Parvathi, 35, has a son, Dan Kumar, 18, at the university, a second son, Lakshmi Raj, 12, and a daughter, Priya, 8, in government schools. Before she took a loan Parvathi bought paper and made it into all size of bags. Her husband sold stainless vessels by bicycle door to door. They were struggling, drinking left over broken rice water, called porridge water, when there was nothing else to eat. They had to live with friends—a humbling experience.

Parvathi's husband had an idea to contact wholesalers and set up a shop to sell the stainless vessels. Her father gave rent money and merchandise to get started. Parvathi has completed three loans—all used to buy plastic and stainless vessels. She also buys and collects old clothing, which she sells to merchants who buy it in bulk and sell it to factories as cleaning cloths and other things. The cloths need sorting according to type of fabric and garment, and that has become an overwhelming task.

Parvathi has employed a part-time person, but they still work until 11:00 pm., and she needs to employ another full-time person in order to expand the shop’s business and handle the used clothing end of it.