“How I made my dream venture happen”- 3 Women share their life stories on International Women’s Day

The path to fulfilling a dream is a difficult one. Especially if it involves entrepreneurship. Then sustaining that dream is even more difficult. But these women left cushy jobs to take the plunge and start from scratch all over again. It’s taken them through uncertain and rocky roads but after reaching their destination all they have to say is there’s only satisfaction at the end of the road. I spoke to three such women achievers – Parbati, Somini and Turni – who told me how they pulled off their dream ventures and how they deal with the curve balls that come their way every single day.

Parbati Bhattacharya, Wanderers Footprints Travel Boutique

I was working as a Principal in a school in Bangalore and I never really thought that I would become an entrepreneur. But as time went by I had this strong desire to do something on my own.

Since I was three I travelled all over India with my mother and her colleague. Nowadays women’s groups and women travelling solo has become the norm but at that time two ladies travelling with a child in trains, night buses and in remote areas was rather adventurous. So wanderlust was reaped into me at a very young age. Later when my late mother and I travelled all the bookings, research and arrangement was done by me.

When I shifted to Delhi, I organised a family trip to Kumaon where I did all the arrangement and everything went off perfectly. That was when I thought I should start my own company. My first trip from my company was to Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh with a group of senior citizens. Since then, there has been no looking back.

I call my company a boutique travel agency because I ensure my clients get experiences that others do not offer. I do intense research, travel to new places and tie up with hotels to ensure I can slip in offbeat destinations in regular tour plans that would enrich travel experiences.

The battle to establish myself has been real because this industry is a male-dominated domain, and I am also competing with online portals.

But as a woman tour planner I have always harped on detailing, safety and out-of-the box experiences. I have always stayed connected to my client’s requirements and my background in sociology has helped me immensely.

Be it group tours, customized tours or women’s group tours I really enjoy working on all. And when the client gives me a good review, there is no better satisfaction than that.  

You can check out: “I completed the 46km-long Kedarnath Yatra on foot” – Paulamii Dutta

 Somini Sen Dua, Mrittika: Earthy Talks

I have worked as a publicist all my life, mainly in retail. Now I am a social entrepreneur, and I also call myself a tree hugger. The path to this transformation has not been an easy one. During the pandemic suddenly work dried up, few of the companies I was working for shut down, my dog passed away and I lost so many people dear to me. I was going through the darkest phase of my life at that point. As it is said that dark times show you the light, the same happened to me. I wanted to do something that would help me give back to nature, to society.

I took online courses, kept watching YouTube videos and learned the nuances of organic plant growing, composting, recycling plastic. While my terrace became my organic garden my WhatsApp group Mrittika Mates brought together like-minded people and true to the name of my venture, we started the “talks”.

Three years down the line much has come out of the conversations. We not only have a community of people who are committed to making our environment better but now I have the Mrittika studio at Deodar Street, Ballygunge, where one can buy jute products, plants, upcycled fashion items, table mats, coasters and we are soon planning to have our farm-to- plate products. Everything in the store is zero waste and eco-friendly made by local artisans and there is something available for every budget. In fact, for Holi this year we are promoting organic colours and zero-waste gifting.

I plan to make the studio a space where podcasts can be shot or there can be yoga sessions. I ensured that I set up the studio at a walking distance from my home so that I won’t need to use a vehicle every day and add to my carbon footprint.

Since I started this community, I have been leading awareness campaigns and consulting on waste management, making eco bricks from plastic bottles, using those for making benches in schools, but my biggest spiritual connection is with Aranya, the forest that we are all building together in a Green Verge in New Town. By the end of this year, we would finish planting 2000 trees comprising aam, jaam, kanthal and the forest will thrive in the Japanese Miyawaki concept.

That is going to be something, isn’t it?

Related Reading: “I am fat but I know how to rock my style” – Soumyasree

Turni Dhar, Dependablz

I worked in the corporate sector for a very long time and I was living in Mumbai pursuing my career. At the back of my mind I always knew I wanted to start something of my own but I didn’t have clarity at that point, what exactly it would be.

I returned to Kolkata in 2014 and had no intention of leaving the city again. As the days went by I realised I was often rushing after getting emergency phone calls from friends living in different parts of India or abroad. They would call me saying a parent was unwell and needed immediate attention. I would take care of the situation immediately and organise hospitalization or homecare. This is when it struck me that with more and more young people leaving the city to have a career elsewhere, there were elderly people who needed emergency and even sustained care. So, if someone could provide that it would mean less stress for both the adult children and the parents. Knowing someone was available just a call away to take care of things immediately would give them peace of mind.

My partner Biplabi Palit and I put our heads together and started Dependablz. Since then it has been a rollercoaster ride. We chose a difficult sector to start our journey. However, since there was a huge gap in dependable service providers we got clients instantly. Now we have extended our operations to various parts of Bengal like Santiniketan, Kharagpur, Birbhum, Asansol and so on.

I have to be on call 24X7. It is not uncommon to get emergency calls at 2 am. We have done the hospitalization, kept a tab on the patient throughout his stay and brought them home well and thriving. This is the happiest part of my job, to see someone get better.

But the most emotionally draining part is to deal with death. You tend to develop an emotional connection with people you are looking after. Only a few days back I lost a client I had grown very close to. She would keep telling me that if I had a daughter she would not have done so much for me as you are doing. Then she was gone in a few days. It hit me really hard.

Another problematic area is hospital bills. We have no control over that but when the client starts holding us responsible for mounting hospital bills, there is little we can do about it. Also, we are constantly dealing with elderly people who become rather unreasonable in old age so this work has really taught me the virtues of patience.

At the end of the day, my greatest satisfaction is we have been able to build that sense of dependability and professionalism with our brand name.