“The most important achievement for me in life is to get my mother’s acceptance. I told her that I want to get into the handloom business when I was a teenager and she said go ahead.

I belong to Meerut town in Uttar Pradesh. Our place, Hashimpura, is famous for producing khadi textiles. There are hundreds of weavers who have gone on to become big businessmen in our town. Even I wanted to be one among them so I moved into this field at the young age of 15 after my father’s demise due to cancer. I was trained in weaving from my friend’s father in our hometown. I was handloom weaving for 5 years. I later entered into the sales and marketing part of it. Our company, Tehniat Khadi, in Meerut is famous for Khadi shirts and kurtas and I travel to different parts of India to sell khadi shirts and kurtas.

The best part about my job is meeting new people across India and getting to know their culture. For the last 10 years, I’ve made friends with people across all parts of the country and that satisfaction is something completely different. Whether I earn less or more, as long as my family and I can meet our monthly expenses, that is enough.

I always like to live in the present and not worry about my past or future. Yes, the Covid pandemic has been a testing phase in my life but I stick to my principle, which is to be focused on what I do every day. The handloom sector is an evergreen field and I believe people will support us.”