While her friends thougth of pursuing Masters in commerce, Shahala Shaikh decided to take a different route all together setting up furniture manufacturing unit in Kashmir. “My father wanted to set up a furniture firm in association with a French company. But he couldn’t do that because of his untimely demise,” says Shahala, who has done B.Com from the Mount Carmel College in Bangalore. Wood Fort, her workshop at Parimpora, on the outskirts of Srinagar, produces international furniture. She also owns a consultancy for interior decoration in Kashmir. From supervision of work to designing of her products and marketing, she does all by herself.
She thinks being a woman entrepreneur is quite normal nowadays. “Earlier the thought of a girl in a profession like mine would shock and surprise people.”
Shahala feels working in a male dominated field has its drawbacks and working in Kashmir is hard. “There are stresses but you have to take precautions safeguarding your interest, work intelligently and move on. But I must admit Kashmir is comparatively safer then any other place in India.”
For women who want to be entrepreneur, Shahala says, “Do things that you like be passionate about your work and never afraid mistakes and failures because if you fail, you learn.”
Olympian dreams.
Twelve year old Kaninaat Mushtaq has mastered the snow-blanketed slopes of Gulmarg. As she races up and down the slopes, winning accolades and medals on the way, she sees her dream- to become the first Kashmiri woman Olympian- getting realised. Behind the success, Kainaat says, is the support of her parents.
“Four years ago, I went to Gulmarg with Papa. When I saw him running down the slopes there, I wish if I could do it forever,” she says. Three years later, Kainnat has not only realised her wish but shaped it into her dream of life. This winter, she won a gold medal in the advance sky course for her flawless techniques. “When I told Papa about my desire for skiing, he was happy,” Kainaat says.
A class seven student in the Presentation Convent, Srinagar, Kainaat is preparing for the inter-district Ski championship.. But her ambition is to become an international level player. “I want to win a gold medal in Olympics and dedicate it to my parents. They have been an inspiration for me and constant support,” she says.
Kainaats father, Shaikh Mushtaque Ahmed says he wanted his children to enjoy. “This was a conscious decision,” he says.
“The children here are starved of entertainment. They are living amid conflict and there is nothing left. I wanted them to enjoy the harsh winter of Kashmir,” he adds. But Kainaat’s pursuit has gone beyond enjoyment- she sets a target and hopes to achieve in three years. “I want to be an Olympian when I join class X,” she says. “I will achieve it, I am confident.” The budding skier from Srinagar looks up to her instructor as an inspiration. Gul Mustafa Dev, her instructor, is the only ski Olympian from Kashmir and Kainaat wants to follow in his footprints. “My instructor has represented Kashmir in Olympics and I know I, too, can do it,”she says.
Family versus Career: Walking tight rope.
For Tanveer Jahan, a Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) officer, working in male dominated society has never been a problem. In her 30 years of career, she has been pretty comfortable working with men. “I never had problems working with men though the field is dominated by men; I think I could very well ignore them and do my work.”
For her, Kashmiri society has different sections of men who react differently to working women. “There are liberal men who are ready to help working women and there are those who don’t exhibit such behaviors.”
On her role as a professional, a mother and a wife, she says, “I have been quite lucky to get an understanding husband. He is a friend to me before being a husband. He has understood me at every point in my life and we have a lot of things in common.”
But a successful career and a balanced life has not come easy to her. There were times when I was not available for my children and I had to really compromise at times” Her advice to working women is that they should work for economic sustainance as well as independence. (The Indian Express)
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June 2009 |