Aru Mhalgi, from Hoppers Crossing, makes traditional Maharashtrian jewellery for babies and young children. 83371 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By ALESHA CAPONE
IN HOPPERS Crossing, Aru Mhalgi is continuing an ancient tradition from her Indian home state.
She makes and sells traditional Maharashtrian jewellery for babies and young children, for ceremonies like bor-nahan.
Within Maharashtra, Indian’s second most populous state, bor-nahan celebrates the time when a baby –aged around six months – can graduate from their mother’s milk to food.
Ms Mhalgi – whose day job is a doctor working in clinical research – said she did not begin making the jewellery with the aim of starting a business.
She created some for her son, and then her friends began asking her to design jewellery for their children’s ceremonies.
Ms Mhalgi said within India, the jewellery is traditionally made by an infants’ grandmother or other female relatives, and is also readily available in stores.
“What I enjoy is making them, I do love making them,” she said.
“Attention to detail is definitely something you need, and you need to have lots of creativity.
“You need to have delicate hands.
“There’s not a huge range of things you can make, so you need a great deal of creativity to make different designs within this style.
“It’s a good past-time at the moment, I’d definitely like to make more and share them with more people, as I think this is something we don’t have available in Australia.
They’re also similar to the kinds of decorations used in Hindu temples.”
Ms Mhalgi said it could take up to two days to create the bracelets, earrings, finger-rings, necklaces and headpieces used for bor-nahan.
“I make one and it’s very time consuming and delicate, but it’s quite rewarding to see them used in someone’s ceremony,” she said. For more information, contact 9748 2726.
