It's not everyday that Jasvir Kaur makes a trip from her village, Khalaspur in District Fatehgarh Sahib to Chandigarh, a big city in her eyes. But this was a special day and she wasn’t going to be making it without wearing her flaming red T-shirt with the words ‘Mehar Trust’ written in bold. “I’ve never done this before,” spoke the shy and unassuming girl as she huddled up with her friends and classmates from the Mehar Baba Charitable Trust at the stall tucked away in the far-end of Hall No 2 at the CII Consumer Fair. The stall was special, not just for its impressive lineup of Phulkari products ranging from cushion covers to bedspreads, shawls and more but for the fact that it had been put together by enterprising girls like Kaur.

“It’s for the first time that they have probably come out of their villages and exposed their work in a commercial setup,” stepped in Sapna Bajaj who is the principal of the Learning Centre of the Mehar Baba Charitable Trust based in Bassi Pathana. It’s at this centre that village girls from as many as 150 villages surrounding the area are being taught vocational skills such as tailoring, needlework, jewellery making free of cost with emphasis on self empowerment and reviving traditional crafts. “The Trust is about five years old now and has adopted villages around Bassi Pathana for integrated human development through multi-pronged rural outreach programmes,” explained Geetan and Jai Mejie whose grandfather Prof HS Mejie is the founder trustee. With as many as four teacher-trainers specialising in fashion on board, the Trust has 300 girls presently being trained. “We are teaching them not just traditional crafts but new age marketing techniques as well as commercial business skills,” chipped in the principal. The stall at the CII fair was a huge step in that direction. “We had a lot of enquiries coming in and it was nice to see people appreciating our work,” mentioned Hema Panesar, another girl under the wing of the Mehar Trust. Among those who were impressed with the Phulkari products up for sale included the Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal who interacted with the girls during his visit. “The exposure has been good for them and we are now thinking of helping them participate in more such events,” informed Geetan as a set of shoppers eyed a set of cushion covers. Now that’s reason enough.