Manning it without men

Barnali Sinha 

As soon as you enter this restaurant, three to four women are seen serving food to the hungry souls, two women manning the counter, handing out coupons and counting the cash. As you proceed to the expansive and organised kitchen, around 12-15 women are busy preparing food. It was around 1 pm and there was a long queue outside the restaurant that extended till the main road. The restaurant was buzzing with people who had come to eat lunch. There were families with children, happily enjoying their meal over conversations. 

The Shramik Mahila Vikas Sangh, Vasai, on the outskirts of Mumbai, operate the restaurant. The organisation was established by Indumathy Vishnu Barve, a local teacher, in 1991 for needy women looking for a decent job to support their families. Currently, there are seven branches of the organisation in Vasai and Nalasopara in college canteens and hospital cafeterias. Around 250 women from Vasai work here and support their families financially. Having provided a means of livelihood to so many underprivileged women, the organisation stands out as a shining example of women empowerment and entrepreneurship.  

Committed to the cause 

Surprisingly, Barve, who is 98 now, comes to the restaurant daily around 4 pm and remains there for an hour. Though her daughter lives in the US, she chose to stay alone in Mumbai and supervise the organisation that she lovingly started and nurtured for 28 years. Barve was a teacher in the New English School, located beside the restaurant. She started making papads in her free time as a hobby. “I used to cook for the students and staff during special occasions and picnics, and everyone loved the food,” recalled Barve. 

Shramik Mahila Vikas Sangh was started by four women including Usha Manerikar, Jayashree Samant, Shubhada Kothale and Barve. In the beginning the organisation was only into papad making, but when people evinced keen interest for an eatery, the Shramik Mahila Vikas Sangh expanded into a full-fledged restaurant with snacks and meals.  The women who form the core of the Sangh belong to the economically backward strata of society. “This job has given us dignity, financial independence and made us self-sufficient. The organisation has taken care of a part of the school fees of our children,” said Dipti Dilip Patil, who has been working at the Shramik Mahila Vikas Sangh from the time it started. 

She said that their sons and daughters were now grown-up, married with families of their own. She said the organisation empowered them by making them financially independent and developing their entrepreneurial skills. “Besides salary, the women get food, tea and snacks during their duty hours and food at subsidised rates for their family,” said Geeta Patkar, an honorary member of the organisation for 19 years. She is a retired employee of Abott India, a global healthcare and research company. She offers her services here, sometimes supervising in the kitchen, sometimes behind the counter collecting cash, and sometimes supervising the functioning of other branches and attending meetings of the organisation once a month. 

Patkar said the meetings are conducted once a month to look into the grievances of the women if they have any and taking a stock of the work. On the last day of the month, the restaurant remains closed for cleaning that is done by the women. The women are given a free health check-up annually, apart from bonus, gifts and sweets during Diwali and other festivals. If required, they are also helped with loans. They also organise an annual picnic for the women who work in shifts of six-and-half hours. The restaurant remains open from 8 am to 10 pm. 

In 2016, the organisation celebrated its silver jubilee with a lot of fanfare. The Shramik Mahila Vikas Sangh has received many awards and accolades for their work. The restaurant gets a lot of orders amounting to Rs 4000 to Rs 5000 during festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Holi and Diwali. The women then get busy round-the-clock to fulfil the orders and also regular work at the restaurant. Ukdiche modak (rice modak), puran poli, coconut karanji, chiwda, savoury shankarpali and sweet shankarpale, chakli, savoury puris are made during festivals. 

Items that sell like hot cakes throughout the year include Puran Poli, Besan Vadi or Besan Barfi, Nariyal Vadi or Coconut Barfi and Aloo Vadi or Patra. 

Pocket friendly 

The restaurant is a no-frills place and if you are looking for pocket-friendly food options in Vasai-Virar area of Mumbai, head straight to the Shramik Mahila Vikas Sangh. They have everything from tea, coffee to poha, sheera, upma, idli sambar, poli bhaji, thali lunch and dinner as well as roti and bhakri (rice roti). Their simple veg Maharashtrian thali consists of rice, roti, papad, dal, two types of curries and achar. All this at only Rs.70!  

“People come to our restaurant for home-cooked hygienic food. Working women and bachelors also pick up dabbas from here as our food is value-for-money,” said Patkar. People stand in the queue patiently for their turn to take away rotis or even thalis home. 

She added they don’t repeat their menu. All meals are freshly cooked with lots of love by the women. Sunday special thali includes chicken to cater to the Christian population living in Vasai. They also make baida or egg curry and spicy baida or egg masala on Wednesday and Friday.  In fact, the women go to the local vegetable market every two days and buy fresh vegetables for the restaurant. Dry ration like rice, atta, dal, and other stuff are bought in wholesale delivered every fortnight. 

The aim of Shramik Mahila Vikas Sangh is not profit but economic independence of women from the marginalised sections of society. The women are not only earning a living now but have developed entrepreneurship skills.