in society.”
Two years ago, she also conducted a women empowerment programme at Christ College where she was felicitated by Dr Sudha Murty. “In that programme, I had trained working women in the college so that they can also opt for the option of knitting and embroidery as another financial opening,” she says.
“I always tell women that they need to stand up for what they love, so that they can enjoy it and do not feel burdened by it. Also, I tell them that it is good to earn some money for themselves and not rely on their husbands,” she says.
On her future plans, she says with a laugh, “I have not thought about anything else but this. I just want to train and make women self-sufficient till I become too old to do it.”
