Wear A Smile

Parul Mehta,trustee,Ishanya Foundation,who is a part of the Muskaan Project,says,“The core focus has always been a secondary source of income for women. Under this,for the last one year,we have had brand ambassadors for Muskaan whose job is to collect a minimum of 500 garments. These garments are then quality checked and cleaned and then sold in the bastis and under-developed suburbs.” The job of selling these clothes lies with the Muskaan Parees (fairies),or the members who are meant to benefit from the work of the foundation. A part of the money earned goes to the foundation for its sustainment,the rest is retained by the ‘Parees’.

The Muskaan Project is located in Viman Nagar and Mehta agrees that the reach of the project is small. The mobile van inaugurated on Saturday at the office of the Ishanya Foundation will go across to other parts of the city with its treasure of clothes. Ritu Chhabria,managing trustee of the Mukul Madhav Foundation,and Suresh Talera were the chief guests on the occasion. The foundation that currently has around 10-12 Parees working in and around the Viman Nagar area aims to train 100 Parees across the Pune. “The store will travel to specific places across the city. For instance,it would go to Sarasbaug on Wednesday between 4-5 pm so that people there can avail of these clothes. Similarly,it will travel to other parts on fixed days,” says Monika Trivedi,coordinator of the Muskaan Project.

Deepika Suryavanshi,a Paree working with the Muskaan foundation,says,“I come every Tuesday and collect clothes from here and sell them in the Tingre Nagar area. The mobile store will allow us to take the clothes to places like Aundh and Baner.” The clothes are nominally priced between Rs 20- Rs 60. The entire concept of Muskaan is loosely based on the Oxfam stores in UK where people donate their clothes to the stores and underprivileged people can buy the same.

“We charge a maximum of Rs 200 if the clothes are heavily embroidered or are designer dresses,suits,expensive jackets and so on,” says Trivedi,adding,“We want the underprivileged to get a chance to wear these clothes at an affordable price without compromising on their dignity.”