For Kashmiris, Jammu woman has a gift hamper

Rifat Mohidin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 19

When Anam Ishtiyaq, 27, a Jammu resident, left her engineering job in Gurugram, she was somehow sure of the creativity inside her to start a small venture. But it became a reality only when she was married in Kashmir.

After her marriage in Srinagar, Anam, an electronics and communication engineering passout from the Dehradun Institute of Technology, started a small venture of gift wrappings in April 2018.

“In Kashmir, which was a different city for me, I found there was no facility of attractive gift packings,” says Anam, who did her schooling from Presentation Convent Senior Secondary School, Jammu.

Anam says Kashmir had no facility which could turn wedding gifts into beautiful presentations.

“I merely found gift-wrapping sheets, some bows and ribbons but no one to assemble it into a beautiful gift hamper. In addition, it is overall tough to do this job at home where there is already hassle around wedding days. Facing this problem, it came to my mind that people in Kashmir are deprived of such facilities. So the idea of ‘Wrap it up by Annam’ started growing in my mind,” says Anam, who has an online store on Instagram with more than 5,000 followers.

After discussing the idea with her husband, Anam says her in-laws alsosupported her.

“I joined a certification course in trousseau and gift packing. My in-laws were supportive and encouraged my start-up idea,” she says.

Anam says when she was in a private job, she realised it was not the thing she wanted to do, which further gave a drive to her passion.

“Gradually, I realised that a technical office job is not my thing. The 9 to 5 work was getting monotonous for me. It was not something which made me happy from inside,” she says.

Anam says the response from people has been so overwhelming that she is booked for the whole month of April.

“People want things to be presented well. I also provide home delivery services,” says Anam, who is now planning to come up with a store.

The entrepreneur says her work, which she does from home, is not just confined to weddings.

“I also provide other gifting and packing services like chocolate hampers, baby shower gifts, cosmetic baskets, dry fruit hampers, birthday gift hampers, etc,” she says.