Sending Off the Diwali Batch of Chairs!
After two weeks of hectic activity, the first batch of chairs made by the village team in the Graminno Community Makerspace workshop are ready to be sent off to the patrons in Mumbai.
To bid a final farewell to the chairs that the Graminno team had so lovingly and painstakingly built, the team decided to assemble in the courtyard of Mr. and Mrs. Mhabdi's beautiful mud home. They were waiting for the team in their verandah, sitting on the chairs that the Graminno team had made for them. This has become their favorite pastime every morning, where they sit on the comfortable chairs and greet the rising sun, with a hot cup of tea!
Soon, other members of the Gram Sabha (village governance committee) came to appreciate and encourage the Graminno team members, who had worked tirelessly for several weeks to meet the deadline of Diwali to complete the batch of orders.
After a round of inspection of the chairs, it was time to talk about the experience, the learnings from this exciting new development in the village, where for the first time, the team of youngsters from the village had used their creativity and skills to build furniture from the wood that they collect from their forested land, which would earlier be used as firewood.
The elders of the Gram Sabha were very proud of the work done by the team, and especially appreciative of the master craftsman - Avinash, who was the main designer and coordinator of the chairs project.
Avinash had also brought along his little daughter Avni, who loved to sit on the special tiny version of the chair that her father had lovingly made for her!
After having a cup of tea, the team posed for a group picture to commemorate the occasion.
Then the chairs were unfolded and tied together in pairs, so that the parts do not get interchanged during transit. Avinash posed proudly with the chairs for one last time, with mixed feelings of anxiety of how the first set of patrons for the chairs would receive the chairs, and pride at having successfully completed the hand crafted chairs.
The entire village had helped the team. Some helped to collect wood from the forested land belonging to the village, while some helped clean and de-bark the collected wood. Others helped tend to the food and drinks that the team desperately needed while they worked hard at the Graminno Community Makerspace workshop.
Then the chairs were loaded in the back of the Jeep, and carefully secured so that they do not move around during the drive to Mumbai, over mud roads from the village to the nearest town - Mandangad, and then over the not-so-nice highway to Mumbai.
The team bid farewell to their creations, and hoped that they would soon get feedback from their first customers!
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