Two brothers, freedom fighters, brought it to life so that the leaders of the struggle against the Raj could write with inks that were made in India, by Indians. But we will fail in our duties if we stop here – for the initial resources needed to set up this Swadeshi enterprise was provided by Ambica Charan Maitra, father of founders, who had donated his life’s savings to the cause or their mother Satyabati Devi, who had joined hands with the other women in the house to make the first inks that were initially sold through the network of swadhinota shongramis.

Kaushik Maitra, the Managing Director, while launching the Swadeshi line of inks said, “Sulekha was more than an ink that etched the history of the freedom struggle – it was the life blood of Swadeshi. Born out of a compulsion to serve the desire of the Mahatma to empower the people with the pen, Sulekha is the story of sacrifice: of the indomitable spirit of self-sufficiency, of a way of life that did not cower before the might of injustice, even as it sought to economically empower the people by creating a product that not only substituted costly imported inks but was also globally competitive in its own right.”

“Today Sulekha pays tribute to those halcyon days when Swadeshi was a way of life and Nationalism was represented even in the ink that was used to write the words that spewed fire against the foreign yoke. Swadeshi was the soul of Swaraj and to be Swadhin was the goal of our forefathers to whom we pay our humble tribute” he said. “The naming is deliberate: the terms used, chosen to represent a value system that we continue to believe in and espouse”.

The Sulekha Swadeshi, Swaraj and Swadhin ranges have been created using the same ingredients and incorporating the same processes that the torchbearers of this swadeshi enterprise had perfected. Yes, the inks still go through the time-consuming double filtration under the watchful eyes of trained supervisors and are hand made by local ladies who have formed themselves into groups, following the time-tested principles of Khadi and Gram Udyog set down by Gandhiji. The packaging has also been made to highlight the sustainability of the product and the spirit that had given birth to it.