BENGALURU: A fall from a building not only broke her spinal cord but also subsided her “naughtiness” say Rajashree M C, a 39-year-old lady entrepreneur from Malleshwaram. She made the wheelchair daily support system after 2007. She could not burn crackers and scare her elder brother like she used to, during Diwali anymore.
Prior to the fall she used to be a Bharatanatyam dancer trained by classical gurus namely Rukmini Srinivasan, Sanjay Shantharam and Shama Sanja. After the incident, her ghungroos remained untouched and she passed on her dancing ornaments to her niece who is now learning Bharatanatyam.
Her passion found a way to manifest itself in another form of art- handicrafts. She started making handmade jewellery and diyas at home. Her family and friends admired her work that they suggested her to sell those.
It has been three years since she has been making the handicrafts which get sold out real quick. She operates the business from home and her friends and NGOs help her deal with companies that buy her products.
For this Diwali, she made several diyas and sold most of it.
Describing the festival of lights as a day when she sees everyone living “happily from the heart”, she says that she takes extra care to prepare the embellished diyas. “Diyas signify light and hope. Darkness should be abolished with this light,” says Rajashree.
She soaks the terracotta diyas over night and paints it with acrylic paint decorating it with artificial pearls and kundans.
The price of the embellished diyas ranges from Rs 50 to Rs 250 a pair.
Though she requires help from her family members because she needs to keep moving around the house looking for glue and brushes, she mainly works alone and does not take more than 10 minutes to splash colours on the unglazed terracotta.
She used to earn Rs 30,000 a month working as a bank employee nine years ago and today she holds the award of being a women achiever presented by Chief Minister Siddaramiah last year on Women’s Day.
Rajashree is currently busy working on her autobiography in Kannada.