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This Diwali 2025, meet the inspiring women of in Chembur Mumbai who are cooking up festive delicacies not just to celebrate, but to carve a path toward financial independence. Discover their entrepreneurial journey through food
Diwali 2025: Five women from low-income families are finding financial empowerment this Diwali by dishing out fresh snacks and sweets from a mini kitchen in Chembur
The group has churned out nearly 100 kilograms of Diwali snacks from a compact rented kitchen in Chembur East
The city’s heat feels a few degrees warmer when we sit down with Hamida and Mumtaj Shaikh in their makeshift Diwali kitchen in Chembur. The chatty sisters gladly indulge us in small talk while waiting for the oil to turn hot to fry batches of sev. Conversation is about their family in their hometown of Palitana in Gujarat, and their superior cows that could put the breeds in Mumbai to shame. In the same breath, 51-year-old Mumtaj reveals how different life is now. “My husband passed away three months ago. I have sons, but their lives have been taken over by chronic alcoholism. This — cooking here every day — is the only thing that gives me joy,” she says.
Diwali 2025: Kitchen camaraderie
3 Sakhi, a group of enterprising women from low-income backgrounds in Kurla’s Kasaiwada have been meeting at the rented kitchen in Chembur every day for the last three weeks to churn out Diwali snacks (faral) by the quintal. A week ahead of Diwali, they’ve already shipped out 100 kilograms of chakli, besan ladoos, shankarpali and chivda. Sujata Sawant, the frontwoman of the group, turns her WhatsApp screen towards us. “These are messages from West Bengal, Kashmir, and Bengaluru. How do I tell them that the shipping might cost more than the products,” she chuckles between responding to the incessant notifications.
(From left) Fatima Shah, Sujata Sawant and Sameena Shaikh pack snacks
As we’d guessed from their kitchen camaraderie, Hamida, Mumtaj, Sujata, Feroza, Fatima Shah and Sameena Shaikh go way back. Originally members of a larger Mahila Bachat Gat, the women have sewed fishing nets, cooked lunches, and bottled masalas together since 2015. “Somehow, we never ended up making a sizeable profit in any of the projects. Members fell like dominoes. The five of us are the last ones standing,” reveals Hamida. “The biggest mistake we made was undermining the power of marketing. The women are excellent in the kitchen, but that alone doesn’t bring in business,” Sawant explains.
On a tight deadline. PICS/KIRTI SURVE PARADE
With support from mentors Priya Joshi, Richa Chitgopekar and Srijata Sengupta — all entrepreneurs in the food industry — there are more ‘sakhis’ than meets the eye this time. The latest to join the list on the day of our visit is director Anurag Kashyap, who discovered the group through one of the mentor’s social media posts. “He posted a story on his Instagram promoting our business. That should explain the calls and messages you saw earlier,” Sawant reveals as we step out of the kitchen (which has received an FSSAI licence) for a breather.
Hamida Shaikh prepares sev in the kitchen
We’ve been here long enough to know that the aroma wafting from the kitchen means the snacks are ready for a taste test. We head back into the kitchen to tuck into the sev and chaklis laid out on a tasting platter. “Do you fancy something sweet after that?” Sawant offers us a scoop of crystallised sugar. A few muffled chuckles ensue in the kitchen, just not in time for us to realise we’ve just lapped up sour lemon concentrate crystals. “It’s our newest experiment to extend the shelf life of our lemon juice mix,” the group reveals. We’re on the fence about this marketing idea.
(From left) Sameena Shaikh, Hamida Shaikh, Sujata Sawant, Fatima Shah, Mumtaj Shaikh are all smiles outside the kitchen
Community bonding
As the clock strikes four, the mood changes and snacks are scooped and sealed in food grade plastic pouches like clockwork. Seated in the packing room, we finally address the irony of four Muslim women coming together to celebrate Diwali. “It irked a few people in our neighbourhood, initially. A woman stepping out to work a day job isn’t common in Kasaiwada. But once they saw the financial freedom it brought to our families, they wanted a piece of it too,” shares Fatima, who is the sole breadwinner in her family of five. “Criticism is plenty. But we rarely take it to heart. If there’s one thing that can bring people together, it’s food,” Sawant adds.
The group’s new experiment, the lemon juice concentrate crystals
The group is determined to ensure the project doesn’t fade away with the festive season. “The next time you visit us, we’ll be in a bigger kitchen,” Sawant promises. Plans to sell bottles of Ghati masala, a hot spice mix from her hometown Sangli in south-western Maharashtra, are already in the pipeline, we learn. It will pair well with a scoop of their sugar, we reckon.
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