Diary: My Journey From Embroidering For Others To Employing 300 Women

Empowerment is an Emotion

I am a designer and maker of cloth bags. People tell me that my bags are beautiful and a conversation starter. It may be true because these bags have made me famous. My fellow artists tell me that my bags are very easy to spot because they are so colourful.

I am a survivor of the 2001 Bhuj earthquake and that experience taught me that I should not wait for too long to realise my dreams. Instead, I must work hard to turn them into reality. I had always wanted to be famous; for my name to be known to others. I wanted to reach a stage in life where people sought my opinion.

Today, the success of my business has made my dream come true. I have come a long way from working under someone as an embroidery artist to employing 300 women to help me with the embroidery work and sell the end-products on my website—pabiben.com.

Tapping the Right Talent

I provide the fabric, threads, and the designs. These women take the designs home, do the embroidery work, and get them back to me. I get the designs stitched into different shapes and sizes. My husband, Laxman Rabari, is the marketing person who is in touch with other karigars (artisans) and Nilesh Priyadarshi of the Kaarigar Clinic ­— an Ahmedabad-based initiative that mentors local artisans to strategically grow their traditional craft practices into self sustaining business.

We live in Bhardoi village in Kutch district of Gujarat. Most women here know the art of Kutchi embroidery. When I decided to sell my bags on a large-scale, I decided to tap into the creativity of these women and give them employment. They earn money for their art.

The Struggles Were Real

I got married in 2001. My parents lived in Kukadsar village. My father died when I was five. My mother was pregnant with her third child. When the third daughter was born, things changed for my mother. No one had wanted another girl. My mother was a brave woman to have brought up three girls with little support from others. The struggles were real. Unlike today, when there is tap water in every house, there was a severe water shortage back then. We had to fetch water from faraway places.

Though we went to school, we had no books, slippers, or decent clothes. I wanted to study but my mother could not afford our education. When I was 10, I started going with my mother to work in the homes of other people. We would work in the fields of others and got paid Re 1 for filling water.

Back then, very few women stepped out to earn money. I wanted to learn embroidery but there were not many who could teach me. I learnt on my own and started selling my work to people who visited our village. Due to this, the villagers spoke ill about me.

Slowly, I mastered the art of embroidery. Once, I showed my work to some people who had visited the village. They bought the designs and sold them under a big brand name without my consent. My heart broke when I wasn’t even given credit for my work.

A Big Turning Point

After I got married, my husband said I must do something that makes me happy. Until 2016, I did embroidery work for others. I met Nilesh bhai at an event and requested him to help me. I started making embroidery bags. My first order, worth Rs 70,000, came from a showroom in Ahmedabad. I did an exhibition with Garvi Gurjari. After this exhibition, I told Nilesh bhai that I would like to sell my designs under a brand name. It took me three months to come up with a name.

I thought my name is best and that’s how pabiben.com was born. In 2016, I was awarded the Jankidevi Bajaj Puraskar (award). About 30 women worked for me then. This award opened the floodgates of awards for me. In 2021, I participated in Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). I was a joint winner and received 12.5 lakh as prize money. I owe my success to the 300 women who are working with me.

(As Told To Haima Deshpande)

Pabiben Rabari is the owner of pabiben.com, a women artisan enterprise

This appeared in print as "Gujarat Diary"