Living Raaga team met on 5th Dec

Living Raaga's second meeting was held in Cubbon Park on 5^th December 2010. Meeting was scheduled to start at 10:30 am but by the time it started it was 12:00 pm.

Nine of us made it to the Cubbon Park - Lakshmi, Meera, Bhavana, Anand, Vinutha, Raj, Anitha, Kavya and Kokila.  Anand, Kokila and Kavya are the new joinees to Living Raaga.

The session comprised of introduction, status of each center and what each one of us are up to in Living Raaga and finally, what new products we want to start teaching, making posters and website for Living Raaga. Whole discussion about the products went as a bouncer for the new members. But, as soon as we laid out the existing products, they were just plugged in. Kokila and Kavya shared their new designs and thoughts on new products, Anand immediately arranged a stall at Rotract Peenya on 26^th December, 2010.

We spent about two hours having meaningful discussion. The whole session was scintillating, energizing and inspiring.

Living Raaga Stall at Cisco

On 21st October 2010, Deepavali celebration organized by my division (BASE) at Cisco.On Shyam's suggestion and with his help, we put up the "Living Raaga" stall at Cisco BASE Division.

We spread the Thornas, Rangolis and quilled magnets across two tables, the bright colours and the golden glitters drew the crowd. Since the concept of rangolis, wasn't very evident to the people, I spread out a rangoli and decorated it with flowers. It helped people to visualize its application.

Surprisingly it was the Kalasa Rangoli that got sold off the fastest, followed by the Lamp Rangoli. Unlike Thompson Reuters stall, where Quilled magnets got sold off at the last!!

It was interesting to see, some men getting confused of what each thing was J. And some of them, who intended to help, asked me to just pick something for them :-).

By end of the event, we sold about 2k worth articles and got 1k worth order!!

Visit to Rachina Doddi

Planning for visiting the Rachina Doddi started in September 2010. About 20 women were to attend the workshop. We planned to divide the total women into groups four groups, teach each group one art. The women could cross train themselves. Lakshmi and me met at Chickpet and bought a whole lot of art material to teach and give away.

On Oct 9th at 11:30 am we reached Rachina Doddi. The team consisted of Matilda and Divya from Soroptimist international, Durga, Anitha, Lakshmi, Meera, Bhavana, Sindhu and Vinutha. 

The Group

At the Village

The village Rachina Doddi is about 15 kms from the Kanakpura town. It is not accessible by public transport system, survives mainly on farming, education hasn’t reached the village, only recently Soroptimist International built restrooms, in short the village is pretty laid back. We wanted to teach women folk some art, which they can leverage to get more money.

We had planned to teach them - Thoranas, side hangings, Jute coasters and Diwali hangings. But, we realized that they haven't really even cut papers till date, and it was very important that we do something that will hold their attention and intention till end of the workshop. We then picked up the simplest and the most colorful art, the "Side hangings". We started off with Side hangings and decided to pick other arts based on their interest.

Class in progress

Class in Progress

Class in Progress

We had around 20 women join the class; we divided them into three groups. We taught two groups in the ruined Anganwadi building, and the third group sat on the verandah of localite. The side hangings did catch their attention and interest. The women keenly did the side hangings for about an hour. We then switched to the thorana, quiet a few women struggled to cut the paper and OHP sheets in right shape. The crown of all our achievements was that, Bhavana succeeded in teaching two women macramé coasters.

Side hangings Complete

Side hangings Completed

  

Thorana Completed

Macrame Completed

We tried to create awareness amongst women, about the benefits of pursuing this art. The huge market they could tap with their art and the monetary benefits. About 13 women did come forward and expressed their interest to continue the art and sell it. We told them how they could take the help of the local volunteering group and get the material, and then send the final product to us for marketing.

Hoping that the project will take off in the village, we headed back to Bangalore at 4pm.

Living Raaga's Core Team

Living Raaga’s core team met on 19^th September 2010. It was Meera, Bhavana, Anitha, Durga, Lakshmi and I. It felt great meeting each other, understanding the huge potential each of us possess and planning for the future initiatives. 

New horizons for Living Raaga

Matilda from Soroptimist International of Bangalore, got in touch with us. She read the article about Living Raaga in Bangalore mirror. The moment she set her eyes on the Bangalore Mirror of Monday, 17th May, 2010, on the caption and the picture, she knew that she had to get through to me, as Living Raaga was the help - the link that she was looking for.

Soroptimist International of Bangalore have "adopted" a very remote and backward Lambani Tribal Village called Rachaiana Doddi, 15 km. from Kanakapura Town.  This village is extremely backward, with no government bus facility upto the village, no medical facilities, no proper school, with one teacher most of the time, no scope for training or employment, no proper or assured water supply, and worst of all, not a single toilet for the 270 persons in the village, residing in 62 homes, 130 of them being women and girls!!

From November 2008 till October 2009, they have had a teacher to train the women-folk in tailoring. They wanted to expanded their training and earning. Matilda was looking for someone to teach them art and craft, but could not find a resource person so far. Living Raaga will soon work with them to train the women in art and craft.

Living Raaga in Tech Goss

To read article at Tech Goss

"Arty Altruism in a Techie Life By Suneetha B

Techie Vinutha Choudri unwinds most days with some form of hand-craft art. But she knew she had more to do for society in general. She didn’t know what till she waited in a mall, and watched the swirling business life around a Kundan jewellery sale. The rest as they say is history. Vinutha spoke to Techgoss about how her NGO combines her love of art with social service.

Techgoss (TG): Tell us about yourself Vinutha, your family, your education and background?
Vinutha Choudri (VC): I was born and brought up in Bangalore. My parents are from Karnataka and I have a younger brother. My father and brother are into export business. I did my schooling at National public school. I then did bachelors in Electronics from SJR and then did MCA from central college. I have also done MBA from IGNOU. I am married to Lingaraja Choudri; he is originally from Hospet but now in Bangalore. He works at HP.


TG: Where do you work, what is your nature of work and what is your weekly routine?
VC: I currently work at Cisco systems, Bangalore. I work as technical and project lead in Cisco. I am more inclined technically. My work mainly comprises of planning the work for the team, and also I sit and do the technical work. My week starts on Monday which is usually without any calls as it is a Sunday in US. Tuesday to Friday days starts with status or stand-up calls. The day usually ends by 6 pm or so. Evening, depending on my energy levels, I either start or make some progress on some art work. Like, now I am doing a quilled wall hanging, so I do some of it every day. Else, just slump on the sofa and watch TV. Ballika Vadu is one serial that I have been watching from the time it started. So I do watch it.


TG: Tell us how you first struck upon this idea which later became the NGO - Living Raaga
VC: I always wanted to give back to society. So I kept thinking of different possible ways. Initially, I thought of building a small temple, and then I thought of building an orphanage. But nothing really clicked.

One day, my hubby and I went for a movie at Sigma mall. While I was waiting for him at the entrance of the mall, I saw some small stalls. The stalls had Kundan work and other trinkets for sale. Out of curiosity, I checked the Kundan work and their prices. Since Kundan piece was sold at 150 to 200 Rs. per piece, I knew very well that it wouldn't cost more than 20 - 30 Rs to make a piece. Like lightning, it occurred to me that I could teach my art to women and help them make a living. This Art will also serve as a hobby for them, to help their mind. As, all know "Art is a great healer". I took up this idea and started pursuing it.

I started working with Abhalashram. Initially, they were reluctant then they warmed up to the idea. The girls began to earn an income making articles. I wanted to take it across ashrams. So I named the initiative Raaga, as I didn't want to make it sound like a typical NGO. Also I wanted it to be a brand name, which I could use to sell the products.

As time progressed, I realised that Raaga was very musical, so wanted to alter it a bit. My hubby and me struck with the name "Living Raaga", music i.e. art that will live with the women for ever. Thus, was born "Living Raaga".


TG: How did you go about planning the project first?
VC: I realised early that talking about the project won't enroll people. So I began to make samples of everything I could teach and could sell. For each sample, I built a excel sheet with the cost and the possible price it could be sold. I also found out the best places to buy these raw materials at large quantities.


TG: Were there resistances?
VC: Definitely resistances are there for any new idea. Unless any idea works, no one will accept it. Unless, I made samples, worked out the costing and possible profit, ashram was not willing to go ahead with the idea. Even after that, they are reluctant. As they see the girls happy doing it, see the profits, I am sure they will open up.


TG: How does it work out now time-wise on your routine?
VC: It perfectly fits into my Saturdays, we teach on Saturday evenings. Weekdays, I think of new ideas or make some new samples. Since, I have few volunteers with me; the classes will go on irrespective of anyone in our team making it that day or not.


TG: Does it overlap into your personal life or space as far as your profession is concerned?
VC: Living Raaga doesn't overlap with my profession, because I work only on weekends. I go to teach on weekends only. Other volunteers too are in IT or are students so they get time only on weekends. So it is weekdays I work at Cisco and weekends I work for Living Raaga. At Weekends definitely it overlaps my personal time. But, quite often my husband drives me around, so we get out time together too.


TG: What are your other interests in life?
VC: I do quite a bit of art and craft ranging from - glass painting, artificial flowers, warli painting, quilling, Kundan work and so on.
I am a blogger. I have been blogging from 2006. My blog name is vin2win.blogspot.com. I blog about anything that interests me, I have blogged about paranormal incidents, written short stories, blogged a trip so on. I like watching movies and it could be anything that is coming on TV.


TG: Why do you think techies are low on such social commitments? Would you have a message or word for them?
VC: I have found many of the techies are lost in themselves and their own world. Even if many of them are not hard pressed for time, they live under the notion that their minds are taxed, and they must only rest on weekends. I find some techies not very close to the real world. Their worlds are restricted to A/C offices, Facebook, mails, onsite calls, onsite opportunities, malls.

I just want to tell them - "We need to give back to the society which has given us so much."


TG: What are your future plans with Living Raaga?
VC:

1. Start living Raaga in many more organisations. We are starting this soon with Association of Disability.
2. Rope in more volunteers
3. Put up stalls in different IT companies once a month to sell the products. All that comes from selling will be given away to the related organisation."

Visit to "The association of people with disability"

After a lot of postponement, Raj and I finally visited "The association of people with disability" in Lingarajapuram yesterday. This organization is a well developed organization, the campus spawning about 2 acres and well maintained.

Mr. Basavaraju (executive director) and Mrs Sudha showed us around the campus, the different divisions and different activities they carry on to make people more self-reliant.
There is a tailoring unit, well setup computer lab which dishes many courses, a tailoring unit, physiotherapy unit, unit for MR kids, horticulture unit, device manufacturing unit and so on.

Living Raaga fits into the tailoring unit which comprised of girls and women and also the MR kids unit which makes greeting cards, envelopes and address cards.

I showed the samples to Mr. Basavaraju and the rest of the staff. They were very receptive of the idea and keen to start off on almost every art.
I am waiting to start off classes there.

Initial Members of Living Raaga

As we make a journey, I felt it is important to acknowledge our initial members.

Meera Murthy is one of the initial members of Living Raaga. Not only, did she bring her artistic skills on to the table, but her passion and vision. She pursued the idea of putting a stall, for Living Raaga's products in her company. Currently, she is teaching her cute bookmarks and albums.

Prem is another inital member of Living Raaga. He is based in Mumbai. He is working on putting a stall in his office in Mumbai and get orders. He is also, working on getting more people to join Living Raaga and also collecting funds.

Bhavana joined us in May 2010 to teach quilling. She is a B.Com student. She is teaching quilled jewellry and its packaging.

Amazing gesture.

Today I had a meeting with Narashima Pappu, Director of my division - Sales IT at Cisco. As I entered his cabin, I was amazed to see on his pin board, the paper cutting of "Living Raaga" that came up in Times of India. My day was made.

When this article came up in the paper, he had scanned it and sent it to all the folks in our division, including the top management! Amazing!

Living Raaga in Times Of India

Living Raaga was covered in Times Of India on May 17th.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIBG/2010/05/17&PageLabel=5&EntityId=Ar00501&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

Living Raaga in Bangalore Mirror

Living Raaga was covered in Bangalore Mirror on May17.

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/article/10/201005172010051705310784740648b03/Her-art’s-in-the-right-place.html

Living Raaga on Deccan Hearld

Living Raaga was covered in Deccan Hearld on May 15^th, in the “SHE” section of the Living supplement.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/69485/livelihood-leads-struggling-women.html

Second and Third clients for Living raaga

Second and third clients for Living Raaga are Vasu and Subin.

First client for Living Raaga

First client for Living Raaga is Kala. She is so sweet; she bought one door décor and one kundan rangoli. My lucky charm!!

Living Raaga on Deccan Chronicle

Living Raaga got covered in Deccan Chronicle. Hoping to see more responses for this project.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloids/giver-one-001

Classes at Abhalashram

My first visit to Ashram was on 19 March, and I started the first class on April 1st. Classes began with one girl and soon there were five girls and many of them expressed their interest. Enthusisam of the girls and the staff was electrifying. Started teaching them to make the kundan door decor and kundan rangoli. The initial

results were impressive, although needed refinement to make it to the market.

Girls from Abhala Ashram learning

Kundan Rangoli by the girls

@ Abhalashram

I met with Sesha Uncle, head of Abhalashram on March 19 2010. He and Srikanth were pretty impressed with the samples and my intention. They felt the girls at ashram can use it in their lives, and it will give them lot of opportunity later. They would use their store to sell the final products. Sesha uncle finally asked "When do we start." I was elated. He wanted me to start with the Kundan work classes as they will sell more.  

Toddler steps...

I started thinking as to how to present my idea. I realized I need to have some samples to show. The people who see those samples should be convinced that those could sell and it is worthwhile investing in it. So I started on making few samples.

Some of my samples

Genesis of Living Raaga

For years, it kept running in my mind to do something, something philanthropic, and something that will add value to others and me. It ranged from building an orphanage to a temple. Finally, it struck me that I could teach art and crafts to women who can't make a decent living. They can use this skill to earn few extra rupees and also it can be their hobby.

The NGO will be a group of like minded people who will go and teach these arts and crafts to women. Then market their products under our brand name. The profit that gets generated can be re-used by the women to buy more raw materials.

We started this project at Abhala ashram.