THRISSUR: Shiji C Balakrishnan lost her husband six years ago to a heart attack. Mother to two daughters, and with parents to look after, she was suddenly the sole breadwinner of the family. She had no idea how to earn money.“My elder daughter is a special child and I used to be next to her. But after my husband’s death, I was left with no option but to go to work,” Shiji said.
Now, leveraging the reach of social media, the 39-year-old is making a parallel income by making a variety of papad from vegetable extracts. She ventured into the business during the lockdown when left with no money for a month as the motorcycle dealer she was working for was shut because of the pandemic. While scrolling Facebook, she saw a news item on a farmer in Gujarat. “I managed to get in touch with him and understood the process of making home-made papad,” she said.
It was jackfruit season and Shiji experimented with it. “The experiment was a success and my neighbours’ feedback gave me the confidence to work with more varieties,” she said.“Initially, the response from shopkeepers wasn’t good. Some agreed to keep a few packets at their store, and I started door-to -door selling. Later, shopkeepers began placing orders as the response improved.”
Shiji’s papad includes coconut, curry leaf, coriander, carrot, tomato, ginger, masala and jackfruit. Considering diabetic patients, Shiji is all set to add wheat masala papad to her list. “Wheat masala papad will be out in the market by next week,” she added.The papads are 100 per cent home-made and are made using vegetable extracts. No artificial tastemakers or essences are added, she claimed.
Having started out experimenting, she now makes varieties of papad under the brand Amma’s Food Products. Selling at `20 a packet of eight papads, the effort brings an additional income of around `10,000 to Shiji