Filed under 'Inspiring People I've met'
On a recent visit to Latur, we met Meeta Thakker who fed us some super delicious peanut chutney. This is a Marathwada staple, she told us. Peanuts coarsely pounded, with chilli powder, garlic, salt and a little coconut.

This chutney is an accompaniment to another Marathwada staple, jowar bhakri. And Meeta runs a little sanstha called Gunvantiben Thakker Mahila Sashaktikaran Kendra. It employs women, skills them, and empowers them by providing them with cash income.

Meeta is a well-off lady. She and her husband run one of Latur's most successful agrochemical companies. Her sons are grown up and settled in life. She's the perfect candidate for full time vacationing in Bali or taking cruises in the Bahamas.

And yet, she's mostly to be found in her sanstha office. I asked her what she does there. She told me the back story. A few years ago, she and her husband were in Solapur, happened to visit a self help group (forgot the name) and thought she could do something like that in Latur

She put the word out that she was looking for women who needed help and support and found a good many. She decided to interview them and selected the ones she thought were the most helpless. Got them together and set up a kitchen because she knew of another project, run by the

local Rotary club which sought to provide meals to elderly people who were bedridden or unable to fend for themselves. The rotary club was willing to pay rs 30 for a meal and Meeta's challenge was to do this and break even. It took her some time to figure out the economics but

soon she was turning in a modest profit of about 5 rupees after paying the women their wages. She expanded the meals business to cater to workers looking for home cooked meals and set up her next vertical, as MBAs will say, namely tailoring. The sanstha teaches women the craft

of tailoring (for the princely sum of Rs 300, because Meeta found that if she didn't charge anything, they wouldn't be serious). They begin with simple scarves and masks and graduate to blouses and salwars. Meeta has been doing this along with running her own home, including

nursing her husband through a really nasty covid infection (he went through life-threatening complications) and setting up a home for her son in Pune, where he set up an office. The sanstha is some 4 or 5 years old and run pretty much single handedly by Meeta. Her optimism and

liveliness is what I find most inspiring. I frequently find myself depressed by all the horrible things happening around me. The difference is, I get paralyzed by it. Meeta is energized. She told me that her main challenge wasn't providing these women with incomes. That was easy

and as the years go by, she will extend her help to many more women. The challenge was changing the mindset of the women. She gave me an example of a woman who was sewing something on a machine. This woman lost her hearing because - wait for this - her husband set her on fire.

And the woman was like he's right in doing that, because I wasn't able to bear him a child. Meeta says this kind of thing is endemic. She lectures them on how they have a right to dignity and equal treatment but she's not sure they're convinced. But she keeps trying. And the

income that the women earn ensures they live with dignity and their children get education and better careers than their parents. I read Stephen Covey's book (Seven Habits) in which one of the principles is 'Be Proactive', which means don't waste your time fretting about things

you can't change (such as my attitude towards the mess that is our political space). Instead, look for things you CAN do, and do them well. And you're doing a great job, Meeta! Keep going