From Childhood Loss to Success: Fish Seller Turned Hotel Owner

Losing his mother at 12, he learned the fish business early on. Today, he has transformed his life to become a successful hotel owner and spice trader, inspiring many with his journey of resilience and hard work.

'No business is small and there is no religion bigger than business' This dialogue from Shahrukh Khan's film 'Raees' perfectly fits the 'fish business'. The turnover and profit of the stinking fish market is in crores.

It is not for nothing that it is said 'Fish is the queen of water'. This queen of water gives crores of rupees of profit to the fishermen. The special thing about the fish business is that it is not dominated by men. Women rule this business and they are the real 'queen' of this business.

On the occasion of International Women's Day, we are telling you the success stories of 8 such women who broke away from the norm and created their own identity and set an example of success. In this series, to know the intricacies of the fish market, we met Nalini Pandurang Mumbaikar, a fish trader from Alibaug.

Nalini learnt the fish business at the young age of 12. Today she is the owner of a hotel. Along with fish, she also does spice business. Along with earning profit herself, she is also giving employment to many women. Nalini shared her experience of fish business with us in this way-

Learned fish business at the age of 12

I am from Alibaug. Fish business is the biggest source of employment here. I lost my mother at the age of 12. I was studying in class 7 then. After that, only 3 people were left in the name of family in the house - father, younger brother and me. Father used to work as a fisherman in the sea. There was no one at home to take care of my younger brother, so I had to leave studies.

After mother's death, it was as if I had grown older than my age. Along with taking care of the house and brother, I also started going with father to help him in fishing. From the age of 12, I started learning the nuances of fish business. At that time I did not know how to cook. I learned to cook by going to the neighbors' houses. All the neighbors used to help me. This is how I became an expert in making delicious food.

This is how the spice business started

After watching my recipe videos, people would ask me what spices I put in the food. To make our homemade spices reach people, we gathered the women of our village and started the spice business. We do not use machines to make spices. There were two benefits of the spice business - people got the spices of their choice and the women working with us got employment.

After some time, we also opened a spice store in the village itself. In this store, we also keep homemade products of those women of the village who sell their goods on the road. This encourages the women of the village to make pickles, papad, badiya etc. at home and also earns a good income.