There was a time during 1972 when the people of Usmanabaad, Solapur left their villages due to critical drought conditions and traveled to the big cities in the hope to create a better tomorrow. Just like others, a farmer Shankar Khatal from a Lamboti village in the Mohol District, decided the same, but destiny had other plans for him & his family. He, fortunately, received a highway side land in a government scheme. And a new hope of ray was created in the hearts of this couple. They both decided to join the work made available by the respected officers in that region however, Mrs. Rukmini was not allowed to work in the field just because she was a female and everyone thought that she is incapable of the work field.
Poor family conditions and low income wasn’t enough to feed the kids and survive this battle. Mrs. Rukmini wanted to do something to anything, she thought of every possible option she could come up with but this journey wasn’t as easy as it feels. After so many options got shut down, the only option Rukmini left was to build a business. Building a business? Building a business by a woman who was rejected from fieldwork just because she was a female. Was it even going to work if she had started? All these questions started piling up in her mind yet with a brave mind and courage she decided to go with the Tea business. Now the question was how to make it a successful business that will not more but at least will feed her kids. But running a business is that easy? Especially with the mindset when that society was not at all supportive of female entrepreneurs plus starting a business needs some amount of money, to begin with. All these questions, worries, and challenges were standing in front of her waiting for her to answer but Rukmini did not hesitate and went ahead with the idea itself.
Rukmini began her tea business on the side of the highway. In the initial stage, her customers were all the workers and truck drivers and eventually, the customer base increased as well as the demand. Rukmini then started selling Corn Chivada and then other snack items. After a few days, Shankar started helping Rukmini with the help of entertainment and attracting new customers to join. Rukmini’s business started growing and went from making tea on Chulha to her own Tapari (Stall). And everyone in the family joined hands to help Rukmini grow her business more. Tea stalls, Chivda – Chutney business seemed to grow rapidly and soon Tea Tapri turned into a Hotel named #Hotel Jaishankar
Rukmini’s immense faith in God Shankar and all the support her husband Shankar showed to her, she wanted to name the hotel after both of them.
Well, what is more, satisfying than seeing your business grow and extend to various cities of the country? Rukmini’s business grew beyond Pune, Mumbai, and Banglore, to Delhi so later on this entrepreneur decided to give her products a name called Lamboti, after her village name. And of course, the business turned out to be a brand soon after that. Now, the Lamboti Chivda is quite famous in the world and Rukmini has never looked back.
