When every night my littlest child awakes and
Limpets to my side, I am heavy with unshed tears,
I am the grey black monsoon sky
Just before the rain….
The above lines from a poem by Kamala Das somehow reflect my sombre mood these days, as I mourn the death of my beloved grandmother, My Amma!
There is something about personal loss and grief that makes you do things which probably you wouldn’t do otherwise. Like sharing a personal story on a public platform. I am sure most of us have come across such situations, in my case it was the passing away of my grandmother a few days ago, who was more a mother to me, having been raised by her and not my biological parents.
As often is the case, when a person is gone, you try to put things into perspective, and realize their importance in one’s own life and what sort of role they played in shaping ones character, to become the person you are now.
And here upon, the amazing realization dawned on me about my grandmother, who was none less than a remarkable entrepreneur herself, “The Iron Lady”
Having been born sometime in the era of pre-independence in Mangalore, her actual birth date was never known to us, somehow she ended up being in Vasai (Distant suburb near Mumbai). Having got married in her early teens, she gave birth to six children. Now my grandfather was a very, very laid back character, not much ambitious and somehow managed to scrape a living by making traditional Indian sweets (must admit though back in the day, he was much in demand for his skills).
By now my granny had realized that she also needs to lend a hand to provide for food and some basic education to all of her children. As a young immigrant bride in a foreign land, when the going got tough, she started to offer services as a washerwoman, sometimes cooked for others offering tiffins and did some babysitting too. She single-handedly raised all her children and also an additional me, when I was handed over to her by my parents (as I was a bit of a brat among my siblings growing up in the chaos of Mumbai chawls.)
Now her children today may not exactly be millionaires, or me a successful entrepreneur yet, but the values she imbibed in all of us are invaluable and holding us in good stead. Fighting against all odds she made sure even the daughters of the family were given equal opportunities and ever stayed true to impart the values of being a good human first.
I am sure they must have been countless Iron Ladies like this who sacrificed their own lives and showed some great entrepreneurial spirit, in the relentless pursuit of offering some decent education and basic necessities to their families which they themselves never got.
So today, If you are a young woman or a guy wondering about taking the leap of faith or waiting for some inspiration to take the plunge to start your own business or do your own thing, look inside and you might have a legacy in your own family in the form of a IRON LADY!