They are women from different background, religion and ageliving in Taleigao. But one thread binds them together. They roll out chapattisto earn their daily bread.
Their day begins at 3 in the morning. First it starts withkneading of the dough followed by rolling out of the chapattis.
By 8.30 in the morning 16,000 hot and crisp chapattis areready to be dispatched to different places. 4,000 more are added during the daytaking the total number of chapattis to 20,000.
“I need exactly eighty minutes to make a set of 100chapattis and get Rs 60 per set. I make 300 chapattis a day and earn Rs180every morning, when I handover my sets to the person who collects it from mydoorstep,” says Jayashri Kammar, adding, “I wake up early and finish the job by7.30 am just in time before my kids wake up.”
In the evening, Hasan Shaikh and Baban Gawade handoverpackets of readymade wheat flour, oil and salt to these women in. This is theraw material for the next day’s chapattis.
The money transaction is usually daily, sometimes weekly ormonthly.
The readymade chapattis are distributed in two areas “ tohotels in and around the city of Panjim and to shacks on the beach belt. Mosthotels in Panjim like Anantashram, Sanyog, Café Bhonsale, Manoshanti, Sarovarand Kismat buy these chapattis on a regular basis.
Shacks in North Goa like Calangute, Candolim, Anjuna, Baga,Vagator, Mapusa, Arambol and some at Colva, Benaulim, Majorda in South Goa arealso covered.
It is actually Chitra Kshirsagar who motivated these home makersto earn independently and live a life of dignity.
Attached to two organisations “ Akhil Bharatiya MahilaParishad, Goa cell and Shri Tulshimata Pandurang Mahila Mandal, Taleigao,Chitra was instrumental in establishing 50 plus ‘mahila mandals’ and 70 pluswomen self-help groups all over Goa.
