Pickling Archives - Progressive Farmers

Rousing Story of a Woman Who Started Her Entrepreneurial Business after Her Retirement And is Successful Today

In India, when a person reaches the retirement age, then his age is almost around 60. And the most common mentality of Indian people after the retirement is, no work after retirement. Because everyone has their own dreams for their golden retirement age- some people want to go on vacations, some people just want to relax and live a normal peaceful life, and some people choose the spiritual path. But there are very few people who like to choose their hobbies and interests after their retirement and pursue it as their second career. One such woman who also didn’t give up after her retirement and started her own business is Kamla Shokeen.

Kamla Shokeen, a woman who is still young by her spirits, started her entrepreneurial career after her retirement. But before getting retired, she was a Physical Education teacher for 39 years in Government School. She had the hobby of pickling berries from the beginning, so after retirement, she thought of changing that hobby into a business, and today she is running her own successful pickle business by the brand name KAMAL AACHAR.

Kamla Shokeen began her pickle business 7 years back in 2010 after getting retired from her teaching profession. And to make her pickles business more professional, she took pickle making training from PUSA Branch- KVK Ujwa under Kamkaji Mahila Kutir Udyog. After getting certification from there, she gathered the deprived and poor women of her village Dichaon Kalan, which is in Najafgarh district, to start her own pickle making and selling business. Today her fruit farm is scattered in 2.75 acres of land, in which she has grown Jujube (Ber), Carissa carandas (Karonda), Indian gooseberry (Amla), Java Plum (Jamun), and Guava trees for pickle making. And she manages all the work with the help of few workers. To maintain the good yield of the trees she never uses chemical fertilizers. She only uses vermicompost (kenchue ki khaad).

By qualification, Kamla Shokeen is MA in Political Science, but when she started pickle business after retirement, at that time, then she never felt that the work she is going to do is low grade or not of her level. Even her husband- Mr. Mulchand Shokeen, who is a retired director from GDA; two sons, out of which, one is pilot and other is an engineer by profession; one daughter- who is a doctor by profession; and two daughter-in-laws- both are teachers by profession, supported her in her venture.

Today, she is 69 by age, but her gusto of pursuing her hobby never went down since day one after her retirement. Kamla Shokeen always tried to give her best efforts, during her teaching career and as well as for her pickle business. She even received “Best Teacher Award” for her teaching from the school. And after starting the pickle business she was also awarded by PUSA for Best Quality of Aachar.

Generally, she visits events, exhibitions, and fairs to sell her handmade pickles, but to make her products available to more people she has opened a small shop in her house. Most visited fairs, where she earns the most profit by selling her pickles are Pragati Maidan and PUSA Fair. In a year she earns more than 60-70,000 from her pickles business. And in the future, she is planning to include more varieties in her pickles collection- like mango and lemon. Whenever someone comes to her for guidance related to pickles making business, she never refuses them and always provides true advice and suggestions. Till now she has suggested many people to take training from PUSA so that, they can also start their own business.

Message By Kamla Shokeen
“Rather than sitting idly on a chair all day long and doing nothing, it’s better to make yourself useful. I started working after my retirement because, I had the interest in pickling and I didn’t want to be bored. From my pickle business, I’m also able to support the poor people of my village. According to me, every woman should use her skills and hobbies to make herself independent even after the marriage, but before that they should complete their education. ”

Story of a Young Girl with Budding Skills Trying to Stand on Her Own Feet & Make Her Identity in the Society with Her Culinary Skills

It is said that those who want to achieve something in their life, for them only a small motivation or inspiration is enough. God has sent everyone with a gift box, only a few of them open their package and identify their hidden talent, and most of the people never dare to do that due to lack of confidence. But a girl from Moga dared to recognized her talent and stand on her own feet to become independent.

Amandeep Kaur a 25 year old girl from Lande ke Moga is a budding entrepreneur, who is trying to make her own identity in the society. As we know that behind every leader, there is a struggling experience which provokes them to reach that spot, same is with Amandeep. She is a young and enthusiastic soul similar to other girls, but her determination is what makes her stand out from others. Currently, she lives with her brother and mother, her father passed away quite a long time ago. And due to the financial crisis, she stopped studying after 10th. But as we all might have heard, those who are meant to do something great and stand out from all the crowd, they cannot be stopped by any kind of difficulties.

Today, Amandeep is leading a group of 7 girls known as Swati Women Cooperative Society, and under this brand name she is taking little steps towards success. Behind the formation of this group, there is hand of female philanthropist Mrs. Sundara, she only gave a small inspiration and that was enough for Amandeep to gather the rest of the girls and start up with their own business of homemade pickles and chutneys.

Amandeep Kaur explained that how Mrs. Sundara herself visited their village (village name) in 2003, gathered them (group members) and make them aware that what capabilities they have and how they can make their skills useful to themselves, instead of sitting idle. She also help Amandeep and other girls by enrolling them in the training of making homemade products like pickles, chutney and many other food products and also motivated them to study further.

Amandeep is not only working to earn and support her family but also to make her own identity in the society. She is very passionate about the work she is doing and she has also planned to pursue her education in the field of home culinary so that she can come up with different food products to sell it in the market. Name of the other girls’ are- Parminder, Baljeet, Ranjit, Gurpreet, Channi, Manjit, Pawandeep; these girls are very young, in their early twenties or below, but due to some circumstantial situation, they all have dropped out of their education in the middle. But they still have the zeal and enthusiasm to continue their study, explore new things, earn their own livelihood and be independent. All the girls are very fervent about their work and are interested in continuing their study along with SWCS business.

Amandeep and all her group members are very hard working and know how to manage their work efficiently. They buy all their raw material from the market (sabzi mandi) themselves for making pickles, chutney and fragrant waters. They make more than 10 variety of pickles, 2 types of chutney, 3 types of fragrant water and candies also.

Everything is handmade by them and is purely natural without any preservative. Pickles, chutneys, and candies made by them are very delicious and original in flavor and will remind you the taste of your grandmother’s hand.

Some of the most selling products are Mango Chutney, Lachha Nimbu Pickle, Ginger Pickle and Garlic Pickle. They visit as many exhibitions and events as they can to sell their handmade natural products; and other than that they personally visit different societies and committees of different districts to sell their product. Till now they have covered Fategarh, Firozpur, Ludhiana, and Moga, and in the coming time, there will be more cities. Usually, they use to make nearly 100 boxes of each pickle containing 1 kg each per day.

Currently, the group total income in only 20000 per month and it is very difficult for them to manage in such a tight cash flow. The reason behind this problem is they don’t have any proper platform to sell their product and also very few people know about Swati Women Cooperative Society. Well, according to them this is just the beginning and these types of hardships are never going to demotivate them or stop them from what they are doing.

Message by Amandeep Kaur (PRESIDENT OF SWATI WOMEN COOPERATIVE SOCIETY)
“Every girl should recognize their skill and use them wisely to be independent on their own. Today, women should not be dependent on others, they should be self-determining and self-regulating. Because it feels good when you have power in your hand to fulfil your own wishes. And education is very much necessary in enlightening and guiding the correct path. Working and being independent makes you feel special and confident of what you are. So, every girl should complete their education and choose the path which interests them and can help them to earn a good living.”