Stree Shakti (Women Power) in Purkal

“There are some people you meet who inspire you to do something meaningful in your lives; and then there are some people you meet who just inspire you to make your life more meaningful”.

On a recent trip to Dehra Doon I happened to meet someone who inspires you to make your life more meaningful and I just had to write about her and Purkal Stree Shakti Samiti. I happened to discover this place through my friend Archana’s blog – Talking Qalam ‘s blog post One Thing Leads to Another. This got me interested in this place and as I was planning to be in Dehra Doon for a work related trip, I added this to my visit list.

Nestled amongst beautiful hills, Stree Shakti is a women empowerment scheme based in a small village called Purkal near Dehra Doon where they teach local village women the skill sets to create hand-made quilts and patch work handicrafts. They have an entire complex in Purkal where they have a learning and production centre for women, a small display centre that retails their creations and an early childhood development centre for their kids.

The display centre, Shtree Shakti, Purkal

Entrepreneurship in the Air

Something seems to be in the air these days as everyone around me seems to be getting bit by either the career break bug or the entrepreneurship bug. Till a couple of years back, these words seemed to be associated with people who either had a good financial backing or women quitting for family reasons or with people with no jobs. But more recently things seem to be changing. I am coming across a lot of friends, acquaintances, fellow bloggers who have left good careers / jobs to follow their hearts and actually make the effort to start something from scratch and build it up to a profitable enterprise. Now, this is definitely not easy as you are leaving a well settled, secure and a cushy job to voluntarily take up the risk of failures, cash flow issues, insecurities at times, etc etc. But on the other side – you are doing something that you like and building something that is yours. And the high of it, is just something unimaginable.

While I also get into these phases at times, I haven’t had the courage yet or been ready to take a hit on my material comforts. But two of my very good friends have been bit by the entrepreneurial bug and have set up very successful enterprises of their own. So this post is to introduce them and their successful enterprise