By Sagar
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Jan 10: Tribal art in all its unspoiled beauty from the neighbouring state of Jharkhand has found a place in the hearts of visitors to the Sisir Saras fair at Exhibition Ground in the city.
A group of three tribal women are in charge of Stall 198 – a small, compact stall – but the look of pride and satisfaction on their faces for having come this far is a vindication of all the years of toiling away in penury in an obscure little village in the backward state. There can be no mistaking their fiercely independent, entrepreneurial spirit from the way they lifted themselves out of their misery and turned things around for good.
The trio’s specialty at the tribal fair is their paper-mask art and bamboo craft. Hailing from Chanu and Patratu villages 50 km from Ranchi, these women had no resources at their disposal and literally started off from scratch, with nothing else but the creative art which they learnt from their forefathers.
Anupama Kujur, one of the trio, used to teach children in her village Chanu for a living, before poverty forced her to form a women’s group and start her own business. “It was difficult to run my home with the little money I made out of teaching tribal kids. Then one day, a woman came and told me about bamboo art. I worked at it for a month and the money was good,” Kujur said.
What is commonplace in her village is an attraction in the city, Kujur said, adding she tapped into the demand for such products to make decent profits. “I make around `1 lakh from one such exhibition, which is enough for me and my family. The remuneration is much better than what I used to get previously,” Kujur explains.
Sangeeta Devi is in charge of dealing with customers, and part of her work is to patiently explain the significance and the functions of the artworks to customers. A mother of two from Patratu, Sangeeta was married when she was in Class IX. “I earned a paltry `2,000 from my first exhibition in Mumbai, but it gave me a lot of confidence. I couldn’t believe I could actually make money out of this art,” Sangeeta said.
Coming from a deeply traditional, conservative background, is her husband okay with her running a business and travelling across the country? “Yes, he is supportive because I’m earning some money. He helps me in my work by procuring raw material like bamboo and paper from faraway places,” Sangeeta says, adding when she is not at any exhibition, she joins her husband on their farm back in her village.
The third woman in the group, Ahilya Devi, also a mother of two from Patratu, said she owed everything to her artwork which had lifted her family from poverty and had also bestowed them with status and recognition in society.
“Both my husband and I earn now and we want a better future for our children. My husband helps me in making paper masks. I work in the field with him when I’m not travelling for exhibitions,” Ahilya said.
Apart from paper masks, the group also does bamboo art, which is also their traditional occupation, and paper flower art. “We actually come from three different self-help groups but since all of us were not given stalls, we hit upon a plan and decided to merge our work and make space for the three of us,” Kujur said with a smile.