It just seemed like the other day when my cousin’s sister Shehnaz had completed her graduation and was happily pursuing a diploma course in aviation and hospitality. In January 2020 exactly 2 months before the pandemic of corona had struck our country, she received a brilliant job offer from one of the leading domestic airlines in our country. Grappled with joy and excitement it seemed to our family that at last her long-lost dream was to become a reality. But our thoughts were soon to be proven grossly wrong.
She was to join in April 2020 right after completing her final exams in the course. However, the unprecedented Covid wave had gripped our nation worldwide before that and all airlines had stopped flying with immediate effect. She too received a cancellation of contract intimidation from the airlines she was about to join. Absolutely in dismay and left heartbroken she returned to her small town of West Bengal to where she belonged. To everyone and her initially, it seemed that her career life was doomed totally. After a great deal of denial and refusal to accept reality she finally gave up her dreams of becoming an air hostess and started pursuing her childhood hobby of making handmade jewellery at home and selling them to her near and dear ones at a very nominal cost.
Much to everyone’s expectations, the beautifully crafted earring and bracelet collections she stitched and wove while sitting at home became an instant demand and popular over her close-knit associations. The demands for more such collections became inevitable and she started selling them at slightly higher prices across larger groups of people across her town this then expanded over cities as well and she started winning a small shop where she hired two other assistants to help her with more demands of home-style jewellery. Today when the Covid situation is much under control and new avenues are opening up again, my cousin Shehnaz seems determined to expand and grow her hobby into full-term entrepreneurship as that was something that gave her hope at a time when everything appeared closed and dismal. She is a proud Entrepreneur today in her own right!
Written by Tameena Ali
