‘Pickled with love’

February is the month of love – a time to celebrate Valentine’s Day and remember love – emphasizing the importance of loved one’s in your life.

This Valentine’s Day, let’s celebrate this grandma’s love for her deceased husband.

‘Usha Gupta’ or Naani ji as she’s referred to by many, knew exactly what she needed to do when her husband passed away last year due to COVID.

After herself being hospitalized during the second wave for almost a month, she saw all the suffering and lack of resources many faced, especially the underprivileged, which made do something to donate towards COVID relief. To do so, the resident of Sarita Vihar launched ‘Pickled With Love’, a small business she set up in July last year with the help of her grandchildren.

The proceeds of this venture go to ‘Every Infant Matters’, an NGO that provides health solutions to children and women.

However, it wasn’t easy to take up this arduous task as age-related issues such as back pain posed quite a challenge for Gupta. Yet she ordered kilos and kilos of raw mangoes, to be salted, oiled, and pickled, following the traditional recipes she had learned in her maiden life when she lived in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, in pre-independence India.

Usha Gupta now spends almost the whole day running her pickle business and loves having something to look forward to. Many also place their orders just for the handwritten note that Usha Gupta writes in Hindi as a heartfelt message from her side.