If you want to understand how to become better allies to people with disabilities, then join us at Embracing All Abilities: Including People with Disabilities at Work.
This post salutes the spirit of those gutsy women selling 'vadapav' to make ends meet. They definitely are our 'nukkad entrepreneurs'.
This post salutes the spirit of those gutsy women selling ‘vadapav‘ to make ends meet. They definitely are our ‘nukkad entrepreneurs’.
You will have definitely heard about these women! I have also seen them at almost every corner of the lanes of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai in the evenings. Yes, I have seen these women selling vadapav with helpers in tow. Basically coming from lower middle class families, these women are out for this business to make both ends meet.
Adversity may sometimes become a chance call on diversity. We all know, when the earnings of the families are not enough, women of the house take an extra effort to increase the earnings in other ways by doing multiple errands. These lower middle class families are no exception, who mostly have hand-to-mouth existence. The situation becomes more grim when the earning member or the head of such families loses his job or any such untoward incident happens, which only adds fuel to the problems. These adversities bring these women of the house to work for an additional or regular source of income.
The business of selling vadapav has turned into a blessing for them, considering the fact that not only these vadas satiate the taste buds and hunger, but also are affordable to all, be a student or a office goer. We often spot these women who take charge of this business of selling vadapav at the nukkads of our lanes in the evenings.
We Mumbaikars love everything about Mumbai. From street food, to small eateries, to Udupi restaurants, to Irani cafes, to the plush five course restaurants, Mumbai has everything. You ask any die hard fan of Mumbai about his favourite street food famously known as ‘chat’, ‘vadapav’ will top the list. I haven’t met anyone who has stayed in Mumbai and hasn’t tasted it. These women have smartly explored our taste and they serve us with those affectionately prepared yummy vadas with mouthwatering green and red chatnis.
This is not to give the impression that these ladies do not consider other options of work during the day. I have met a few who at times work as maids and some of them do various other stuff like stitching falls to the sarees during the day. But, all the same, evenings are meant for this business.
Kudos to these small entrepreneurs, who sell these vadas at prime location, like railway stations, near office hub, near colleges, and at our nukkads. It is not uncommon to see a Mumbaikar, after a hard day, taking a halt to grab a bite of this vadapav before heading towards his long and tiring return journey to his home.
Whenever I see these ladies, I can see their strength of character. I cannot help but see little difference between the literate women entrepreneurs and these women selling delicious vadapav at every nook and corner of our gullies.
Published here earlier.
All Images via Author
Header Image via Pexels
I am an evolving blogger, who took a hiatus from job and voluntarily decided to be hands-on-mom, also fortunate enough to witness the internet era when life is easier with just a click! read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
What I loved was how there is so much in the movie of the SRK we have known, and also a totally new star. The gestures, the smile, the wit and the charisma are all too familiar, but you also witness a rawness, an edginess.
When a movie that got the entire nation in a twist – for the right and wrong reasons – hits the theatres, there is bound to be noise. From ‘I am going to watch it – first day first show’ to ‘Boycott the movie and make it a flop’, social media has been a furore of posts.
Let me get one thing straight here – I did not watch Pathaan to make a statement or to simply rebel as people would put it. I went to watch it for the sheer pleasure of witnessing my favourite superstar in all his glory being what he is best at being – his magnificent self. Because when it comes to screen presence, he burns it, melts it and then resurrects it as well like no other. Because when it comes to style and passion, he owns it like a boss. Because SRK is, in a way, my last connecting point to the girl that I once was. Though I have evolved into so many more things over the years, I don’t think I am ready to let go of that girl fully yet.
There is no elephant in the room really here because it’s a fact that Bollywood has a lot of cleaning up to do. Calling out on all the problematic aspects of the industry is important and in doing that, maintaining objectivity is also equally imperative. I went for Pathaan for entertainment and got more than I had hoped for. It is a clever, slick, witty, brilliantly packaged action movie that delivers what it promises to. Logic definitely goes flying out of the window at times and some scenes will make you go ‘kuch bhi’ , but the screenplay clearly reminds you that you knew all along what you were in for. The action sequences are lavish and someone like me who is not exactly a fan of this genre was also mind blown.
Recent footage of her coming out of an airport had comments preaching karma and its cruel ways, that Samantha "deserved her illness" because she filed for divorce.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu fell from being the public’s sweetheart to a villain overnight because she filed for divorce. The actress was struck with myositis post divorce, much to the joy of certain groups (read sexist) in our society.
A troll responded to Samantha’s tweet, “Women Rising!!” by adding to it “just to fall”. She replied, “Getting back up makes it all the more sweeter, my friend.”
Here’s another insensitive tweet by BuzZ Basket showing fake concern for her autoimmune disease. “Feeling sad for Samantha, she lost all her charm and glow. When everyone thought she came out of divorce strongly and her professional life was seeing heights, myositis hit her badly, making her weak again.” Samantha responded, “I pray you never have to go through months of treatment and medication like I did. And here’s some love from me to add to your glow.”
Please enter your email address