Sewing the seeds of change

Meg Wilkinson's passion for textiles and clothing began with arc. She comp leted a Fine Arcs degree majoring in jeweUery and metal smith ing at the University of Tasmania.

"I think 1 was always a bit of a frustrated fashion designer," laughs Meg.

After making jeweUery for many years she went back to TAFE to snidy fas h ion and costume design and deve loped the idea of starting an ethical clothing business in India.

Meg's first trip to fodia was 15 years ago. "I landed at 2am and breached in the Delhi fragrance," says Meg. "11 [y heart just opened and I knew l'd come home".

What drives an Australian to scare a quest co help people on the other side of the wor ld? A passion for textiles and hand -embroidery, a desire co preserve traditio n al skills and the perseverance to produce clothing chat directly benefits the workers.

''l met a lot of peop le who go co Pushkar to ger clotl1es made," said Meg, "because making it in Australia i s too expens ive".

While working for The Body Shop, Meg was inspired by their ''Trade Not Aid" program, which advocates going inro developing countries and buying products from the source. Meg wanted to buy d irectl y from the artists and pay chem a little above tl1e normal wage. She saw tl1e difference it made to their Lives and village infrastructure

"It didn't cost much more but made a huge d ifference," she says.

A "major life shift" enabled Meg to resume study and travel to India. While staying in a guesthouse in Pushkar she fell in love with irs manager, Savar Ram. She cold him about her b usiness idea and they s carred Beej together in 2008

Beef is the Hindi word for seed, and \\~tl1 tbis enterprise Meg be lieves she is "sewing the seeds of change".

Beej employs workers from a smaU v illage about 20 kms ourside Pushkar. The initial set up was not w ithout its difficulties.

"1 wanted to create clotl1ing that used traditional skills with a modern edge and I was aiming at women 30 and over," s ays Meg. "l

Grevi/lea maxi dress thought the lo cal women would be fine co use traditional skills so I was shocked to learn char those skills were dying out because machine embroidery was rep lacing traditional hand embroidery". iVfeg had to train the women to create the embroidery for her des igns. Once the trai n ing was underway, man y of the women's grandmothers shared their memories about when they practised tl1e craft.

"It was difficult work for the women at first," says Meg. "They are used ro hard work (as the village is a farming community), but now tl1ey can have a break and do work that's more social and less physical".

Meg keeps her collections and runs small, crying to be as sustainable as possible. She poinrs out tl1at tl1e women aren't available all year because o f farm work, so they can work for Beej as ir suirs them. The women can earn extra money as Beej pays Rs 200 a clay minimum.

"Most women make Rs 70 on farms per day and I pay per p iece ratl1er than per day as an incentive. No one earns under 200 rupees and they are nor tied to the job".

Her practical approach is balanced with a desire to educate Australians about fair trade products. Her aim is ro "empower peop le who have nothing and peop le who have everytl1ing". She cites the recent building collapse in Bangladesh as an example of why there is a need fo r greater scrutiny of manufacturing practises.

"Ethical fashion is talked about, but people are not acting on ir," says Meg.

She poinrs out tl1at consw11ers need co be wary of labelling and how fair trade goods are produced Fair trade is a general term and a brand name and buyers need to be aware char "an item is Fair trade cotton only if it's bought from char particular company''

The same prob lem exists witl1 d1e label "orga nic." Cotton manufacturing using child labour bas been reported in six of tl1e seven cop countries chat produce organic cotton. Beej has taken a considered approach co producing ethical clothing The bright and beautiful clothing is made from surplus cotton and low chemical d yes "\Y.le wanred to used Khadi band-woven cotton, but couldn't get enough so we bu y from local cotton manufacturers who store an excess of cotton tl1ar would otherwise go ro waste," says Meg. " Our clotl1es are dyed with lmv impact cl1emical dyes that don't run and we use Rangoli threads made in L1dia".

Beej aims to use " upcyclecl" material including Gujarat embroidery and employs local arasans

In five years Beej has shown sceady growth. They sell online and at selected Festivals and markets .including Woodford, Music Festival, WOMAD,

Rajasthani frill bag designer markets like Brisbane's Finders Keepers and tl1e Qlcl Fair Tracie marker Meg wanes to sell clothes "w here people are excited about something that has a story and are giving back ro the community I want them ro come ro our staU and hear the background, knowing d1ey've made a difference and started on tl1e patb of buying ethical products and supporting ethical trade. I wane people co think".

She concludes, If yo u have a dream and follow it with a pure intention eve r yt hing falls into place. It's totally possible".

Salaam, nama.ste, sat snj,akt1al. 1\lfai11 hoon aapki dost a11r host

Prf)'anka Tate,:

The line w ith which 1 kickstarted my very first show on Indian Link Radio, is tbe one I choose to begin this article witb r ow befo re you conclude that this piece is a thes is on the radio, let me get back on track sorry, no soundtrack this time!

It's been almost two years presenting on -aii- for fodian Link and the journey has been an absolute roller coaster I bet yo u'd agree that raclio can be cathartic for those listening as well as for those presenting. And one o f tbe most appealing things about Lhe \Toice without a face (that is, the rad io presenter!) is that the voice gets the opportunity to speak the hearts and minds of the "con1n1on man" our there. The personalised couch of radio can never be rep licated by any other form of media.

I Like to keep my shows fun, fast and ftill of entertainment, with the right dose of information, discussions and interaction. Wearing your thinking caps is an option!

But when it's an interview with an?body who is a 'so mebody', I try and make sure that thry put on tbat cap and don't get away easy!

\'i/e as p resenters are a voice of our listeners and it is a given that we act as the bridge to get the message across from both ends of the spectrrn11.

So let me rake you behind the scenes of some of my interviews.

Yes interviews can be tricky, especially when yo u have some controve rsies to tackle. Like the one that I did with Neville Roach, AO. Now th.is was about the annual Gandhi Oration at the UNSW 2013 which had Sir l'vlichael Kirby make some controversial remarks about l\fahatrna Gandhi And yes, I happened co question them. Mr. Roach, as patron of the Australia India fostirme at UNSW, is one of the brains behind the annual function. What happened can be best described as a robust discussion and was certainly stimulating for all those tuning in.

As a newbie in Australia, I got a chance straight up to relive my career as an entertainment reporter on Indian television, on an early assignment for Indian Link Radio: an interview with V idya Balan She was here for the Bollywood Film Festival. Ali the journos, inclucling yours truly, waited patiently for our respective turn ro interview fodia's favour ite actress. Since 1 had interviewed her earlier on various occasions in India , V idya recognised me as soon as she walked in. Calling out to me, she started a conversation.

Alrig h t, sol had an edge over others in room and I could sense that my interview would go off smooth! Take i t from me, i f tl1e celeb is comfortable \\,ith the interviewer, half the job is done.

But it's nor always the celebrity who dictates the terms. More often tl1ao not I have found, the celeb's PR a nd managers and as sista nts are the ones who lay the rules. Often they are the ones who decide when the interview starts and when it needs to fi nish, which question is "too personal", where the interviewer is crossing the lin e and when they need to chip in to cur short an otherwise smooth £lowing conversation.

It was no different this time with Vidya Balan's manager. After the interview when I requested Vidya co record a message for lnd.ian Link Radio (something along the lines of " Hello

Australia, tllis is V idya Balan and you are listening to Indian Link Radio"). I was rudely stopped by her manager: it was time for photo ops, thank you. So Vidya, like an obedient child followed her manager and posed prettil y for the shunerbugs, while m y tean1 from lnclian Link Rad.io packed up quietly And just as we were about to leave, I heard a voice. "Priyaoka, you wanted an ID for your radio naa, let's do it now".

That was the adorabl e Vidya Balan, winning om hearts with her humility. She most definitely challenges tl, e norms both in reel and real life.

\Vhile you beard time interview on-air, I got to take a bit extra with me, some behind d1e scenes experiences and memories. Ah! These are some of the perks of the job!

A nd yet some interviews can be quire a challenge, just getting one at d1ar. The powerhouse singer Sukhwinder Singh chose to wear h is heart on h is sleeve on-air and it felt like I was just chatting with a buddy, who had allowed me and the listeners a free tour into his mind and heart. But only God, Neelarn Vasudevan (our Creative

Director), Ashish Chawla (our Marketing Man ager in Melbourne) and myse l f, know how we skipped a few heartbeats when the singer just did not pick up d1e phone for a live-on-air interview! So it was me calling him , his manager calling, and d1en d1e promoter of his show, and d1en me tr),i ng again to call and repeatedly call d1e singer. The interview that was supposed to go on air at 7pm finall y kicked off at 8pm. Those 60 minutes in between the less said of them, the better!

As it turned our, our star singer happened to be taking a shower and you see, yo u do n 't question scars or their idiosyncrasi es. You just go with the Aow! With no pretensions of modesty, I'd admit that there is a lot of sweat and blood which goes into ead1 show that we bring to you, o m listeners, as you are the reason for our existence on radio. And I can vouch for myself and pre tty much all my colleagues, that we love every bit of it. We love to chat with you on- air and off-air.

We love it when you share your joys and \Ve cr y our best to s hare your sorrows. W/e try to bi:ing s mil es to your faces

''I like to keep my shows fun, fast and full of entertainment, with the right dose of information, discussions and interaction

That was the adorable Vidya Ba Ian, winning our hearts with her humility. She most definitely challenges the norms both in reel and real life and be your stressbusters.

Jaate jaate ek geet 111eri taref se aap s1111 Ima: Yim hi katJt11!) Bga sefm· saatb cha/11e se (H11111 Hai Raahi l~yaarKe) l11dian link can be heard wireless by subscription radio in Sydney and Melbourne 011 the i11ter11et (indi wlink com 1111) or download our free app from iTimes or the Android phone market pla ce

Toh fi!bt1aal aapki dost a111· host PriJ•a11k{I T{lfer leti hai aapse ijtiaZfJI.

Stay tuned and enjoy d1e mus ic and the 111asti! Catch me Live every Tuesday and Thursday between 6pm to 9pm on your ver y own Indian Link Radio.