Ahmedabad: Low vision no barrier to their brighter lives

Jasmita Chauhan's earning as a diya maker helps her support her mother who stitches clothes to feed her family of five. Juhi Rawat's extra earnings as a diya maker helps her mother supplement her income as an attendant at the Blind People's Association (BPA) in Ahmedabad. Both Rawat and Chauhan lost their fathers at an early age.

Rishi Kankuwala has been painting diyas for past eight years, but the home maker, despite no economic pressure, makes it a point to be present to finish the Diwali orders.

But what is unique about the three diya makers is that they are women with extreme low vision and are hearing impaired. In fact, the brightly coloured diyas give no inkling of the impairment suffered by the three.

They have been associated with BPA since it first began the programme in 2010. The three were part of a batch of students who were trained in paper plate making, tie and dye, diyas and jewellery making among skills. "We then let them pursue what they are interested in. Rishi [Kankuwala] was particularly interested in diya making and she is pretty fast at it too," said Krupa Velani at BPA.

She said that the diya makers get a stipend ranging from Rs 800 to Rs 3,500 depending on the number of clay lamps they can paint.

"I like to make diyas and I come here not for the money but for my love of making diya," said Rishi through her interpreter.

Rishi, who has a 6-year-old son, has never missed making diyas in all these years despite her responsibilities at home.

In fact, many of the corporates and schools that order diyas from BPA often come to meet the diya makers. "They want to know who made these diyas and they often spend time with the diya makers ," said Velani.

Chauhan lives in the hostel run by BPA.

Since they first began in 2004 with a measly 100 diyas for sale, the artists today sell over 70,000 diyas during Diwali. Though this year their diyas are single-coloured ones, they said they often have multi-coloured diyas too. "The colour is decided on the basis of what has been popular with the customers previously. Earlier we used to make multi coloured diyas but often our corporate clients prefer single coloured ones," said Rawat.

Chauhan said that the diya making begins in January itself. "The residents collect various diya designs and then they are discussed with the artisans and the administration. They then zero in on a few designs. Later an order is placed with the potters to make these designs," said Chauhan.

She said placing the orders in January itself helps the organization negotiate better prices and it also ensures that the diyas arrive well in advance sos that the artists can begin painting them.