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P. Prakash

"Hi friends, I am Purushottam Prakash but since it's too long, you can call me P. Prakash. I come from a regular family from a regular town called Gaya in Bihar. Gaya, as you all might know, is a holy Buddhist center since it is here where Lord Buddha attained enlightenment. Thousands of Buddhist devotees from all over the world come to visit the monasteries every year.

"This is where I grew up and spent my childhood. Besides being a holy Buddhist center, our district is also renowned for its silk industry. My grandfather was a weaver some 30 or 40 years ago. My father did not take over his work, since he got a job in government office.

"While in school and college, I was actively involved in many extracurricular activities and got awards and certificates in most of them. I am also a very adventurous person and this got me into the National Cadet Core, where we did lots of adventure sports like mountaineering and hiking. It was good fun. Also, I am registered as an eye donor.

"I did my Bachelor of Arts in Social Science, after which I did a diploma in Handloom Technology. Since I already knew that our state has high potential in silk rearing and weaving, I thought I would do something to promote this craft. The tradition of weaving had once been in our family, but I wanted to revive this art and family legacy.

"After my diploma, I got a sponsorship from the Deputy Commissioner Handloom office, which offered me a summer course at the National Institute of Fashion Technology. Here, I got to learn a lot about product development. Later, I worked with several NGOs and imparted skill development courses on yarn, dying, spinning, etc. I also got into product development and worked as a consultant for a few NGOs. But my calling came after seeing weavers in places that were in poor conditions, and they were not able to support themselves despite having such great weaving skills. The NGOs were doing a good job to support the weavers, but there were places where they were not able to reach, and this is how I started my work.

"I selected few clusters where I could operate and got machineries and raw materials. It was not an easy task but eventually I managed to pull it off. There are almost 15 families of weavers associated with me. I give them raw materials, teach them about product development, quality, etc. Members are duly paid for their work and I am proud to say that a lot of them have managed not only to stand on their own feet, but lead a comfortable lifestyle. Together, we have participated in several exhibitions across the country."