Come Republic day and the military cantonment area of Roorkee gets hued in tri colours. The campus is buzzing with activities these days with the dozens of young women trying to convert waste material and paper into useful items. Tri coloured paper jewellery and paper Indian flags with a dancing Indian girl mascot of women empowerment are being crafted by poor women from neighbouring colonies under voluntary training programme which shall be displayed at the stalls for the visitors during R-day celebrations.
There is no mould, each item is unique, well-crafted by the skilled hands, which also gives them some monetary gain apart from giving the feeling of patriotism. The handi-crafts trainer at the VTP centre of cantonement board Roorkee, Garima Chadha, told the Pioneer, “People think that one has to invest money to create a master piece but here these young girls have proved that creativity can come out of waste material as well. The paper jewellery made by these girls is so light and surpasses the artificial metal jewellery liked by the fashionistas.” Having held workshops for institutes like Shri Ram college of Fashion and others, Garima has gained professional experience which she is using to train these needy women.
A tortoise and musical instrument ‘sitar’ made by old earthen lamps and clay has won much appreciation by the commanding officer, said one of the students of VTP, Preeti, who is daughter of a rickshaw puller.
“My biggest joy was to see these poor girls smile on getting their first sale of paper earrings which an Army Officer’s wife had purchased during a recent exhibition. This time on Republic day, these unique paper crafts shall be displayed on a stall and the flags brooches given to the officers who come for Republic day celebrations. I am training them so that they are able to earn at least Rs 8000 a month for their livelihood.” said Garima.