Former president of Naripokkho Ruby Ghuznavi died of Covid-related illness at the age of 87 while undergoing treatment in a hospital in Dhaka on January 14.
The women's activist organization Naripokkho organized an event on Tuesday, where all members and workers of the organization, friends and collogues paid their final respects to Ruby Ghuznavi, the pioneer of the renaissance of natural dyes and the handicraft movement in Bangladesh.
They also offered sincere condolences to the bereaved family.
Her family and colleagues remembered her life and work and shared their memories of her at the event.
Her daughter, Farah Ghuznavi, said: "My mother loved children; she would keep chocolates and candies in her bag so she could give them to any child who became her friend."
She would always think of new things to do and be busy working to uplift the women of Bangladesh and awaken their feminine power, Farah added.
She started her work in 1982 with natural dyes, experimenting with only six colours. Through the years, that number kept increasing. Later, she invented 30 colours from natural materials.
Inspired by the work of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Ruby Ghuznavi devoted herself to the development of handicrafts in Bangladesh. In 1982, she started the Natural Dye Project. Ruby founded the National Crafts Council of Bangladesh in 1985 and Aranya Craft in 1990.
Shirin, production manager of Aranya Craft, said: “I learned work from her for 19 years. I saw how she taught and how we worked together to develop each colour. The company is now designing fabrics in its innovative 36-colour medium.”
In 1985, Ruby, along with Quamrul Hassan and other like-minded individuals, established the National Crafts Council of Bangladesh for the development of Bangladeshi crafts and artisans. She was on the executive council of the organization.
Her last notable contribution to the council was in organizing the Jamdani Utsav in 2018. Sonargaon got the status of "World Craft City" because of the festival. She also played a pivotal role in Jamdani's Geographical Index (GI) status.
She was chairperson of the National Dyes Program of the council for the Asia-Pacific Region.
Ruby was born in Kolkata in 1935. She did her honours and masters in economics at Dhaka University.
According to her colleagues, she went to Ahmedabad, India, to learn dyeing work.
Ruby Ghuznavi was also associated with the service organization established to provide medical care to the Birangona (war heroines) of Bangladesh.
Her colleagues at Naripokkho said they remember with deep respect and gratitude Ruby's strong role and contribution to all movements and programs of Naripokkho aimed at establishing equal rights for women.
Human rights activist Hameeda Hossain said: “Ruby worked for our war heroines, she found out what they wanted. They did not want the title Birangona; they wanted a respectable title like a freedom fighter. She was working to fulfil this wish of the war heroines, but she could not do it.”
Luva Nahid Choudhury, director general of the Bengal Foundation, said: “When I went to her factory, I would smell beautiful wax. I initially thought of Ruby Apa as a social butterfly, but as I learned, there was so much more to her than that. Not only did she work with women, but she was concerned about child labour. She left a significant legacy in the Jamdani industry of Bangladesh. She wanted the native tradition not to disappear.”