Where there is a will, there is Aryakanya. Where there is Aryakanya, you can expect a fair fusion — of business and empowerment.
Welcome to the Aryakanya fair now under way in New Town where people who have a weakness for handloom and other ethnic products, including handicrafts, can spoil themselves a bit.
The timing has been perfect too. The exhibition — being held at the playground of the Sukhobrishti Shapoorji Complex, New Town, Action Area III — will be open till Sunday, May 1, keeping in mind Akshay Tritiya and Eid early next week. Going by the response, the fair, open from 4pm to 10pm, might be extended by a day but no decision has been finalised yet.
All this, however, may not have been possible had Aryakanya not stepped forward with its vision of women’s empowerment, inspired by the position women enjoyed in the Vedic period.
Indrani Mukherjee Sarkar, who founded the social organisation, cited as examples Lopamudra and Gargi, among other prominent women of the Vedic age, who, she said, were able to and actually did a lot of things without facing the hardships that women of future generations have had to face. That realisation, she told My Kolkata, had spurred her on to create an organisation like Aryakanya which would work with singular determination to empower women.
Indrani Mukherjee Sarkar at the fair
The journey, Mukherjee Sarkar said, has not been easy. Many had joined her, some left after a while. Yet, more and more kept on being inspired by her beliefs. With the passage of time the realisation that they were independent dawned on her and the others and, since then, there has been no looking back.
Aryakanya has been able to offer a worthwhile platform to many women
Today, Aryakanya has 239 members. Some of them are from economically weaker sections of the society who have joined not because they come from underprivileged backgrounds but because they see the organisation as a platform for self-empowerment. Mukherjee Sarkar leads that effort, based out of her office in south Kolkata’s Bagha Jatin area.
Others, some of them from affluent families and who have had successful careers, have joined the organisation because they wanted to be involved with the meaningful work Aryakanya has been doing.
Debolina displays her items to a visitor
Mukherjee Sarkar herself has worn several hats. Keenly interested in sports and athletics — she loves to keep herself fit — she was earlier in the police before taking early retirement from the force. She then became a consultant before taking up social work and founding Aryakanya in 2008.
“The organisation has been able to offer a worthwhile platform to many women and that is what motivates all the members to align and work together for a better tomorrow for all,” she said.
Apart from fairs, like the one being held at New Town now, Aryakanya is actively involved in organising training camps where women learn vocational skills. Such camps have been held in the city and beyond, including in north Bengal. Among the crux areas the organisation focuses on are product development, care for the elderly and food production and sale, the idea being to make the women self-reliant and confident.
Suparna Chakraborty is elated by the response to the fair
The organisation’s efforts have been well appreciated at a time many have lost their livelihoods in the pandemic. For them, Aryakanya has held out the promise of a new direction away from despair.
Aryakanya’s association with New Town’s Shapoorji Sukhobrishti Complex began in 2021 when some residents got in touch with Mukherjee Sarkar. By then she had held quite a few medical camps in the city and on its outskirts. The residents then invited her to organise a fair in the complex. Eleven such fairs have already been held at the playground, which means the ongoing one is the twelfth. The first few had been controlled exhibitions as pandemic protocols were in place but, with the easing of restrictions, the number of stalls has increased significantly, from twelve the first time to 35 now.
A range of ethnic items to choose from
Visitors have a range of ethnic items to choose from, such as different types of fabric and handicrafts. “As always this has been a very satisfying experience,” said Debolina, from Dhritan Fabrics, whose stall sells select hand-woven products sourced directly from weavers. “The response has been amazing from the residents of the complex.”
Pritama, of Takshii, an online store, agreed. “Shapoorji’s pan-India composition of residents fascinates me and I have been thrilled each time with the response that I have got.”
Pritama is hopeful for good sales
Another participant, Suparna Chakraborty, has been telling her fellow entrepreneurs about the “wonderful business opportunity present in the complex”.
The fair also has a few food stalls that sell the usual stuff — such as different types of chaats and samosas.
Judging by the number of residents thronging the playground, it is safe to assume that the fair has enjoyed a fair bit of success.
How to reach the fair venue:
- Within New Town and Salt Lake there are abundant auto-rickshaw routes to the Sukhobrishti Shapoorji Complex, New Town, as well as ‘totos’
- If you are driving, cross Kolkata Gate heading towards Action Area III, a kilometre before Arts Acre turn left from where the boards point towards Bagjola canal; Shapoorji complex is just a kilometre or so ahead