Green thumb gives Kashmiri woman financial freedom

I was like any other child in my neighbourhood, playing with clay toys or spending hours trying to catch fish in nearby ponds. 

I went through a sort of a vanity phase as a typical teen but I also did the household chores.

The only difference was that I spent a lot of time tending to plants that my grandfather grew in the backyard.

I’m a first generation learner. When you study it makes you think. I often wondered about the socio-economic status of women in our educationally-backward neighbourhood. 

Household chores, growing vegetables, tending to livestock and frequent arguments were a routine for any average woman in the vicinity. At that time I felt – and still I feel – bad about women being financially dependent on men.

I always yearned for a life of respect and human dignity at home as well as outside. A life that allowed me to live life to the fullest. A life that allowed me to choose and decide at will.  

After passing my twelfth standard board exams, my concerns increased as I realised how – as a grownup girl – I had to ask for money even for my small, routine needs. 

One day while pondering the gloomy condition of the women in my neighbourhood, I saw a lady, who runs a parlour, buy a red maple plant from my grandfather. She paid a good sum for it. 

“If this woman can earn and spend at will, why can’t I?” was the thought that ran through my head then. This seemingly ordinary incident triggered the nature lover and the entrepreneur in me.

I decided to grow plants in pots and sell them.

Though this thought kept running in my mind, the lockdown gave me enough time to work on my idea and implement it.

And guess what my capital was? Just Rs 7,000 eidee money – you know the gift that elders give us on Eid festival day.

But running a nursery business is not a cakewalk – as people seem to think. 

Seedlings failing to take root or wilting and harsh winters damaging a lot of plants were some of the problems. 

But the biggest was breaking the gender stereotype about a woman as an entrepreneur. 

But I persevered. It took one year for me to make a profit.

Gauging the taste of customers, I focused on selling flowering and ornamental plants grown in pots. 

I give equal importance to the plant as well as the vase. I ensure that there is a perfect colour combination between the plant, flower and vase. 

Using a variety of pots, vases or moulds made of ceramics or marble to make the combination work.

My nursery business is helping me earn a few lakhs annually, and also providing employment to many people, especially women. 

But more importantly, growing plants has helped me maintain my mental balance too.

When others were struggling through the pandemic and lockdown, tending to my backyard nursery filled me with much needed solace.

Now that my polytechnic course has resumed, my staff take care of my nursery business. I visit in the mornings and evenings to make sure everything is in order.

Following in my footsteps, quite a few women have turned their backyard into a successful nursery business too. I’m quite proud and happy that my business inspires others.