SIKKIM : From telling stories to visitors about Sikkim’s tourist sites and their historical significance to promoting handcrafted bamboo utility items as an alternative to plastic, Indra Kari Subba has made a name for himself by contributing to the organic state’s sustainable future.
Sikkim is home to over 20 species of bamboo, which is central to the Himalayan state’s culture, ecology and economy. Subba is one of the few people who made an effort to tap this potential, ensuring livelihood to many, mostly women, and school and college dropouts.
Born in the remote Thingling Khechuperi village in Gyalshing district of west Sikkim, located 116 km from capital Gangtok, Subba became a tourist guide as a college student, not by choice but due to financial difficulties as his father with a meagre income struggled to run the family.
In 2013, two years after completing post-graduation in humanities, Subba attended a 45-day training organised by the forest department in Gangtok for unemployed youth, where they were taught how to craft bamboo and wooden handicrafts.
The session changed his life but not before he continued working as a tourist guide for two more years.
He started his bamboo-based industry – Khechuperi Bamboo House – by roping in about a dozen others from his village who underwent the training but were not gainfully engaged. “I thought the government spent on us by providing training and the effort must not go in vain. I took a risk by setting up the Khechuperi Bamboo House, realising that bamboo has a lot of potential. Ours is a remote area with not much opportunities to earn a livelihood,” Subba says.
He was fully aware of possible failure but was reassured that he could still earn by working as a tourist guide. When success followed, he prioritised engaging dropouts and women from marginalised families in his venture.
His unit today specialises in bamboo-made furniture, baskets, flower vases, souvenirs and other utility products including coffee and tea cups. The customers are both locals and tourists.
“As every household in our village has bamboo plantations, we did not have to spend anything on raw materials. Our region attracts a lot of tourists every year and our focus was on selling the products to them. Sikkim’s bamboo-based products have always been high in demand but our region had no stalls selling them. We built a shed by the roadside, showcasing our products to tourists. Slowly, we got a market. That was the beginning,” recalls Subba.
Alongside making and selling the products, he continued organising training programmes for the unemployed in different parts of Sikkim. He is now training 80 people at two places. People started approaching him for training mostly after the Covid pandemic. Two persons whom he trained started their own industries.
They are now training fellow villagers. Arjun Rai, 23, is one of Subba’s beneficiaries. “He was wasting his life after dropping out in Class 8. I trained him and engaged him in my industry. He is now taking care of his family. His father, a daily wager, had struggled to make ends meet,” Subba says.
Around 40 artisans are working with him at his industry, earning daily wages -- Rs 900 for skilled workers, `600-650 for the semi-skilled and `400-450 for helpers. Many others, mostly women, craft the products for him at their homes and get paid.
Subba sells his products all over Sikkim, thanks to collaborations with self-help groups and business outlets. Customers from outside Sikkim reach out to him through social media. He had set up a stall at Mahakumbh and did brisk business. He also sells his products during a tribal festival the Rashtrapati Bhavan organises every year. He put up a stall at the 13th International Tourism Mart for the Northeast recently organised in Gangtok.
“I put up stalls also in expos organised in the Northeast. The Sikkim government had selected two of my products during the G20 meets held in the state in 2023. I did a business of Rs 2.5 lakh by selling 5,000 handcrafted items which the government gifted to delegates,” Subba says. “My products, mostly eco-friendly mementoes, are purchased by government departments. I had started crafting eco-friendly mementoes in Sikkim.”
During a visit to his stall at the tribal festival organised in Gangtok in May to celebrate 50 years of statehood, Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang appealed to people not to use plastic items.
