There is a skill lying in each one of us, all you need to do is discover and hone it. But unfortunately, most of the women population in India after marriage are forced to bury their skills and passions after they are transform into a 'housewife', the most complicated job profile but often sabotaged.
The task to transform a 'house into a home', is not a joke. Not all day is packed with assignments and targets for the office goers, but almost every day is the same for the housewife where a routine can never be missed. She has to orchestrate the daily chores, accomplish it with no errors, manage household helpers, to take care of the overall health of the family, prepare daily expenditure budgets, nurture the children with education, and most importantly to work round the clock with any added surprises and homecomings. Adding to this big to-do list, moms' are assigned with another pathetic duty...it's the school home work..! As, these days most of the schools assign home works, project works and assignments to moms' rather than kids.
Hence, the role of a woman as a home maker is no less than any entrepreneur in a job role. Despite being vested with responsibilities and chores, there are these women who have amalgamated their household duties along with their passion to emerge out as entrepreneurs working within their living space.
SimpliCity caught up with such women from the city who though are confined to domiciliary routine have been able to strike a balance with their passion and have emerged out as entrepreneurs in a big or small way. Home Makers, making their way out to express themselves beyond their usual boundaries.
Today our article highlights the home bakers who initially started to bake for their family members and friends and now making a business out of it.
Swetha Gupta, a home maker and Founder of 'Brown Sugar'
“I was married at a very young; I was just 18 when I took up household responsibilities. Though I have been living in Coimbatore for the past 20 years, I was born and brought up in Mumbai, my house was very close to the IHM(Institute of Hotel Management) and every time I crossed the institute I would wonder if I could study there, but it wasn’t possible with family and kids.
I spent most of my time making desserts for my kids, they would love my brownies and my personalized desserts that I made for them, but then when they shifted to Bangalore for further studies, I had a lot of time in hand and none to bake for. That is when my husband and in laws supported my passion to bake. I joined for a crash course in IHM to hone my baking skills in a professional way. What I learnt there was very basic culinary skills and much of it was with eggs, but my circle was mostly people who didn’t prefer egg. Yes, I did learn presentation techniques but I also realised that I needed to invent many recipes to stand out. With a lot of trial and errors, I came up with my own menu, which could be made egg free, gluten free, or for that matter just a different taste to indulge in.”
Today Swetha’s Desserts are a popular name with many houses who are seeking for a different taste. She has expanded her skills in not just baking but also creating marvellous artefacts with materials that are waste to many.
Her latest venture is the home dried, hand pounded North Indian curry premixes that make cooking a lot easier than it sounds. The concept of premix occurred to her, when her daughter was studying in the hostel and missed home food. She decided to concoct an easy way out for her daughter to prepare home cooked food with no hassles. To avoid submitting to packaged food, she decided to create a premix by home drying all the ingredients that go in the popular gravy based recipes. The premix is a powder that has no preservatives, no added colour and shelf life of more than 6 months if refrigerated, all one has to do is sauté vegetables in oil add the premix with milk and bring it to a boil. Sounds so simple, so convenient, yet much healthier than packaged food, so if you are planning a trip abroad or too lazy to cook just carry the premix along.
Arti Shroff, a home maker cum baker who does exotic patisseries in the name of "Dolcie" her brand.
“Academically I am an architecture student, but after completion of architecture, I realised that I was more inclined to cooking and baking than designing structures. Hence I decided to pursue a career as a chef; I did an extensive course at the Culinary Academy of India, Hyderabad and further gained hands on learning experience with specialization in desserts at the Taj hotels for 6 months.
Marriage brought many added responsibilities, I had a family to bond with, be a part of social affairs, manage my home yet pursue my passion. In all this baking for me didn’t stop with marriage, infact it got better; I started my venture in the name of Dolcie in Coimbatore. It was a made to order bakery running from home. I had a separate kitchen, a complete different unit made at home just to cater my clients. It takes extra effort to run a home and still do business, but if you meticulously plan your day, I think you don’t end up compromising on anything.
Apart from baking the regular desserts, I shifted my focus to more healthy eating dessert concepts. My husband is extremely fond of sweets, but he is lactose intolerant and is advised not intake too much of calories, that is when I researched to create healthy dessert options. I experimented with whole wheat, oats, and no milk and vegan options in my baking. Usually people avoid desserts because it adds on weight and sometimes leads to many health issues, but if a dessert has health properties why would anyone avoid.
I believe in preparing good taste with health friendly options, so that the guilt minuses and the stomach is happy.” Her popular desserts include the whole wheat banana choco-chip cupcakes, Irish chocolate pudding, salted caramel mousse cakes, fudges, the carrot cheese cream cupcakes, all fruit cake, oat cookies and exotic dips to complete any fun gathering with good food and a guilt free dessert trip.
Home is a beautiful place, and it’s the home maker who makes it worth living to stay in, the women mentioned above have not just fulfilled their duties as home makers but have also pursued their passion and proven themselves as successful entrepreneurs.
Simplicity would bring to you such inspiring stories of home makers turned entrepreneurs who in their big or small way have been able to strike a balance in both worlds of domestic affairs and career front.