AASHAA

Vimala always talks aloud no matter you are sitting just in front of her. Never put your chair at her right hand side however enthusiastic you are. That sharp stainless steel needle may nick your chin. She is busy finishing the button holes while overseeing the dozen plus colleagues fast working on various clothes. To meet her, take a right turn from near civil station and ride on…till you read the board: AASHAA GARMENTS. It was a teenage fancy that led Vimala to a tailoring class years back. She never wore the gown of a tailor and nearly forgot it after marriage.

A sudden U turn by an auto happened to cause a U turn for the worst in her life. With one leg broken and one paralysed she spent three months in an odd bed within ward number 13 Calicut Medical College and then a longer time at the Institute of Palliative Medicine. She was adamant on two things. She wanted to live without receiving anyone’s favour; She wanted to support her family. It was during one interactive session that the story of her once learnt and ‘forgotten’ craft surfaced. The trainee volunteers at the IPM took it their onus to stitch a new life for Vimala.

One sewing machine dealer in Calicut was all happy to gift Vimala with three machines agreeing to her condition that she will repay the cost after two years. Vimala kept her word and before the deadline of 24 months, she repaid it allowing the same dealer to sponsor four new machines for the next batch of trainee tailors. Now, total twelve women are running AASHAA GARMENTS and two days a week they stitch only for the inmates of Asha Bhavan kozhikode.