Ruma Devi

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ruma Devi

• Ruma Devi is a popular traditional handicraft artisan and a social activist.

• She was born in a rural village of Rajasthan where facilities of drinking water, transportation, and schools were not available.

• She was born into a poor joint family. Her mother died when she was only 5 years old. After her father’s second marriage, she was raised by her paternal uncle and aunt.

• She dropped out of school when she was in class 8th. She got married at a very young age. She lost her son when he was one and a half years old; as they did not have enough money to provide him with proper medications.

• She learnt embroidery from her grandmother and later, it became a source of income to her.

  

• With the help of ‘Mahila Baal Vikas Group,’ she made a group with 10 other local women. They contributed Rs. 100 each to bought a sewing machine and started making bags.

  

• Later, they contacted the NGO of Vikram Singh and with his guidance and support, they started making cushions, bags, garments, and bedsheets. Soon, 50 more women joined them and later, the number increased to 22000 women from the rural villages of Rajasthan.

  

• On 14 July 1998, she started Self-Help Group- Gramin Vikas and Chetna Sansthan (GVCS), with the aim to work for the empowerment of women artisans. They work on handicraft styles including Kantha stitch, embroidery, patchwork and other fabric printing techniques. The main aim of this NGO is sustainable development of artisans in the rural villages of Rajasthan. Later, Ruma became the President of Gramin Vikas Evam Chetna Sansthan Barmer, Rajasthan.

  

• In 2012, fashion designer Anita Dongre contacted her to launch her collection in the Lakme Fashion Week, but Ruma rejected the offer as she was not confident enough.

• Her work has been recognized and appreciated by the British Patchwork and Quilting Magazine. She got the opportunity to display her work in the fashion weeks held in London, Germany, Singapore, and Colombo.

  

• In 2015, she displayed her handicraft collection in the Lakme Fashion Week. In an interview, she said-
  

  My traditional wear, my yearning for Barmer can never waver. Its uniqueness has made me what I am today. I can never outgrow Barmer or my desert state. That is why I decided to locate my new shop, launched last year, in Jaipur instead of Delhi.”

  

• The Bollywood movie Sui Dhaaga (2018) was related to her real-life story. Ruma said that the Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan bought few chanderi silk dupattas from her and gifted it to his sisters.

• In 2018, she was featured on the cover of ‘India Today Magazine.’

  

• In 2019, she appeared on 20 September 2019, the special ‘Karmaveer’ episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati 11 (2019) along with the actress ‘Sonakshi Sinha.’ She gifted a piece of her handcrafted work to ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ on the show.