Men not allowed! Can somebody imagine that in this world of male dominance there could be a place where men are not allowedIJ Well, such place existed in Bhopal before Independence in the name of Pari Bazar that was perhaps the first only women market where buyer and seller were women and males above the age of 10 years were not allowed.
After about 75 years on May 4, two young Muslim women entrepreneurs Saima Faruqui and Maria Siddiqui joined hands to repeat history and recreated Pari Bazar by bringing over two dozen women entrepreneurs under one roof by hiring a marriage hall for a day and converted it into an market exclusively for women. The budding entrepreneurs Saima and Maria strictly restricted entry of males above age of 10 years into the ‘Women Entrepreneurs’ Fair’ organised under the banner of learning Oasis at Star Shadi Hall some 100 metres away from Pari Bazar in Shahjehanabad locality of the State capital on Thursday.
God helps those who help themselves turned to reality as not only the fair became a big hit but was also blessed by an old lady named Birjis Anjum who had the privilege of doing shopping in actual Pari Bazar in her childhood with her mother.
Saima Faruqui while talking to The Pioneer over her ambitious project said, “We were thinking since long over two major problems of women who remain under purdah. The first concern was to do something for those women who are doing business by remaining in their homes or at the most by opening boutiques in their houses or close vicinity of homes and the second was about the purdah-clad women consumers who could not do shopping freely in the market and they are shy and also hesitant while talking to men other than that of family.”
Saima further said that I discussed the issue with my colleague and friend Maria and found that she was also having similar concerns after that we talked to our elders, relatives and friends and found that almost all women have similar concerns. Following that we decided to do something over the issue and came out with the idea of bringing women entrepreneurs running their business from home under one roof by creating exclusive market where buyers and sellers both would be women, she added.
She said we talked to women business personals running business from home who happily accepted our proposal so we booked the marriage hall to go ahead and organised the fair on Thursday. “The response to the fair was beyond expectations as we were able to bring 25 women entrepreneurs to showcase their products and though we did not publicised it much except in the Whatsapp groups with the relatives, neighbors and friends. But the turnout in the fair was large and it was a huge success,” she added.
Excited with the success of the fair, the duo of Saima and Maria are planning similar fairs of more than a day time in near future.