The Invisible Thread : Raksha Bandhan and Shakti

The Invisible Thread :  Raksha Bandhan and Shakti 

It was around two in the morning when my phone lit up with a WhatsApp message. “मॅडम, आम्ही पोहोचलो घोटीला.”, meaning Madam, we have reached Ghoti. It was from Shobhatai. I read and re- read the message and sighed with relief. 

They had left Mulund at around 10.20 that night after a long day at an exhibition in Worli organised by IPSOWA. Ghoti was a very long drive away. More than the distance, I was worried because their car had a flat tyre which they had replaced with a worn out tyre. But perhaps what stayed with me most that night was not the exhibition, the sales, the products or even the long hours. It was the quiet image of a brother changing the tyre of his car late at night. All evening, I had been watching a brother quietly take care of his sister. With Raksha Bandhan around the corner, it suddenly meant much more.

It has been barely two weeks since I started Shakti on Wheels, an initiative of AnirvedShakti Foundation to take products made by women Self-Help Groups directly to consumers.

For years, while working with Self-Help Groups, I had seen remarkable women create excellent products, food grains, spices, handicrafts, traditional foods, handloom and countless other things. Production had it's issues but reaching the market was the bigger challenge. Exhibitions provided opportunities, but they came and went. What women needed was regular access to customers.

Shakti on Wheels grew from that thought, a mobile marketplace that could take products made by SHG women to housing societies, offices and other spaces where customers are. 

It is a dream I have always deeply believed in so after retirement, I did not think twice before  investing nearly ₹14 lakh in the initiative. The operational expenditure approximately seven to eight thousand a day, is something I need to make the model sustainable and so  AnirvedShakti Foundation retains a 15 per cent service charge on sales of the products. And exactly that  has become one of my first challenges.

Most SHGs are reluctant to pay the service charge. Many are accustomed to government-supported exhibitions where stalls and other facilities are often free or subsidised. The idea of paying for a continuous marketing platform, transport, technology, billing, sales support and continuos access to customers is still new. Only one SHG from Raigad, selling tea, had readily come on board. A few others participated in the inauguration but were hesitant to continue with the service charge.

For someone beginning a new journey, these are the moments when questions inevitably creep in. Will this model work? Will the women find value in it? Can this become sustainable?

Then came Shobhatai's phone call. “Madam, I am with you.”

Sometimes, that is all one needs.

Shobhatai is a member of the Savitribai Phule Utpadak Gat, a women's Self-Help Group under UMED–MSRLM. She lives in Ghoti, Igatpuri. She is also a deserted woman but that is only one circumstance of her life; it is certainly not her identity.

For nearly eight years, I have known her, I have always seen her smiling, cheerful, hardworking and ready to seize every opportunity that comes her way.

She sells hand pounded rice, organically grown pulses and other farm produce. Her speciality, however, is Gir cow ghee, prepared traditionally on a chulha. We have shared many marketplaces over the years.

I remember the MahaKhadi Kalasrushti exhibition that I had organised during my tenure as CEO of the Maharashtra State Khadi and Village Industries Board. Shobhatai made bumper sales there and went on to win the first prize from SIDBI.

Last year, at the Ganesh Utsav at Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi, her Gir cow ghee was a sell-out.The same happened at the India International Trade Fair 2025 in Delhi.  She knew how to make a good product. More importantly, she knew how to stand behind it with confidence.

On 17 August, one of my seniors very kindly offered us space to organise a Shakti on Wheels exhibition at their housing society in Seawoods. It was a wonderful opportunity.

But I suddenly found myself wondering: What products will I take? The platform was ready. The opportunity was there but I needed SHGs willing to walk this new road with me.

That was when Shobhatai stepped in. She came from Ghoti carrying moong dal with chilka, gavthi chana, chawli, matki, math, Indrayani rice and, of course, her Gir cow ghee. We added her products to the tea, coffee, rakhis and a few other items already available with us.

We were supposed to reach Seawoods by 1 p.m. But Shobhatai and her brother reached us only around 11.30 a.m and there was still considerable work to be done.

We have installed professional billing software for Shakti on Wheels. Every new product therefore had to be entered into the system. Stock had to be recorded. QR codes had to be generated, printed and pasted on individual packets. It was hectic.And that was when I began noticing her brother.

He is differently abled and has difficulty with his legs. Yet he had driven all the way from Ghoti so that his sister could participate in the exhibition.He lifted bags. He carried cartons. He helped arrange the products. He assisted her while she marketed them. He moved around doing whatever needed to be done. What struck me was not merely that he helped but how he helped. without drawing attention to himself, without complaining, without appearing impatient or  making his physical difficulty the centre of the story even once.  He was simply there because his sister needed him.

The response at Seawoods was very encouraging. IPSOWA, Mumbai was organising an exhibition on the 19th August so I requested them for a stall at their exhibition in Worli, which  fortunately got approved. 

So Shobhatai and her brother had to go  back to Ghoti to replenish the  products. They returned the very next day, with more products including rice.  It was another long journey, another day of lifting, arranging, selling and packing. And once again, her brother was there, always somewhere nearby, always helping. It was actually three days of continuos hard work. 

It was almost 10 pm by the time we reached Mulund after the Worli exhibition.  Everyone was exhausted.  And then we saw that their car had a flat tyre. My heart sank.They still had to drive all the way to Ghoti. Before I could say anything, her brother got to work. No irritation. No “Not again.” No complaint about the hour, the long day, his legs or the journey still ahead.

He simply began changing the tyre. I stood there watching him. My driver helped him a little and together they got it done. That tyre too was not in good shape but they said they would repair it before setting off towards Ghoti.

I was reluctant to let them travel so late but he reassured me they would be fine. For the next few hours, somewhere at the back of my mind, I remained conscious that they were still on the road. Until, close to two in the morning, my phone lit up with the message, " मॅडम,  आम्ही पोहोचलो घोटीला.”  meaning, We have reached Ghoti. It was such a relief.  And with Raksha Bandhan round the corner, I understood what "raksha' meant 2009 brother's wrist but some of the strongest threads between brothers and sisters are invisible. They are woven through ordinary acts that nobody photographs and few people applaud.

Driving your sister hundreds of kilometres because she has an opportunity to sell her products. Lifting her bags even when walking is not easy for you. Standing quietly behind her stall while she speaks to customers. Travelling back to Ghoti and returning the next day because she needs more stock.

Changing a tyre at ten in the dark night after an exhausting day because there is still a long road home. Never once questioning, Why are you doing all this? Instead, through his actions, saying : Go ahead. I am here. In its simplest form, isn't that raksha? And isn't that also empowerment? 

We celebrate the festival with a beautiful thread tied around a

We speak so often about empowering women. We create schemes, institutions, credit linkages, training programmes and markets and all of them matter enormously.

But there is another form of empowerment that begins much closer to home. It happens when a father says, 

let her study. When a husband says, Follow your dream. When a son says, I will manage. When a brother quietly picks up his sister's bags and walks beside her.

As I thought about Shobhatai and her brother that night, I realised that these first two weeks of Shakti on Wheels have taught me something too. Starting again after a long career in government is not easy. There are investments to make, daily expenses to meet, systems to establish, people to convince and disappointments to absorb. There are moments when one wonders whether a dream is commercially viable or whether people will understand what one is trying to create. 

But then someone like Shobhatai calls and says, I am with you. A senior officer opens the doors of a housing society. IPSOWA gives women entrepreneurs a platform.

A woman travels from Ghoti to Mumbai carrying the produce of rural Maharashtra and a brother quietly carries her bags.

Suddenly, my investment, daily expenses and all the anxieties regarding Shakti On Wheels become part of something larger.

I had started Shakti on Wheels believing that empowerment meant creating markets for women.  These few days reminded me that empowerment is also about faith, someone believing in your dream before it has proved itself.

Shobhatai placed that faith in Shakti on Wheels.

Her brother placed that faith in his sister.

And perhaps I too am learning to place a little more faith in this new journey of mine.

At two in the morning, that simple WhatsApp message was not merely telling me that they had reached Ghoti. 

For me, it carried another message,  "Keep going. Shakti is on its way." And sometimes, quietly walking beside Shakti, is a brother.

Season's Greetings for the ensuing Raksha Bandhan...

R. Vimala, IAS Retd. 

Maharashtra Cadre, 2009 Batch

Former Resident Commissioner & Secretary, Government of Maharashtra

Founder, AnirvedShakti Foundation

PhD Research Scholar, Centre for Policy Studies,