Uma, a skilled fashion designer who worked in Delhi, came to Auroville to work on a project. This experience led her to create her own studio in Auroville focusing on textiles and fashion. In 1997 this studio would soon grow into the fashion brand Upasana.  This company strives to create sustainable fashion, focusing on the environmental impacts and costs of clothing production.

When we visited Upasana, Uma started by emphasizing the farmer suicide crisis and the problems that Indian farmers face against huge companies like Monsanto.  They are faced with huge debts and forced to buy GMO seeds. Her use of organic cotton helps to support the farmers who grow it and prevent them from debt cycles encouraged by big companies selling seeds. Locally and environmentally conscious production of cotton is supported not only through her use of it in all her clothing lines but also by some of her social projects. Stretching out from the clothing industry, Uma has used her platform to address multiple social issues that she feels strongly about. 

In 2011, Uma took her brand organic with a move to all organic fabrics. Her Kapas project works with Madurai families and supports their organic cotton production. Paruthi, which means cotton in Tamil, is another project Uma is involved with that supports organic farming. The project is focused on sustainable and ethical practices upheld by the Tamil Nadu cotton farmers. Specifically focused on taking care of the land in an ethical and sustainable fashion, to making sure that farming practices and farmers are respected. 

She also supports Varanasi weavers, making her own brand that supports their community that allows them to continue being able to produce stunning weaved fashion items. Her work with the Varanasi weavers is especially impactful because of her involvement deep in the community. She helps to design, support and offers marketing help to the weavers allowing their designs to spread all over the world.

Besides helping support organic farmers, she is bringing the skills needed to create fashion items such as sewing and weaving to communities such as Tranquebar. By helping to train the locals in fashion, she is investing in the future of this Tamil Nadu town. She markets and invests, helping bring tourism and economy into their town, while also helping to revive and preserve their cultural garments. 

While we visited, we were able to see Upasana’s involvement in two special projects: Tsunamika and the Small Steps.

In 2005, a tsunami traumatized Indian fisherwomen, and Uma wanted to get involved to help the women recover. She found a creative outlet for the women so that they could cope with all of the stress and destruction that hit their village. Making little dolls out of waste and leftover fabric, Tsunamika dolls are traded in a “Gift Economy”. This interesting concept runs on donations, meaning no one ever buys the dolls. The millions of little dolls that have spread all over the world are a symbol of strength and love, further emphasized through their gift economy. It has turned into an income source for the village women, who are now being compensated for their work. Uma has used her creativity and background in fashion to support and uplift women, and now she is even helping to give them livelihoods. This idea is an incredible combination of creativity and empathy, and I was so interested in learning about how these little dolls have spread all over the world. We each received a small Tsuanmika at the end of her presentation, and I am so excited to gift it to someone when I return from India. 

We also got to see the Small Steps project that was created by Upasana. Small Steps bags are reusable bags that help prevent the use of plastic and single-use bags. As most of Upasana’s projects are, they are more than just about sustainability. The bags are made by women in 14 villages helping to support local economies and women. The name Small Steps carries with it the idea that the even smallest steps towards sustainability will accumulate into greater change and a better future.

Through the names of some of her collections, we can see how important sustainability and ethics are to her. “Upcycling Artwear”, “Conscious Luxury”, and “Cool N’ Conscious” are all lines that are available at Upasana. It is a unique brand in the fact that makes sure that everything from the raw products and farmers, to the environment and lives of those making the clothes, are impacted in a positive and ethical way. Their focus is not only on selling their own items but on the social problems within India. Their projects help to preserve and support local communities and the lands that they live on.

She explains that her prices are a bit higher in order to encourage sustainable consumption and decrease the throwing away of clothes. Uma said that higher priced clothes make the consumer more hesitant in throwing away clothes and more conscious of what they are investing in.

My personal favorite collection was the herbal collection. It mixes cultural herbs and Ayurvedic médecine with fashion. Not only are Umas designs a take on a modern Indian fashion, but she is also combining other aspects of culture into her collections. The healing textiles focus on dyes of 3 different healing herbs. A grey color comes from Tulsa, a light red from Sandal, and a pale yellow from Neem. They each carry medicinal properties and are natural dyes that are helping avoid environmental pollution.

Beatrix Tobey

The Auroville Village Action group was the first stop of the NGO trips here. Their main goal was to help the backwards regions of Tamil Nadu, specifically Vanur. Founded in 1983, the organization is a grassroots organization aiming to to form a connection between Auroville and the surrounding villages. Since the foundation the Auroville Village Action Group has helped 50% of Vanur. The main tenants of the organization are inclusion, sustainability, fairness, and cultural richness and manifesting the full potential of the rural village areas. They connect with both disregarded groups such as women and Dalits, members of the lowest caste system, as well as leaders of both traditional and elected entities to help with their projects. They offer four main sectors of service: community development, economic development, capacity building, and psychosocial services. The most surprising program is the sports program for married women, who are usually not allowed to participate. They play kabaddi, a traditional game that consists of running back and forth without being tagged, all while saying “kabaddi, kabaddi” over and over in one breath. They have taken their league from a casual game to one with uniforms and a tournament of teams formed from each individual village. At the start of the program women were playing in colorful saris, and today they look like a professional team. The organization also offers summer camps for both boys and girls 7-18 for 6 weeks of the summer. They offer training in English, math, drawing, painting, as well as field trips to cities and museums they wouldn’t normally have the chance to visit. Another main project they offer is their self help initiative. There is a large problem of suicide rates in India among adults and children. There is a fear for parents that their children will take their own lives because of the pressure they’re under. Suicide is still not accepted in the Indian culture, and deaths are still reported to police as ‘normal deaths’ without further investigation. Most people suffering from suicidal thoughts are often told to go to temple or to a family member’s home. The Auroville Village Action Group provides a safe space for counseling and for these members to talk and repeat an affirmation that reminds them of their value.

The most surprising aspect of the NGO is how many people they are able to reach. They targeted the looked over people of the greater Auroville community. Similarly their goals are not just the physical well being of the people, they want to help the psycho-social aspect as well. In addition to the affirmation, they council while keeping the cultural richness alive through song, dance, language and sport, all the while helping the individual and connecting traditional cultures with the modernization of today.

The Auroville Village Action Group is looking for students that are self motivated, organized and passionate about their causes. They are looking to expand their fundraising potential by utilizing Crowd Funding and Global Giving. They also want to launch new campaigns and fresh ideas for communicating their purpose. Grant writing, data analytics, and both photo organization and composition skills are needed. They’re looking for a story teller that can express the vision of the Auroville Village Action Group.

After the presentation, we got to meet with their current interns and take a tour of where they make sewn garments and crocheted goods to sell at the Auroville Visitors Center to raise money for the organization. The beautiful fabrics were turned into saris, dresses, shirts, and pants. Yarn was crocheted into cute little animal figurines. The Auroville Village Action Group is an amazing organization that looks to connect Auroville with the outside villages to the aid they need in the four specific areas. It connects to the Sustainability Development Goals set by the United Nations under the gender equality and the quality education indicative. Auroville Village Action group aims to level gender equality  for women through quality education as well as through other social aspects such as sports.