Crochet mufflers, embroidered shirts, hot chocolate.
Familiar festive favourites flew off the shelves at a Christmas market in Southern Avenue last Sunday. But unlike most Christmas sales, this one showcased products crafted entirely by street children.
For three months, the budding entrepreneurs worked against the clock, designing, stitching, crocheting and organising every detail. Their effort paid off: the market earned ₹85,000.
The crochet mufflers, with colourful pompoms and priced at ₹999, sold out within hours. The young artisans even secured an order for 10 more. Of the 25 embroidered shirts made by tribal girls from Birbhum, only five remained unsold.
“It was unbelievable to see people appreciating my work and paying to own it,” said Priyanka Pramanik, a Class XI student. Priyanka and her friend Sonia Ghosh, also in Class XI, learnt crocheting during a workshop last summer. “It is not tough, but no one had taught us earlier. I’m improving with every piece,” Sonia said.
Although the girls from Birbhum could not come to the event, their work, mostly embroidered apparel, was widely appreciated.
The Christmas market is an initiative of the Tollygunge Ramdhanu Social Welfare Society, which works with street children in Calcutta and with tribal girls in a Birbhum village.
Ramdhanu began in 2019 when its founder, Mitrobinda Ghosh, started teaching children right on the streets, often pushing back against parents who preferred to send their daughters to work.
After five years, Ramdhanu finally became registered and secured a physical space to run its programmes.
“Most of these girls will not excel in studies, but that doesn’t mean they cannot become self-sufficient. Training them in handiwork enables financial independence,” Ghosh said.
Ramdhanu provides small monthly allowances, “pocket money”, along with periodic transfers to the girls’ bank accounts. “The seniors use the money for phone recharges, personal-care items, and sometimes to contribute at home. If they don’t receive some money, their parents wouldn’t allow them to come to the centre,” Ghosh added.
The impact, for many, is life-changing. Priyanka, 18, said she would have been married off by now if not for the training centre. “My parents weren’t interested in my studies and wanted me to marry early. With didi’s (Ghosh’s) intervention, they agreed to wait. I’ve now completed Madhyamik,” she said.
While the older girls sold apparel, the younger ones crafted clay fridge magnets and served hot chocolate with marshmallows or chicken sandwiches with chips at the event.
Ghosh said she borrowed the idea of a Christmas market from her winter visits to Oxford and Bath, where she had seen people selling handmade jams, jellies and other festive products. “The profit from the market helps us buy raw materials for future initiatives,” she said.