Cha-Ta : Story of an Empowered Chawala

Project Description

Looking into the pattern of the tea-sellers, guided our design to be mobile, adaptable & scalable, empowering the tea sellers, and engaging for the community.

From there we weave the story of Fatima apa. Apa starts her entrepreneurial journey with a product, an 18" 18" 36" module, which she takes from place to place to sell tea. The module holds more cups of tea than the conventional flask, has cup holds for both dirty and clean cups and water to clean them, storage for snacks, and a cash drawer.

Over time, Fatima pa carns enough to afford two more modules of the same size to scale up to a cart offering more than tea. These new modules have a stove, with holding space for a gas cylinder, a bigger water tank, and more cup holds for both dirty and clean cups. The storage also increases in size to hold tea leaves, sugar, milk, bananas, flour, and eggs to expand the business by offering bread and eggs beyond cha. The business expands, and Fatima Apa invests in another 3 modules to turn her cart into a full-fledged tong. The tong now has increased storage for fresh water and goods, a workspace and preparation zone, a cooking zone for making cha-ta, a used cup collection zone, a wash basin for cleaning the cups, and a clean cup stacking zone. If necessary, Apa even dismantled the whole store. She changed location, taking the store to parties and fairs for better business.

For her, Cha-ta is not just a stall; it is a symbol of empowerment.