On September 27, 2019, I was fortunate to be part of a beautiful evening with some of the most spirited women of the AHC Foundation. They organised ‘Swavalamban’ an event to celebrate the spirit of Gandhi and Khadi, held at the Hilton Jumeirah in Dubai. I was honoured to represent Gandhigram as the chief guest. I shared with them the history of Gandhigram, which was founded by a Gandhian, a revolutionary woman Dr. T.S. Soundaram, and took them through a visual tour of the making of a Khadi sari.
The foundation was set up by a group of enthusiastic women spearheaded by Effie Thomas to educate themselves and therefore contribute valuably to the handloom, handmade, artisanal work in India. My conversation with Effie started in February. She was keen to learn about the process of khadi and the hurdles we sometimes face in production. We discussed the possibilities and limitations of khadi. We developed a range of 80 saris exclusively for them for their Weaver initiative called ‘Arabhya’. As expected we ran into a few bottlenecks and the women of AHC foundation reassured us that they’re just as excited about it.
The evening was high on energy with dance performances, fashion shows and two very inspiring talks by super amazing women Sandhya Prakash and Vino Supraja.
Happy to have experienced the energy and spirit of the AHC Foundation!
The weaver initiative of AHC Foundation – Arabhya. Range of saris woven by women at Gandhigram 
The saris designed for the AHC Foundation 
With Ms. Sandhya Prakash
Image Courtesy: Ayyaps photography
Image Courtesy: Ayyaps photography 
Image Courtesy: Ayyaps photography 
Image Courtesy: Ayyaps photography 
Trying to see if the Charkha would work.
Image Courtesy: Ayyaps photography
With my favourite – Effie!
Image Courtesy: Ayyaps photography
With the delightful Najma Aunty & Mev.
Image Courtesy: Ayyaps photography