Sasha had it's producer group meeting after a gap of three years in Kondagaon, Bastar District on the 27th and 28th of November, 2004 and was hosted by Saathi.

After a long journey we reached Kondagaon to a warm welcome by members of Saathi who had made excellent arrangements for the meeting. In the morning session Roopa Mehta, Swagatha, Mahapatra, Joydeep and Debashish Ray Choudhury talked about all the happenings at Sasha in the last two years. They talked about their experiences with buyers and about the changing face of the market.

Most buyers have changed their way of operating considerably in the last couple of years and have become more business like, expecting better and faster delivery of consignments and samples. This means that producer groups will have to gear up to meet the challenges of a shorter turn around time in order to get more orders, and have to accept hurried delivery schedules as a fact of life. The example of CSWS, which geared up from having 20 looms to a 100 looms to meet a large order in time, was quoted

Mahapatra talked about the newly set up Sasha Craft Services, which has been formed as a private limited company to keep up with the trend of a more professional approach.

Joydeep presented graphs of sales figures which was followed by a discussion on why some figures have fallen while others have grown. Many people came forward with the problems they had with delivery, feedback from buyers and targets for the next year.

The afternoon session had presentations by CSWS (handloom), Nabanari Pragathi Sangha (stuffed toys), Antar Jantar (musical instruments) and Saathi (terracotta, dhokra, wrought iron), about their beginnings, growth, problems and the future. All these groups have very different systems of work and there was a lively discussion on the philosophy behind these organizations.

Debashish Ray Choudhuri talked about the EDF and fair trade.

The next part was a discussion on money - all the problems associated with it. Groups were urged to have better relations with their banks, to save money regularly and use the resources of the EDF to learn to manage their money better. Many participants came out with the problems they faced with payments.

The meeting concluded with nomination of members to to Sasha committee.

It is hard to capture in words the spirit of the whole meeting, which was full of optimism and good cheer fueled by beautiful landscapes, perfect weather and great food.