During the lockdown we encountered some women begging in Fraser town, Bengaluru. They were traditionally dressed and we were curious. They happened to be from the Rajasthani Nut community. Their  families have been in entertainers in the courts of kings. They play drums for weddings and social functions, hold puppet shows, carve out wooden figurines. Due to long lockdown they had no money or work and finally had to beg. We wanted to cover their story to see how we can get help and find a source of income. So we visited them. 

A film about the struggles of the Rajasthani Community and the why the womenfolk were driven to the streets to beg.

We discovered that the women make handmade rugs/ spreads from patchwork for their own use. We persuaded them to make and sold them amongst our friends and contacts. They are called gudris ( not rajais). They are 2-3 layers of material woven together.  We have now started a project to see how we can bring the gudris to the market and this will support the women. We have also been providing rations for about 6 months now to bring relief to them and we can keep them going as they are yet to pay rents for over 5 months. The gudri project has brought relief to them to some extent.