For Women, Entrepreneurship starts at home

Traditionally, women have always lived on the edge. Right from their birth to childhood up to marriage, they just blindly trail along the uncertain alley, often bumping into walls yet not stopping. On the way, a medley of voices crowd around- that of her in-laws, husband, parents, siblings, children. Yet more often than not, they manage to rise above all that, follow their instinct and trust themselves. Even amidst a sea of responsibilities, they manage to hold their own.

As they hit 30s, the trail narrows, with more household responsibilities and relationship management tasks, as a homemaker. They start moving faster than they should and further, beyond their limits. The world then seems to fall apart and everything changes very rapidly, mysteriously. Suddenly everything resembles a hazy mist of colours. Their minds run at a high speed filled with unequalled happiness.

Into their mid-30s usually women reach peak of their personal power. By then an entire family depends on them. Yet when they look around, the entire continuum changes and things do not look the same anymore. When they peer deep into the situation, they slowly get the true picture. It no longer seems like the same world- their partners do not behave the same anymore; the entire dynamics of relationships change. Yet they feel something within them shifting that helps them ignore all those changes. Over time what they gain is ‘perspective’ which helps them equip more with life than their counterparts. This is the advantage of living on the edge and building up an entire household and community, that includes relationships with relatives, neighbours, shopkeepers, grocers and several other people. And this very thing certainly makes them 'born entrepreneurs' who walk down blind alley with sheer gut instinct and determination in the hope of a happy life.

There are of course some women who are more ‘daring’ than the others. They are like the mountain folks, born within an instinct to para-glide or just jump off the cliff, of course with a safety net, for adventure. They can hear sounds and see creatures that normal people do not.

Nevertheless, the act of moving to the edge or discovering that ‘entrepreneurship’ within oneself is not that simple. It is like being in a vortex and falling deep and deep into bottomless pit of darkness. In a larger sense, they all fall, lose all control and yet stay with their higher sense. In the process, they get hurt and lose their confidence.  Yet they bounce back soon enough. To women it happens easily than others.  And those moments of discovery could be extremely liberating. And when they hold the feeling any longer, they even find ‘god’ within themselves.

Meghna Maiti