I am Sangeeta Gupta, Home baker and you have asked to share my story of becoming a home baker from homemaker without an oven.

       Well, I am Sangeeta Gupta and like all other mothers, I always wanted to give my kids fresh and good food. Since the past 15 years, were are living in the quarters of a residential school (B.K Birla Centre for Education, Shirgaon, Pune) which is in the outskirts of Pune city. My husband is PGT(Computer Science) i.e., Computer Science teaching Grade 11 and 12. He was also a house-master so, we rarely had time to go out every now and then. So, whenever my children yearned for cakes, I used to prepare at home and since then we used to celebrate birthdays’, anniversaries’ with home-made cakes. Everything went on smoothly.But my life changed, when lockdown came. All the shops were closed and on request of one of villager, I baked a birthday cake for his family. They like it so much that they placed more orders for the cakes. Even my friends and husband’s colleagues also requested me to take orders and In this way, I started my small home business of cakes. My priorities were to provide best quality, freshly baked cakes at nominal charges. But after 4/ 5 orders, I found my microwave oven getting burnt due to short circuit however, I had to complete the order by evening. It was a lockdown period an repairing or purchasing of oven was impossible. I had no other alternative rather than baking the cake in a KADHAI. It was a trial and I was amazed to see the result. The cake came out soft and spongy just like an oven. This boosted my confidence and I decorated the cake and delivered it by evening and waited eagerly for the feedback. The customer liked the cake so much. Since then, I have been baking cakes in a Kadhai /Pateela and have not bought an oven. Baking in a KADHAI also cuts down the electricity cost thereby letting me sell my cakes at a reasonable cost. I live in a village area so have nominally charged the cakes and provided fresh, customised and best quality always. It’s been nearly four years baking without an oven and this year because of the blessings of all, I have received the “Best Cake Designer Award” and that too without an oven. During lockdown, when villagers were giving orders for the cakes, I also received requests from ladies / girls who showed eagerness to learn Cake making and decoration. Considering these, I prepared myself for the online classes. It was a new way and challenging for myself as I was not too tech savvy. However with my help of my children, I managed to conduct my online classes uninterruptedly.I have so far prepared more than 2000 customized cakes of sizes ranging from 250 grams to more than 10 kg. My valuable customers include village people, students, friends, and nearby societies who believe in my work and my quality. I hope my story inspires people and make everyone understand that we Indians are jugaadu and “haar kabhi nahi manna”, ‘Koshish karne walo ki kabhi haar nahi hoti’. I have earned lot of respect in my society, among friends who really admired me and praised my efforts. My vision has been absolutely clear to learn and empower my nearby people so that we all together can improve one’s life.

Hope my story inspires other homemakers who want to do something but face challenges like me and achieve their dreams by overcoming all obstacles.