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Ruhani Kaur
A VISUAL STORYTELLER
Women entrepreneurs start up with 1 lakh loans from Micro finance company
LOVE MARRIAGE
OMBATTI SHARMA, 25, HALDWANI
My father was in the railways, I always had plenty and want the same for my daughter. Suddenly after my love marriage I had to ask, so it would really pinch. I hate having to ask, even from my husband”.
In second-year college, I married Deepak for love, but neither of our families supported our decision.
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A year later, I got pregnant with my daughter. When I’d take Sudhee along, to work in a garment store, they’d crib about her being too naughty. The first few years were a struggle financially and then during the covid lockdown my husband’s bank job too was affected temporarily. Rent payments became tough. This pushed us to work towards buying a two-room house in Uchapur locality of Haldwani.
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Sometimes I would ask my husband, just to be told there isn’t any left to give right now. "Why do you need it?", he would ask and this would really irritate me. Those days, people also didn’t want to talk to us. They thought we might ask them for something. Now, the same people keep calling me. I don’t have time now.”
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Once Sudhee turned three in 2021, I took my first loan from Fusion micro finance of Rs 30,000 to buy utensils and a cylinder to set up a Momo-Chowmein cart in my locality. Today after a top up loan of Rs 12,000 and another of Rs 50,000, I run a restaurant in a rented shop with a thriving local clientele.
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“I’m self-dependent now, that is what I always wanted. I don’t like working for somebody else. Today, I feel like I am somebody. I like working hard. I am saving also. I’m happy now”
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She heads off early to drop Sudhee to school in her new scooty, before coming to the shop. Day turns into night as she meticulously coils maida for momos, slow fries samosas and boils endless rounds of tea. Single men on bikes drop in early to catch breakfast on their way to work. School girls giggle over their day while enjoying her samosas on their way home. Post school, her daughter too comes over, plaiting her doll’s blond hair. At the end of a hard day, tired workers slump down on her chair for a warm meal.
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I want to add chaat, golgappa and many more items to the menu that my clients keep asking for. I want to drive my own car again, buy a shop, get a bigger house, travel abroad. I want my daughter to become a big officer. I want to give her all that she’ll ever need as I had got. This time, I want a one lakh loan from Fusion. I know if I work hard, the work is there, and I’ll be able to pay it off.
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“I have a lot more to achieve. This is not enough! By June 2024, my husband too will leave his job, so we can grow this further.”
For now, this summer,
we the Sharma’s,
are off to Shimla.
TICKET TO AUSTRALIA
SUMITRA KAMBOJ, 35, KALADHUNGI
“I want Kanchan and Nisha to have everything I couldn't have. With my expanding cow business, I'll send the girls to Australia. Set them up for success! We'll reap the benefits later."
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"The way my childhood went you keep hoping better days will come, only to realise the days that went by were the better days."
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I was just 17 and half years old when I got married. In a joint family, I couldn’t pursue my education or seek a job. After I had my two daughters, the family still felt we should have a son. Once my husband’s family of six brothers divided their shares, I was determined, “I couldn’t do much for myself, but now I'll give my daughters a chance at a successful life. A ray of hope for the future. They should also feel that their mother has done this for them so we will also do something for her.”
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Then I decided to turn my cows into a business. I took my first loan from Fusion micro finance of Rs 25,000 in 2017 to buy Kalli. Over three loans, I got five cows, Lalli, another Lalli (dearest), Kalli (the dark one), Vedhi (the young one) and Lambri (the tall one). Right now, I'm two cows down and the milk has halved.
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So I want to take my fourth loan, this time of one lakh and get back another lalli and kalli, who I miss every time I go to the cow shed. Every morning after tea on the chulha, I first go pat them, feed them, clear the cow dung, bathe them and repeat the same in the afternoon. They are like my family members.
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"Our life is one of struggle and repetition. We keep doing the same thing over and over again. We'll do it till the end but let's give our kids a better life, for whom we are working so hard."
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We are village people, my husband is a farmer. The amount of work that entails doesn’t justify the profits. I tell my husband also, rather than working on the field, let's focus on the milk business it’s more profitable. “Let’s get two more cows, we’ll hire one boy as helper,” I egg him on.
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Since July, I’ve sent the girls to Kashipur where they are preparing for IELTS to go to Australia. We OBC’s (Other Backward Classes) don’t get jobs easily due to reservations. So many of our relatives have already gone to Canada, England and Australia. The girls too wanted to go and set themselves up there. That’s why I didn’t get anything for myself, my husband or the house, first we’ll focus on the kids. “We will invest and then we’ll enjoy the benefits”.
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After I send the kids away, I'll set up the shed nicely for my cows. I'll hire helpers, put up fans, set up taps to bathe them, prepare a comfortable ground for them to sit. More cows will also mean more feed. If I do all this, the milk too will increase. I want to sell 70 litres a day to make good profit. In time, the kids will also chip in.
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