For 78-year-old Nagamani, life only began after sixty for many a reason. Today, she is a multi-faceted personality - working, singing, going to clubs and taking part in all kinds of recreational activities. At this age, she has found a new vocation of creating homemade infused herbal oils which has hit the popularity chart among the neighborhood. While at the same time, she has brought out two music albums, one devotional and another romantic belying her age. Fondly called as Mani aunty, she always believes in success and her present lifestyle was attained only after great suffering. “I got married at the early age of 15 and all my feelings and rights were suppressed for a long time. I loved all kinds of sporting activity but could not pursue my passion. I had to literally fight for my rights being married so young,” recalled Mani.
Today, she is known for making rare herbal oil products that has high demand. “When I was in my early sixties, I leart this formula. Since I have two daughters, the family was my priority, so I ended up making this product and started distributing it free among my friends.” With the support of my domestic worker, Vijaya, I was able to get into small time businesses. But to Mani aunty’s bad luck, she lost her elder daughter in 2003, an irreparable loss for her. “It was my second daughter Achala who supported me during the time when I couldn’t handle the shock. But with help from Mala Dhawan of Hundred Hands, I started showcasing our product at craft bazaars,” said Mani.
What started off as a hobby in the initial stages, she turned into a full fledged venture when the owner of a salon, Mary bought the herbal oil for her parlour which proved to be a hit among her clients. “The oil is basically prepared at home with herbs mainly picked up from Himachal Pradesh and from other such places. Last year, I was able to sell around 250 herbal bottles to various clients across India and abroad. It is now that my daughter and I have decided to take this venture further but definitely we are not prepared to commercialise it.”Apart from this, Mani has a passion for music. “Till recently, I used to learn light music from H K Narayan. I could not take it up as a profession owing to family problems. But as they say better late than never. I have fulfilled my dreams of bringing out two albums at the age of 70. I still practice daily and at least spend a few hours singing devaranammas,” signs off this charming lady, exhibiting great confidence.