Soon after I started my craft workshop-cum-studio way back in 2003 in Santiniketan, I realised that for the famous kantha embroidery of this region, the Muslim girls were streets ahead of their Hindu counterparts.
While for the Hindu girls, it is an acquired skill to help them earn a living, for the Muslim girls, embroidery is a way of life. A skill they learn from their childhood and practice till their eyesight permits. So the passion they bring to their craft and their engagement with its intricacies are of a very different order.
After I tasted success with my first Muslim recruit,
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