They are women who could have just sat back and relaxed as monotony of life took its course. But they are women of substance and have proved that it’s not just their husbands who are serving the nation in the best possible way, but they’re contributing their bit too. The Navy Wives Welfare Association (NWWA) a group of visionaries, wives of naval officers, embarked upon project, Karukarya (fine art), to make women economically independent and self reliant.
In its recent chapter, the project further looks forward to giving widows of sailors and officers, a life beyond the ordinary.
“NWWA aims to empower its members not only with a professional prowess but also provide them a platform to ‘learn to earn’. Each time you buy a garment you empower a sailor’s wife, look after a weaver in his village and keep the heritage of our country alive”, says Elizabeth Antony, wife of Defence minister A K Antony.
When Madhulika Verma, wife of the chief of the naval staff, Admiral Nirmal Verma, started working on this one, little did she know she’d come this far. “As members of NWWA, I felt that it’s our duty to help women and make them see a brighter future after their husbands pass away. It’s an extremely difficult time for women, both emotionally and financially. I started thinking of ways to revive the old traditional handlooms of India and khadi being a favourite, was came to my mind first. The journey started with only a few designers and around two sailor wives. Today there are more than 40,” she says.
And it’s not just the wives of naval officers who benefit from the project. “A naval officer’s wife, designs the garments and a well trained and experienced cutting master trains the ladies. Ladies also learn embroidery and ‘Tie and Die’ techniques from professionals. A block printing unit, Tarsh, is run to teach the techniques of block printing to ladies,” informs Madhulika. What follows is that these garments by NWWA members are made from khadi cloth, directly procured from the weavers of Ponduru village in Visakhapatnam.
“The readied designer garments are displayed at the Design Studio, specially created for this project. The finished garments are sold at non-profit basis,” she says.
The women have also launched a linen line, and the volunteer-based organisation survives only on the money they have, as all the incomes and profits are given as incentives to sailor wives and khadi weavers.
Apart from khadi, these women also provide naval training to many officers’ wives, giving them a new horizon to fly.
“Some of them have even been commissioned into the Navy. Sailor wives on the other hand are given nursery training and we make sure their kids are given proper education,” says Madhulika.
For those who have seen the new side of life tell us, it has been a journey full of smiles and confidence.
“My husband died last year and I was hopeless on where to begin. It was just a few hours after his demise that I got a call from NWWA and they encouraged me to take up a job in the Navy. And it wasn’t all easy, I had to go through various procedures to finally get a stable job there, but it helped a lot,” says Slt. Archana Maurya.