MANIPUR: Drugs almost ruined her family, but wine helped her make life beautiful. With a brand to her name, Sopem MK is making it big in winemaking in the Naga hills of Manipur. Life is not a breeze if the earning male members of a family are either dead or worse, wasted by drugs. Two members in Sopem’s family are drug addicts. Domestic problems drove another to end his life early.
It was only last year that the 26-year-old ventured into winemaking for commercial purposes. Now, she has made a name for herself with Great Pair, her fruit wine brand. She is a promising baker too. The thought that she should earn to help her mother run the family made Sopem discontinue her studies after class 12 and go to Delhi in 2017 to work at a showroom. After a few months, she moved to Chennai to work at a restaurant. Her salary was low and she could hardly save anything. She returned to her village Shokvao, 29 km from Ukhrul town in Ukhrul district, and joined a college in Imphal. However, expenses on studies, food and lodging forced her to become a street vendor.
“After I joined college, I started working at a restaurant again. I quit the job after some time and began making and selling momos and noodles by the roadside. I had to take care of myself and my family,” recalls Sopem.
She thought of undergoing training in a bakery but did not have the resources and there was nobody to support her. After graduation, a friend informed her of an Ukhrul-based NGO that imparts free bakery training. She was selected following a screening.
“They (interviewers) asked me about my passion. I said I was looking to earn a living. They called up the next day informing me that I had made it for the two-week training,” Sopem recalls. After training, she returned to her village and started making doughnuts in her kitchen. She would go door to door to sell it. Soon, help came from another friend, who lent her a dough-mixing machine, and she returned its price in instalments. After a few weeks, she shifted to Ukhrul to pursue her bakery business seriously. She would sell her products to shops in Ukhrul town and customers would visit her rented accommodation.
Her passion, however, has always been winemaking. “Before trying my hand at bakery, I would explore the jungles for fruits and make wine at home. I would share my wine with friends. I had seen my grandmother making wine with the traditional method using herbs. So, even as I was making and selling my bakery items, I started thinking of a future in winemaking,” Sopem says.
She took the help of YouTube to chase her dream. She watched videos of winemaking in the Chinese traditional method. Subsequent consultations with village elders helped her learn more.She returned to Ukhrul early last year and started making fruit wine on a commercial scale. She would sell her brew to friends and acquaintances. Soon, others came to know of her wine.
“One of my cousins opened a Friday market in Ukhrul where people put up stalls. At his insistence, I set up my stall there. I sold my bakery items as well as fruit wine,” Sopem says. She visits villages to buy fruits to make her wine. She sells it throughout the year. Last year, she made over 1,000 litres of wine.
“From July to August, I buy the fruits and make wine. My wine is handmade. I have a local brew brand too, called Lemon Cello, which is made from rice and lemon,” Sopem says.
She uses banana, jackfruit, plum, guava, mango, grapes, mulberry, etc to make wine. It comes in 750 ml bottles.“I need to spend money on buying fruits, bottles, caps, labels etc. Bottles are very expensive – Rs 40 for one – that I buy from Guwahati,” Sopem says. She sells a bottle of her wine for Rs 400 but if someone buys in bulk, she gives a discount of Rs 50-100 per bottle.
She says the odds are against her but she has managed to create a beautiful life. “I had my problems back home but I worked hard to weave a beautiful life. My mother is my hero,” she says. Managang Raman, a Naga social worker and leader, said the people of Ukhrul are proud of Sopem. “She faced a lot of hardships but she never broke down. She is generous and ready to contribute for community development,” says Raman.
RAISING A TOAST TO HER PASSION
Sopem took the help of YouTube to chase her dream. She watched videos of winemaking in the Chinese traditional method. Subsequent consultations with village elders helped her learn more about making fruit wine