A group of women are knitting and crocheting blankets, quilts and caps for babies from underprivileged families in Bengaluru.
Last week, they distributed 17 quilts and 16 beanies at a BBMP maternity hospital in Srirampuram. They have held at least five such drives here, distributing 15-25 quilts each time. The idea was mooted in October of 2020 by citizen’s group Malleswaram Social to keep the elderly in the neighbourhood engaged as they stayed home because of the pandemic.
As the word spread, more people from other parts of Bengaluru, Sandur, Hubballi and Dharwad in the state, and major cities like Hyderabad and Chennai joined the cause, group member Lakshmi K informs. About 15-20 of them are active volunteers today, 35-40% of them are grandmums, many in their 80s, and most of them have never met.
It is a crowdsourced initiative in more ways than one. Each volunteer makes a granny square or a few in colours, styles and sizes they like and sends them across. These are later attached by a skilled volunteer Ila, who fixes sizing issues and also stitches a lining of soft saris, dupattas and dhotis to them. That is why they call the initiative, Caring Squares. They have no plans to upscale the initiative because they want the volunteers to enjoy the process at a pace they like, without worrying about deadlines. They would, in fact, like volunteers to organise similar distribution drives at a community centre or hospital near them, says Aparna Desraj Urs, another member of the group.
The results are heartening, they say. An elderly lady, who picked up crocheting from her daughter to participate in the initiative, is now churning entire quilts on her own. A man, an origami artiste, had expressed his interest to pick up the yarn and needle. “During our latest drive, two female cops at the hospital enquired about our initiative. One said she would like a quilt for her niece and we happily gave it to her,” recalls a volunteer.
Now, these squares can also be found ‘hugging’ two trees at the Malleswaram Railway Station. They have been stitched up like a pair of hands to symbolically protect these trees from being cut, an issue that has sparked protests from the residents lately.
Contact Aparna at 98860 02171 to join the initiative