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Usha Raman

... saves a craft and empowers women and young girls from riot-affected families in the Old City of Hyderabad.

The slender, hooked needle goes in and out, as Zareena Khan, 16, bends over the pattern on the silk cloth stretched out on a wooden frame, threading sequins into the design. With every stitch of embroidery, she is making sure that her little sister, Farhana Khan, stays in school. Her older sister, Sameena Khan, 18, is also engaged in creating an even more intricate pattern.

Zareena and Sameena took up embroidery to supplement the family income when their brother, Zahed Khan, was killed in a communal riot in Hyderabad in 1996. Zahed had been the main breadwinner of this family of eight after his father's premature death two years earlier.

Zahed's death left his five sisters and younger brother without a major source of financial support, and his ailing mother with a grief that unravels each time she narrates the incidents of June 6, 1996. "My younger son, Zeeshan, who is a zardosi karigar (craftsperson), was forced to extend his work hours," says Ayesha Bi. Two of Zeeshan's older sisters were soon married, but their marriages left a larger debt to be cleared over time. Sameena and Zareena, barely out of primary school, had to give up their education and learn a craft that would help run the household. Zeeshan taught them the simple zardosi stitch — gold, silver or coloured thread embroidery embellished with sequins and other applique items.

The story of Zareena's family is no different from that of hundreds of other families in old Hyderabad, where earning members of the household have been killed or maimed in communal violence. Over the past 15 years, Hyderabad has seen four major communal riots. Women, and in some cases girls, were forced to support the family. "Piece-work" (as contracted embroidery work is referred to in the trade) offered them the opportunity for income. Zardosi, a traditional craft brought to India from Turkey five centuries ago, has seen a renewed demand not only in Hyderabad but also in the boutiques of metros around the country. It has also become a part of the Indian bridal couture. Traditionally, only men did zardosi work, and mostly in Lucknow and Kolkata — the traditional markets for embroidered textiles. But now, Hyderabad is growing as a major zardosi centre. Today, 10-15 per cent of the thousands of zardosi workers in Hyderabad are women. Their numbers are growing partly because of rehabilitation and livelihood schemes run by some of the NGOs. The Confederation of Voluntary Associations (COVA), an NGO, was one of the first to encourage women from old Hyderabad to start learning zardosi. In the early 1990s, the Old City saw a number of communal riots and COVA was formed to promote communal harmony. Says Asiya Khatoon, Director of Mahila Sanatkar (MS), the marketing wing of COVA, "After the riots, we surveyed many areas and found that women were the most affected. Almost all women demanded that COVA do something to empower them economically."

Today, MS runs five centres with both men and women workers, channelling piece-work and coordinating payment. Some of the women are also taken for visits to cities such as Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Lucknow to give them exposure to this craft. MS helps them get contracts and micro credit to start work and hold exhibitions. Other NGOs in the city, like the Asmita Resource Centre for Women (in the Sultan Shahi area) and Prajwala (an organisation that rehabilitates trafficked women and children), train women in zardosi work.

Most women and girls work out of their homes. Once a week, Sameena dons her black burqa and visits the contractor who gives her four or five pieces. "I finish one a day if the work is not too intricate," she says. She is paid Rs 30 for the simpler jobs and up to Rs 60 for the more complicated designs that require a lot of gold thread and embellishments. She says this is not enough, but does help in feeding the family and continuing her younger sister's education.

In recent years, there is also a trend among the city's fashion designers to consciously look for ways to combine social responsibility with commerce, by creating work opportunities for women in distress. Roma Gera, who owns a boutique in Secunderabad and also supplies bulk orders to retail outlets across the city, has much of her piece-work done through the women in the old city. The pieces are sourced through the Rotary Centre for the Handicapped, a women's group that works with disadvantaged women. "We train these women in crafts that do not require much infrastructure or equipment, and embroidery and lace-making are major ways in which such women can find work," says Jayanthi Kannan of the Centre.

Women's Feature Service

Picture by Mohammed Yousuf

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