Mysuru: Floods may have washed away their houses, and farmlands , but the women from Kodagu and North Karnataka have not lost hope and are demonstrating what strength in the face of adversity is all about at the expo of women self- help groups at the Women's Dasara here.
Among the women using the expo as a platform to inspire other victims and women in general, is 48-year-old Rohini Subbaiah, wife of a former army man from Mathoor village in Virajpet taluk, Kodagu. The family not just lost the crops on three acres of their farmland, but also saw their house damaged in the recent flood. But Rohini, who has three children doing their higher education, did not lose hope. Although she lost the mushrooms she has been cultivating with technical advice from agriculture officers and the GKVK university, she changed track and along with other members of her self- help group, is now manufacturing 15 varieties of home-made pickles, which are being marketed at the Women's Dasara.
Providing similar inspiration is 43-year-old Vanitha Bhat, wife of R.N. Bhat from Yellapura, North Karnataka. Although the couple have two children, and, suffered like many others in the recent floods, Vanitha is back on her feet. An anganwadi worker and part of a self-help group, she too is manufacturing 16 home-made products with 13 other victims of the floods and is selling them along with her group at the Women’s Dasara.
Women and child development minister, Jolle Shashikala Annasaheb, who inaugurated the Women’s Dasara, observed that women today were in all spheres of life, from driving autos to being the finance minister. But she warned that being independent did give women the licence to wage a war against their husbands, and advised them to live in harmony with their families.
Her words resonated with the theme of Women’s Dasara this year, which is trying to save the concept of joint families, that is fast fading in modern society.
