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    "result": {"pageContext":{"language":"en","pathURL":"gayatree-borah","isDefaultLanguage":true,"storyData":{"Name":"Gayatree Borah","Alt_Photos":null,"Alt_Text_Photo1":"Gayatree (24) sits behind a sewing machine on a tabletop with a teakwood finish. Her black hair is backcombed and there is a tiny red bindi in the centre of her forehead. Her kameez has a Chinese collar, V neck and three-fourth sleeves. It is printed in a design of small floral sky-blue motifs of different sizes, on a red background. The machine is off-white with a clay-coloured top and side. Her right hand is on the wheel and her left hand next to the needle. She is stitching the side of a piece of light grey fabric with tassels at the edge. The cloth is embroidered in a geometric pattern of light green and dark cream.","Alt_Text_Photo2":"Gayatree squats on the beige muddy ground. She wears a salmon pink salwar and a dark green kameez over which she has worn a short, navy blue, full-sleeved sweater dotted here and there with embroidered motifs of two red cherries with their stems tied together. To the right there are two light brown calves bending their necks towards a metal basin filled with beige, liquid fodder. Gayatree is stretching out both arms towards the basin. ","Alt_Text_Photo3":"Gayatree sits in a coffee-brown, woven cane, double-seater sofa. A tress of her wavy hair falls over her left shoulder, reaching the level of her armpit. She wears her Chinese-collar kameez with blue motifs on red. Folds of scarlet fabric embroidered with yellow, white and green floral motifs are draped across the armrests and back of the sofa. The drawn curtains behind the sofa are alternate panels of smoky grey and cobalt blue printed with outlines of leafless trees with bare branches. In front of Gayatree there is a side-table with a white tablecloth. On the table, to the left, there is a hexagonal placemat made of large wooden beads of light pink, violet, navy blue, light orange and jade green. Gayatree is dipping her right hand into a small, jade-green, plastic dish in front of her, while her left hand holds up a multi-layered chain made of tiny yellowish-brown beads. There are crimson and mocha-brown bead chains scattered across the centre of the table.","Alt_Text_Photo4":"Mid shot of Gayatree wearing a three-fourth-sleeved, round-necked, greyish-blue kurta printed with a white floral pattern. She stands in front of a mocha-brown wall with her right hand on her right hip and her left hand resting on a horizontal light brown bamboo. Hanging from this pole there are three iron machetes with wooden handles – one cream, one beige, and one light brown. Also draped over the pole there is a chocolate brown checked towel and a light brown hank of thick twine. Hanging from a nail on the wall above the pole there is a light brown carry-bag.","Alt_Text_Photo5":"Sitting on a chocolate brown wooden bench, from left to right, Gayatree’s father Jivon Borah (57), Gayatree, and her mother Rina Hazarika (50). All of them are smiling and holding a white porcelain cup in the right hand. There is a side-table covered with a white cloth in front of them. The wall behind them is pale sky blue. Jivon wears an ash-grey sleeveless puffer jacket over a sky-blue full-sleeved shirt and pearl-grey trousers. He has short, spiky, salt-and-pepper hair. Gayatri wears her greyish-blue kurta with white floral design. Rina wears a dark pink full skirt, rust-coloured short-sleeved blouse, and a thin white cotton dupatta edged with stripes of light blue and light pink. The dupatta is wrapped around her shoulders and covers the front of her body.","Alt_Text_Video":null,"Photo1_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Gayatree_Borah/_O2A3656.jpg","Photo2_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Gayatree_Borah/_O2A3594.jpg","Photo3_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Gayatree_Borah/_O2A3689.jpg","Photo4_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Gayatree_Borah/_O2A3730.jpg","Photo5_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Gayatree_Borah/_O2A3764.jpg","Name_English":"Gayatree Borah","Language":"en","Disability":["recxiHVc0FinkZpyx"],"Gender":"Female","Instagram_Content":"Gayatree Borah (28), the firstborn of Rina Hazarika (50) and Jivon (pronounced Jibon) Borah (57), has emerged from a problem-ridden childhood to become an accomplished woman with several creative skills at her fingertips. They are a farming family from Bhogamur Gaon in Assam’s Dibrugarh district. Gayatree was a weak child who was diagnosed with deafness at age four. She spent barely a few months at the Government Bhauri Devi Sarawgi Deaf & Dumb School in Guwahati, 450 km away, before she fell seriously ill. After bringing her back home, Jibon enrolled her in a mainstream local school but she was reluctant to pursue her studies after Standard 7.\n\nNoticing that she had a creative bent of mind, Jibon proceeded to get her trained in a series of skills: drawing, jute craft, jewellery making, tailoring, and beauty treatment. Today Gayatree is self-sufficient and manages her own expenses. “She receives regular tailoring orders and her wedding outfits are highly appreciated,” says the proud father. “My plan is to open a small shop or showroom in the village where her tailored clothes, handmade jewellery, and other items such as gift articles and stationery can be displayed and sold.”\n\nJibon cites just one niggling issue – Gayatree’s ageing sewing machine, which breaks down frequently. “There have been many occasions when customers have returned home disappointed because I would have taken the machine to Dibrugarh for repairs,” says Jibon. “If some kind individual would provide a modern sewing machine that would greatly help her achieve full independence.”\n\nThe couple’s other two children are well settled: Sanjib, who works in the private sector, lives with his family in Guwahati, while Manisha is married and lives in Bhogamur Gaon. They are now hunting for a suitable match for Gayatree.","Quote":"“I make jewellery, stitch traditional wedding outfits and also do bridal makeup”","Status":"Published","Video":null,"Website_Content":"When a wedding is announced in the village of Bhogamur Gaon or even surrounding villages of Kutuha Panchayat in Assam’s Dibrugarh district, there is a very good chance that the bride would get her traditional attire tailored and embroidered by Gayatree Borah (28). On D-Day you might also encounter Gayatree silently doing the bridal makeup – silently, because besides being a certified beautician she is also speech and hearing impaired.\n \nGayatree’s numerous talents were not easily acquired; her early years from birth and through childhood were ridden with problems. She is the firstborn of Rina Hazarika (50) and Jivon (pronounced Jibon) Borah (57) who live in Bhogamur Gaon. Jibon, besides cultivating paddy, is also a contract worker in the Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL). He recalls the day he and Rina welcomed their first child into the world – or children, rather, for Rina had twin girls. But just four days after the delivery, one of the twins died. Gayatree was the survivor.\n \n“Raising Gayatree was very challenging,” Jibon says. Rina caught jaundice when the baby was four months old, so she stopped breastfeeding her and gave her powdered milk. Her overall growth remained weak and she was slow to take her first steps. She finally started toddling but then the couple noticed she wouldn’t respond when they called out to her. When she didn’t speak even by age four her parents consulted an ENT specialist who diagnosed her with deafness. She was in her twenties when she got her disability card after medical tests confirmed she had 93 per cent speech and hearing impairment.\n \nJibon made a wise decision: he hunted for a good Deaf school. When Gayatree was six years old he enrolled her in the Government Bhauri Devi Sarawgi Deaf & Dumb School in Guwahati, 450 km away, where his brother lived. Anxious whether she could cope with hostel life, Jibon rented a house nearby so he could keep a watchful eye over her. It was only after the hostel matron assured him she was managing fine on her own that he returned home.\n \nHowever, barely three or four months later, Gayatree had just moved from Standard 1 to Standard 2 when she fell seriously ill due to a tapeworm infection and lost consciousness. The hostel matron admitted her to hospital, and Jibon’s brother rushed to her assistance. Jibon reached Guwahati the following day. He didn’t want to take any chances, so after her treatment he decided to bring her back home. He admitted Gayatree to a local Assamese-medium school. However, after she reached Standard 7 and had attained puberty, she was reluctant to go to school because, she said, the other children were teasing her, so she discontinued her studies. \n \nJibon then took a second wise decision, one that dramatically transformed the trajectory of Gayatree’s life. Since she was artistic by nature, he encouraged her to learn a raft of creative skills. “After she quit school I decided to provide her with skill-based training through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,” Jibon narrates. “She received training in jute craft at Mrinaljyoti Rehabilitation Centre, Duliajan, and jewellery-making training in Dibrugarh. She also learned drawing along with my younger daughter Manisha under the guidance of an art teacher who came home. She has participated in and won art competitions for children with disabilities in Dibrugarh on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. She was also invited to participate in competitions at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati.” There was more to come! Gayatree stayed at her youngest uncle’s house in Dibrugarh and took a three-month tailoring course, followed by a two-month course in beauty-treatment and makeup. \n \nEquipped with this formidable array of skills, today Gayatree is self-sufficient and manages her own expenses. “She receives regular tailoring orders and her wedding outfits are highly appreciated,” says the proud father. “My plan is to open a small shop or showroom in the village where her tailored clothes, handmade jewellery, and other items such as gift articles and stationery can be displayed and sold.”\n \nJibon cites just one niggling issue – Gayatree’s ageing sewing machine, which breaks down frequently. “There have been many occasions when customers have returned home disappointed because I would have taken the machine to Dibrugarh for repairs,” says Jibon. “If some kind individual would provide a modern sewing machine that would greatly help her achieve full independence.”\n \nThe couple’s other two children are well settled: Sanjib, who works in the private sector, lives with his family in Guwahati, while Manisha is married and lives in Bhogamur Gaon. They are now hunting for a suitable match for Gayatree. When this accomplished young woman’s marriage is fixed, we wonder whether she herself would design and stitch her own bridal outfit!\n","State_name":"Assam","Display_Order":254}}},
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