While having a conversation with Ms Surabhi Yadav, she said,
“As a founder and a CEO of Sajhe Sapne and the creator of Basanti: Women at leisure, I realised how small droplets of belief can add a huge difference to a vessel. Scrolling down the Instagram page of Basanti: Women at Leisure, you will find a gem that hides in every woman.”
Surabhi said, “Every woman has a mischievous side that she does not show to the world.” The pictures can show you how women seek their happiness. And if women are given the time and the freedom to be the version of themselves, they can also live a life of leisure.
Like any other business, working with women as part of Sajhe Sapne had financial barriers. However, Surabhi was not just dreaming of giving girls a job and making them independent. She was also dreaming of teaching them coding. She wanted to assist a bunch of promising girls doing something out of the box to earn money and run their households. This journey was a collective effort of the girls and Surabhi. Constant feedback coming from the girls helped the organisation reflect on what was going wrong and made the organisation better.
“Humne feminism ke standard ko bohot low rakha hai.”
Surabhi stated that if we want to grow, we have to create a new stage where every idea is respected equally and a safe space is created for everyone. When asked about what her hopes are from Sajhe Sapne, she says, “(Their work) will lead to more and more feminist creations than just fights. Fights are important but more energy would be put into something that creates a positive impact on the society.” Surabhi is creating a platform for women to join the workforce by teaching them skills that would make them independent. This is how a new platform where skills are respected more than someone’s race or gender helps increase creation.
“Pareshani ko prashn bana do,” she said. “Why is it like that? Why is something affecting me so much? If it is affecting me, how can I find a way to make the problem powerless and win this battle. Be curious about how everything can be made better for yourself and the world around you.”
Lastly, towards the end, Surabhi closed the conversation with an interesting thought, when she was asked, “What is one thing that you wish you would have said to your mother when she discarded that funny side of her just to be a serious mom, do her household chores and keep the house clean?” She said,
“I wish I could say so many sorrys to her. Because, at times I was embarrassed by what she said or did. And I showed her that through my actions, but now I realise that she was just being who she was and she loved being that version of herself. And I could have just let her be that woman she was.”
Written by Akshata Bhosale
Akshata wrote this article as a participant of the Media-Makers Fellowship's April'24 cohort.
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