I started home based business and my friends and relatives were ‘maha’ happy!

It was in the year 1997.My husband retired and we returned to our native place ie Chennai.We have a beautiful house near the beach in the village Uthandi.An independent house,we began to live there.The house was and is my husband’s dream house with a tiny garden that he could manage on his own,with a servant quarters .We engaged a family to live in that neat quarters and do the household duties.My husband was busy going to all the nurseries nearby to buy seeds and plants for the garden .He picked up friendship with all the local men right from the auto rickshaw fellow who lived nearby to the owner of the only tea shop in the village..

You should have seen him walking on the road, putting his hand on Arumuga Naicker’s shoulder and discussing the price of cattle feed,Arumuga Naicker used to take his cows for grazing and
His wife sold milk to the local people.
He was too busy and I envied him.I didn’t have a single friend in the place,our house was a lonely house surrounded by nothing but sand and the sea nearby.

How long could I sit in the portico or on the terrace appreciating the beauty of nature that too when the beauty of nature included vipers?,I lost interest.One day I stood before my DH and said,”Look here,I don’t want to be a foot rest anymore”

“Foot rest?”exclaimed my DH,”Mythili,why should you be the footrest?Last week only I bought almost a dozen footmats”my husband kept an innocent face .

“Iam not talking about the footrests in real and you know that”I was almost in tears.
Well finally my dh and I agreed that I had to engage myself in some activity that would keep me busy.
And also I would make friends in the neighbourhood.The idea was that I should start a homebased business.

“I know what business to start!”cried I, with great enthusiasm.My dh looked at me with a vague expression.
“I am going start selling sarees”When my husband still had that woe be gone expression on his face,I explained.

“I have seen that there are no textile shops in this area.People go to Tiruvanmiyur( which was 8 kms from the village) or T.Nagar( that was nearly 12 to 15 kms …)to buy clothes.
“There are working women..”I continued”You know the ladies who work in the nurseries and those who work as maids,they will be too happy if they could buy sarees in the village only, that too at reasonavle rates.”I was so excited.

“How are you going to go about that?”My dh had an incredulous look on his face.

“I will ring up your sister and request her to go to the whole sale market for textiles and get me sarees,I will send her the money in advance.She would definitely do this for me.”His sister lives in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on">Madurai</st1:City> and <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Madurai</st1:City></st1lace> you know is famous for its cotton sarrees,particularly sungudi sarees.My dh’s expression,oh yes!that woe be gone expression, did not change even for a second,but I was in no mood to worry about his facial expressions at that time.

How I spoke to my SIL,sent her money and got the sarees delivered at our house by one of her friends, is a different story in itself.

I had a look at all the sarees and was so happy.I had requested my SIL to select bright coloured sarees, since I had seen village ladies wearing bright coloured sarees,orange,pink,dark green etc.She had complied with my request and had sent me mostly bright coloured sarees.

The next step.I had to let out the news that here was a lady who was selling beautiful sarees in her home.First I requested my bosom friend at that time, the lady of the family who lived in our servan quarters.I showed her the collection of sarees that I had.Immediatelly she told me that she would take two sarees.I was elated not knowing that she attached strings to her announcement.
“Amma,I will take two sarees.One fo me and one for my MIL.I was thrilled.I said,”Since you are the first person to buy saree from,I will give you a discount of ten rupees per each saree that you have taken”If I thought that she would rub her hands in glee,no,she did not, on the other hand she made another announcement.
“Amma,I cannot pay the entire money at one go.I will pay a monthly instalment of twenty rupees every month.I stood silent.My maid was a kind person.She said,”I have done bony,no?So I will give you the first instalment now only “.and she handed over twenty rupees then and there,with a proud expression on her face.The prize of each saree that she bought was one hundred and eighty rupees.My face nust have lost its colour,but my maid’s face was blooming,small consolation for me.My maid offered to bring some of her friends to buy sarees from me.

My business thrived,my dear.Ladies who worked in the nurseries,ladies who worked as ayahs in houses stood in queue in front of my house, to buy sarees from me.Soon the first lot of sarees were sold out and I had to place orders 3 times in a week. I had to be present in the shop and collect the money myself So I could not cook due to lack of time.We engaged a cook,he charged enormous salary but I never minded,My DH suggested that we should take a shop on rent ,we needed a shop of our own. To sell my sarees.We took a shop place for rent,even though the rent we paid was high,I never minded since we made lot of money in selling these sarees.

One fine day, an imported car that looked like a ship,stood in front of my shop.Before I blinked,the famous actor Radhika Sarathkumar got down from the car and entered my shop.Radhika lives in Kottiwalkam near U thandi.My God ,I was stunned to see my most favourite heroine in my shop.
Radhika said in her childlike voice,”Oh,these sarres are so lovely.Tell me where do you pick up such lovely saree?”she asked.I mumbled to her how I started my home based business and how I buy sarees in a whole sale market.Radhika was very happy.She turned to the lady , who accompanied her,must be her secretary or a relative and said something to her.,.This lady stayed back and selected nearly twenty sarees from me and paid the cash on the spot.

The locals saw how Radhika bought so many sarees from me and soon they stopped going to T.Nagar to buy sarees and were keen to buy sarees from me.Suddenly I became very famous.My pictures appeared on the covers of well known magazines wih the caption “Here is the woman who became rich just by selling sarees “.

I felt someone tapping me on my shouder.
“My DH said,”What,you are day dreaming again,reserve that cosy dreams for your blogs.Now,our maid has brought a couple of ladies to see your sarees." I felt so sad that my opening a shop and Radhika entering the shop was only a part of my dreams.Two women and a teenged girl entered my house.I showed them all the sarees. With great pride,I extolled the virtues of cotton sarees particularl mine.

The young girl who accompanied the ladies was one of the maid’s daughter.She took one look at the sarees and said,”Madam do you have only these colours?”

“Why,what is wrong with thse colours?They are bright,normally ladies from the village love these colours,you know”

Before I finished the sentence,this girl said,”Madam,they are eye biting colours.”
I was amazed. “what biting?” I wondered aloud.The girl replied,”Madam,people don’t wear such colours anymore”

Her mother had already taken a green colour saree in her hand,her daughter took it away from her saying,”Amma ,these colours are no good.Please don’t buy any of these colours”She took the saree from her mother and kept it back with the other sarees.I looked at her closely,she had shampooed and conditioned her hair that was let loose.She was wearing a cream colored kurtha and jeans,looked very smart and by her side, I must have looked like a maid.

After this episode hardly anyone came to buy sarees from me.I was so sad.Nearly RS.15000/ WORTH OF SAREES WERE LYING WITH ME. I approached my husband with a request and small tears in my eyes. “Do you know behind every successful man is a woman?.I have always stood behind you when you were climbing the professional ladder I was the one who supported you?.Now is your turn to stand behind me”.:said I .
“Ofcourse,Mythili.I will always be behind you”said my DH.I sat down on a chair to have a serious conversation with him.But he was not to be seen.”Where is Sir?”I asked the maid,she covered her mouth with both her hands and laughed.’”Amma,Sir is standing behind your chair”said she.I turned around to see my dh standing behind my chair with folded hands.”Mythili,I told you I will always be behind you”said he with a serious expression.
“You have to help me sell these sarees”said I .”What?Do you want me to pile those sarees in a cart and drag the cart on the streets,shouting “Amma,Iyyah,sungudi selai vangareengala?”(amma and iyyah will you buy sungudi sarees?).Iam a fertliser selling man,my dear,give me tonnes and tonnes of fertilizer.I will sell them but selling sarees is not my cup of tea”said he .

I gave away half the sarees to a home which was run for destitute women.The rest of the sarees I gave to ladies who came home for navarathri.When the ladies in the village came to know during navarathri that I was giving sarees to ladies,they came in battalion.They did not want to buy from me sarees,but they were too happy to take from me.

Thus ended my first attmpt at running a home based business.What about the other attempts in this diection?I will tell you soon.:idea



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My dear usha,
Thanks for the fb.Oh yes I had the pleasure of giving these sarees to ladies,that that pleasure was totally different.
love
mithila

 

My dear Radhika,
Thank you dear.hearty comments like yours persuade me to keep writing.
love
mithila