A group of Vinoba Bhave University (VBU) students are chasing their passion of handicraft making. Besides, studying they sell hand-made products to establish a career in this creative field. It all began in 2013 when Nisha Rani Das, an undergraduate student in Economics (Honours) gifted a birthday card made of chocolate to her friend Saurav pursuing under graduation in Sociology (Honours).
Today, there are 10 students of the Hazaribagh based university along with Nisha and Saurav earning a handsome pocket money out of this sale. Be it on Valentine’s Day, Birthday, Marriage Anniversary or any other special occasion, they are available to make something good out of the various craft items.
Interestingly, they were spotted selling some of their products like cards and bags in front of Aryabhatt Auditorium during the Valedictory Session of five day 60th Inter-University East Zone Youth Festival ‘Tarunotsava’ on Friday. “We want to make a career in handicraft field. It is a passion. For last one and half years, we have sold hand-made products like greeting cards, clay-ornaments, artificial flower bouquets, soft toys, cloth bags, and chocolates on the roadsides of Ranchi, Hazaribagh and Jamshedpur. Cards are sold within Rs50 to Rs400 while other items are available upto Rs1,000,” said Nisha.
“Our efforts are always appreciated by our parents. But, we never seek their financial support for this passion. It is our job and we have decided to open a shop after completing our studies,” Saurav said. In order to boost their ‘love for art’, the youngsters often approach Self-Help Groups who can help in showcase and sponsor their talents. “None of the organisations agree to fund us as we are students. So, we have divided our team in production and marketing units. The former prepares the items and latter sells,” said Rahul Pandit, an English Honours undergraduate student of the group.
Adopting the latest marketing strategy, the students have printed their group’s business cards titled ‘Nisha Cards’. Email id and mobile number on the visiting card is turning fruitful for their passion. Friends of friends usually contact them through these mediums. Moreover, they have made a community on Facebook named ‘Hosanna Handmade Cards’. likes and comments are received almost everyday on the community page. Post graduate student in Mathematics, Mithilesh Prajapati said the group members have plans to explore online opportunities for showcasing their talents. Making a blog is one of them.
“Whenever, we get time from our studies, we are involved in preparing the handicraft items. Thereafter, we upload photos of our latest products on Facebook. The maximum orders are received for Valentines Day and Marriages Anniversaries. The demanding is increasing,” Nisha said.