Sketching away poverty | Milaap
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Sketching away poverty

Written by Deepanwita De Publish date 10-Nov-2016
Nayan sits with her work to start packaging
Nayan sits with her work to start packaging

Nayan Golder and her family was planning an afternoon siesta- at least that's what I felt by the absolute silence in the verandah, while her two kids, disgruntled with the heat were roaming around and enjoying sweet afternoon breeze in their briefs. Nayan corrects me and says, the family was actually inside watching TV, and she was just about to get started with her little sketch pen making business. It is for this purpose Nayan had taken a loan of Rs 30,000 from Milaap to expand and buy raw materials to make sketch-pens. Her primary work involves buying the cylindrical bodies of the sketch pens, nibs, colours, caps, etc, from Kolkata. She then attaches them together and does the entire packaging before sending them off to Kolkata. She also keeps a partner for herself. “We divide the work, money and the additional costs involved in the business,” says Nayan. She keeps herself busy from afternoon onwards with this work which fetches her Rs 150 per day and she manages to make 20 boxes on each given day. “The loan helped me buy all the raw materials, plus bear the transportation cost as well from Kolkata,” Nayan gleefully says, as her husband switches off the TV and joins us in the conversation. Nayan’s husband who is in poultry business, buys chickens from the Basirhat farms and then takes them to different city in and around West Bengal and sells them. For this business they rent a car and also helps in bringing raw materials for her wife in the same car. The family with two small children, with both of them enrolled in school, looked happy to work things out financially together. One of daughter who was jubilant to see guests at the time of her siesta, sat right next to me to hear what state deals where being discussed.

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