Geetanjali Krishna: The 10 women of Tabo

Circumstances are a rum thing. Everyone blames them for hopes unmet and dreams unfulfilled. To a few though, circumstances, however adverse, present opportunities waiting to be seized. While I was in Spiti, I encountered Rinzin Dolma and the 10 Women of Tabo, who showed me how they created a world of opportunities for themselves where none existed. Here's her story.

I met Dolma when I visited Tabo two months ago. It was cold even then, and she was standing on her sunny terrace, examining a beautiful woolen blanket. I stopped for a look and she told me that it had been made by her neighbour and she was giving it some finishing touches before placing it in their shop. Apparently, she had brought together a group of 10 local ladies to use their weaving and knitting skills to generate a tidy little income for themselves.

"In the summer, we are all busy working in our fields. Some of us also work on government construction projects to supplement our incomes. And the steady inflow of tourists and pilgrims to the Tabo Monastery, said to be the oldest operating Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas, is a great supplementary income for many of us," she said. Come winter, and the story changes. Tabo gets snowed in every year, farming becomes impossible and the income from tourism dries up. "Winter is always when most of us have felt the need for money the most, and there's just never enough as we all live off our savings," she said. It invariably used to be the time when Dolma and other villagers hibernated indoors with nothing to do and little cash to spend.

This changed about five years ago. Dolma and some of her neighbours began thinking how they could contribute financially to their households in winter. "Every winter, women traditionally sat together and knit. Some of us had looms in our homes, so we would weave shawls and blankets as well. We thought, why not turn this into a business?" recounted Dolma. The 10-member group started by buying raw wool, which, after washing and carding was distributed among them. In the long, dark winter, they knitted and wove the wool into sweaters, caps, shawls and blankets. "We decided to not just focus on the tourists for a market, but to make things that also have local demand," said Dolma. "This way, we would do business throughout the year instead of only in the tourist season!" Today, their shaggy blankets, traditional shawls, vibrant carpets, caps and baby sweaters sell so well that each woman in the group earns about Rs 3000 a month from this enterprise. "Consequently, we are now busier in winter than we've ever been, while the rest of the villagers sit back and bemoan the lack of work options in winter!" said Dolma.

It turned out that this informal group of 10 ladies hasn't been registered yet. All of them just partake equally in the profit left after the buying of wool. "We've known each other all our lives, why should our group need any registration?" said Dolma. Besides, she said, there was no time for all these things, they were too busy knitting and weaving. For the same reason, they hadn't named their group either. On seeing my bemusement, Dolma said, "Our group has helped us get gainful employment in the lean winter season. What further good will emerge from labelling or registering it?"

Although Dolma and co prefer to stay nameless, I think of them as the 10 Women from Tabo. To me they demonstrate how if one wants to, one can create a whole world of opportunities when few exist.