Coming from the land of death, drought and child sale, it sounds like a fairy tale. However, it is true. Poor tribal women of Kalahandi are weaving a success story for themselves. In addition, what is even more gratifying is that educated urban women are lending them a hand. Life seemed to be an unending nightmare for Chhamani Majhi. Along with an ailing husband and old in-laws, she seemed to be heading for a starvation death, the inevitable destiny of most women like her in Kalahandi. But then ‘Nuakala’ happened to her. She was employed for spinning and in the very first month, she earned Rs 800. With that, she brought baby food for her daughter, a lantern to light her hut and clothes for her husband and in-laws. Life has taken a new dimension and seems meaningful. Kunti Majhi would have left Kalahandi in search of work and perhaps ended up as a bonded labourer somewhere. Then ‘Nuakala’ came to her village and she was ‘employed’ in weaving handloom fabric. Right in her village she is earning more than Rs.750 per month and is able to provide two square meals a day to her family. Rukmini Majhi’s family life is more balanced today. Her husband is off country liquor and her children get food and education. She is a supervisor at a ‘Nuakala’ spinning centre in her village. All these women from the Gond tribe in Kalahandi have left poverty and privation behind because of the handmade cotton ‘Nuakala’ garments produced by them, thanks to Kalahandi Vikash Parishad which has been working among the tribals of Kalahandi and Nuapada districts. Watershed management, relief work and a sustainable employment generation programme have been on the agenda. The collective effort is spearheaded by Amitav Banerjee, a marine engineer. He worked with MNCs and was based in Kolkata. He resigned his cushy job to pursue his goals in Kalahandi fulltime. Says Banerjee, “There was a substantial area of black cotton soil; suitable for cotton cultivation for which the water requirement is almost 20 times less as compared to paddy cultivation. Crop failure and resultant poverty could be avoided if cotton cultivation was promoted.”Banerjee got to work with social activist Rabi Das of KVP. Six villages were adopted and continuous spinning, processing and weaving work undertaken. Only in dyeing and bleaching men are engaged, spinning and weaving have become women’s preserve. Says Rabi Das, who has been working in Kalahandi for two decades, “It has made a tremendous difference to family life, with women becoming bread-earners. In fact, women are very sincere and good workers while men drop out and are not very persevering.”

This module is worker friendly too. Women follow a flexible timing. “We could not have done the job had there been strict timings because we have family responsibilities too. We come in the morning, then go back, cook food, take care of other chores and again come back to the centre in the afternoon and work till nightfall. If we work for six hours, we are able to earn Rs.25 to 30 per day,” reveals Chhabina Majhi of Bilenjar village where there is a central weaving centre. There are 30 looms in villages like Sunbaheli, Chatta, Jampada, Malpada, Malikimunda and Bilenjar. More than 100 tribal women have been earning their living. Banerjee is very happy. Says he, “I am very impressed with their work culture.These women are really hardworking and committed. They can change the face of Kalahandi, if they are provided with the right opportunity.” Self help through community participation’ has also caught on. Committed to self-help the tribal women of Malpada village offered free labour to set up a work centre in less than two months on land donated by local tribals. Now 12 women work at the centre and support their families. A sliver plant could ensure massive expansion of this project and bring down the rate of raw materials thus generating more income for the tribal women who could also be engaged in larger numbers. But the plant costs more than Rs 80 lakh. A project has been lying with the Planning Commission but has found no takers.

People involved with this noble cause are undeterred. ‘Nuakala’ (taking its name from ‘Nuapada’ and ‘Kalahandi’) garments and cotton fabrics have found champions in many city-bred women who have come forward to join hands with their tribal sisters to promote empowerment through self-employment. There are many doctors, professors and high-profile activists who are endorsing the cause of ‘Nuakala.’ Says Gayatri Das of Cuttack, wife of celebrity cardiologist J. P Das who is also involved with the project garments are prepared keeping in mind the latest trends and fashion. We have to reach out to all sections through exhibitions, retail counters and fashion shows in big cities and metros.” Nivedita Scudder, a high-profile social activist, says “We are determined to make our brand name ‘Nuakala’ as popular as ‘Fabindia’ which is not pure khadi but is still very much in demand. Designers are roped in and there is a constant attempt at improving the look and design.”

Shortly after Kartik Kaushik had settled in London, his son five years Smaran, returned home with a request harmless, “Papa, we still have the white house?”

A girl in her class in the school, has proved that the child had a “brownie” and he knows himself wanted to paint.

When his family is exposed to such insensitive behaviour, Kaushik sometimes misunderstood his posting abroad as a director (Western Europe), Polaris Software Lab. But when he comes by example on the view that any part of the culture, a global citizen.

“Exposure abroad, it is very important for all professionals in India,” says Kaushik, “but I do not have long-term plans to live abroad. Let me again in a few years and my children India. ”

Brash, aggressive and extremely articulate 34 years, Kaushik has always been a man willing to high risks.

A graduate of the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute Bombays, he left a cushy job as director of sales and marketing, new business models, Hindustan Lever, Polaris, as Head of Corporate Marketing, three years ago .

“There was no basis for sale charged in the IT sector, and then on,” said Kaushik, “The Indian IT industry has done nothing, it would be in the next league and has been harping only at the expense of arbitration. ”

Even more important, Kaushik had to overcome his lack of experience in technology and its frame resentment against “the type of leverage.

This never stopped Kaushik, his own brand within Polaris. He soon joined the Administrative Committee of the company and was part of the six team members completed the acquisition, the purchase of Orbitech, a subsidiary of Citibank.

A few months later, Kaushik was invited by his zeal relocation to London and to develop products and services of the acquired company.

He heads a team of 200 employees spread over Western Europe and was able to evict well-established competitors in the United Kingdom for clients such as bags of Citibank. His division is now almost a quarter the Topline.

“The turnover is not, if you sell a product, but if your client decides to buy. Dont you need, a need for the product and then they sell,” says Kaushik with characteristic aplomb.

He learned his lessons on marketing mentors Bharat Puri (now MD, Cadbury India), while the two were Asian colours and Harish Manwani, Unilever, which is now head of the home and personal care of business in North America.

Kaushik father worked with the British Embassy in New Delhi and the High Commission was honored with the title of Member of British Empire (MBE). But Kaushik freeze is not very good with the British.

“You can talk nice people, but they are also aggressive than any other community, when it comes to shopping. The cycle time to conclude an agreement is still much longer in Britain than anywhere else in the world, “he said.

Some time back, Kaushik negotiating position has been crucial at a British bank, where the IOC has suddenly started referring to the colonial era, sarcastic and said he regrets that, for all events in India .

Keeping its own expense, Kaushik gave him an appropriate response to say that the British have had colonized India, but soon the Indians go to the rule of business in Britannia. “It is just over a racist country, and it is difficult for them to accept the Indians on the same intellectual level,” said Kaushik.

An old-Cricket buff, Kaushik believes that the distinction of being the youngest referee cricket in India at Delhi State organ, when he 17 years and UNRWA has more than 400 games. He likes to observe the game, the Lord’s and has recently made a habit of reading and the drama of Shakespeare studies Roman history.

He loves driving his Volkswagen Passat its two storied apartment in Harrow at his office in Canary Wharf. He believes it is intellectually stimulating to test its experience in selling new environments.

But he is sure that this is not the country in which he wishes his two son, eight and five years to develop in “The English language in Great Britain, dogs. The quality of English is spoken and it is difficult language in a way, and there is too much exposure vis-à-vis sex and violence in everyday life, “he says.