Friday Thoughts--The Woman Who Was Not a Homemaker

I came to meet her husband, a famous horticulturist and to see the flowers in his gardens in Rourkela, Odisha. I met her when she offered me tea and biscuits.

She looked like a proper Bengali/Oriya woman—a cotton sari draped Bengali style, large maroon bindi on forehead, green glass bangles on her hand—a proper wife. I smiled at her as courteously as I do invisible women behind important men. She talked to me hesitatingly, inquiring more about my food and if I needed to freshen up. I answered accordingly.

And the next day she brought me breakfast—bread and omelet and chai. A sweet Oriya homemaker, I thought. It took me another day to realize she was no homemaker. She was the owner of the five-storied house that her husband and her son and his family lived in and in whose house I was put up for my stay--my real host. And that she had her own flourishing business for 25 years now!

 

Rashmi is a mother to three grown-up kids. Before launching her business, she had trained to be a librarian and went to homeopathic school to become a doctor. And then finally, she took up a course on Entrepreneurship, got some start-up money and launched a plastic recycling factory.(She would probably laugh aloud watching Sridevi's emancipation in the movie English Vinglish!)

Today, her son has taken over the factory and she occasionally visits the place to supervise and improve the surrounding areas. She has set up a childcare program for factory workers and women living nearby and has converted a small lake into a boating facility for visitors.

When I explained to her about a rural development program I was associated with, her first concern was how the beneficiaries could become financially independent—if we were providing education in entrepreneurship and finance management.

 

Rashmi has one weakness which she is very proud of. She pampers herself with a Coco Cola, celebrates with a Thumbs Up and if you want to please her, you may as well buy her a set of soda cans!

Yes, some of my friends (including myself) are actively against companies like Pepsi or Coco Cola. But if a woman develops her self-belief, her identity around it then who are we to judge her! So I bought her a Thumbs Up and shared it with her that summer afternoon, seated in an auto.

Rashmi is born on Aug 15, 1947. My sweetest memory is waking next to her on Independence Day and being the first person to wish her a happy birthday. Her husband made up for coming second in wishing her by gifting a rose from his own garden.

To all those, who stereotype Indian women and categorize them into predetermined boxes, I ask you to revisit those images. India, in my travels has surprised me constantly. 

[Note: I do not underestimate or devalue women who choose to be homemakers. But rather this post is to deconstruct stereotypes of who appear to be a homemaker and who are accepted as entrepreneurs]