Women adorn Godly idols for livelihood

Tirupati: Majority of photo frames that contains the idols of gods mainly of Lord Venkateswara originating from the temple city might have been made with the expertise of a group of women from Singalagunta area near Alipiri.

For one or two women from each house in the colony of about 60 houses this work became the part time job. They work from home which makes their lives better. Each woman earns at least Rs.4000 to 5000 per month. All that they have to do is stone work to idols of gods.

Any frames of Lord Venkateswara, Ananda Nilayam, ‘Sankhu Chakra Namalu’and others that are available in Tirupati looks so attractive which devotees wish to buy as a memory of their visit to the Pilgrim City.

They were being bought to gift on important occasions like felicitations, weddings, house-warming functions etc. The size of the frame depends on the budget and the occasion for which it was bought.

It has become a minor industry in the City with hundreds of people depend on this business. The final product of any frame involves various stages. Studding artificial diamonds to the idols made of either chemical or plastic involves meticulous care and patience.

The wholesalers send the idols of various sizes to the women in Singalagunta. A team leader S Vimala gets the bulk orders, which she will distribute, to several other members.

They need to apply colours to the idol and the small stones resembling diamonds which they call as ‘China stones’ are to be studded. In fact, they add value to the idols as without the stone work, any idol looks like normal piece. Each woman can stud stones to 2-3 idols depending on its size.

If it is a big idol they can complete only one in a day. Normally, they get the idols from 8 inches size to five feet to affix stones attractively. The stones, colours and other material will be sent to them along with idols and pay them the labour charges for affixing the stones only. For a normal size idol, they will get Rs.100.

The women in the colony were saying that without any burden, it provides them extra money. Their husbands go to work as auto drivers, sales boys in shops, construction labourers etc. However, the group leader Vimala said that sometimes they make lighting work and complete the frames too. But even for one frame, the officials were asking for bill and in the absence of the bill, they were levying huge penalties.

Though the government was saying that there was no GST below Rs.20 lakhs business.But the officials demand GST from us, she complained. “However, the frames are going across the globe and people keep them sacredly which gives satisfaction to us that we are part of that”, she maintained.