ANISHA FRANCIS
anisha@herald-goa.com
SIOLIM: Vaishali Chandru Goltekar is the first and only woman to run a rice and flour mill in Siolim-Sodiem since 1981, serving generations of local families. Born in the late 1960s in Assagao, Vaishali’s early life was marked by hardship. The eldest of five siblings, her father worked as a tailor, while her mother managed the household. With limited means, the family often struggled to make ends meet.
“I attended school until the 7th standard, but was forced to give up education when my father could no longer afford the fees. From then on, I helped my father at his tailor shop with hemming clothes. During farming season, I assisted my mother in the fields, and when we didn’t have much to eat, I would venture to the river to catch fish and crabs to feed the family,” recalls Vaishali, her years of hard work evident in her weathered hands.
In her early twenties, Vaishali married Chandru Goltekar and moved to Siolim, to live with his joint family. Their life was far from easy; her father-in-law was the village’s last bullock cartman, known as the ‘vontko’, transporting goods to the market every morning. The family’s income was meagre, with Chandru working as a peon, and the family living hand-to-mouth in a dilapidated hut.
Determined to improve their situation, Vaishali took it upon herself to change their fortunes. In the 1980’s, she urged her husband to save money to reconstruct the house. “We had two small children then, and I had my heart set on giving them a good education. I knew I had to start a business in order to pay their fees, so I settled on a flour mill,” she says. Starting this business was no easy feat—Vaishali had to pawn her gold to buy the machinery. But her perseverance paid off. With the support of then Ministers Somnath Zuwarkar and Chandrakant Chodankar, they later expanded to a rice mill. Vinod Palyekar also extended a helping hand. The mill opened at 5 am and ran until 9 pm, with customers flooding in, as there was little competition at the time. Vaishali worked tirelessly, single-handedly running the mill without the funds to hire staff, often working without a break to eat. “It was traditionally a man’s job, and I had some heavy lifting to do – but I did it all to give my kids a better life. There was one other mill in the area, run by a man. He was so annoyed that I was venturing into this business that he threw stones at me!” she laughs, adding that she did not reciprocate, but simply explained that she had to support her family. “He shut down his mill a few years later,” she says.
Despite the hardships, Vaishali’s dedication ensured her children received a quality education. Her daughter, Reshma, earned a PhD in microbiology, while both her sons pursued successful careers—one in computer engineering and the other as a chef. Today, her children are well-settled, with one son abroad and a daughter-in-law who is a dentist.
Even as the years have passed and times have changed, Vaishali continues to run the mill. “I won’t give up on my business, even though my children ask me to stop. As long as my feeble hands can work, I will continue,” she says with determination. Her customer numbers have dwindled, with most people preferring to purchase their flour in readymade packets from supermarkets. Some customers still come to Vaishali’s mill, particularly those who seek freshly ground multigrain flour. She fondly remembers the days when she would grind 200 tins of rice a day, but now even one tin is a rare occurrence.
The fields that once provided her family’s sustenance have since turned fallow, submerged due to the Tillari irrigation project’s leaks. Only a handful of elderly villagers continue to farm the land, while others have moved away. “People should go back to farming. It kept us healthy and strong,” she says with a sense of nostalgia.
Her message to women is one of empowerment: “Extend a helping hand to your husbands, supplement their income. I was able to give my children the best education because I worked. Women should not limit themselves to the kitchen. You can achieve so much more.”
As she sits in her modest home, built through years of saving, Vaishali Goltekar is content. The barter system of old, where customers would give her rice husk in exchange for grinding their grains, may be gone, but she still finds joy in her work. “I’m happiest when people come to me with the rice they have grown. Those days are gone, but as long as I can work, I will.”