My mom became widow at a much early age than the rest of my aunts. Initially the thought crossed my mind about how she can keep herself occupied, creative and useful. That was just a thought and I left at it.Much later, one of my colleague called me and asked if I could suggest some activities for his mother to make herself engaged. I told him few things, but that was not suitable for the person she was.

Recently, I spoke to a lady who was travelling with me. Her husband had passed away two years back. She was a active lady, and financially settled. she was on her way to meet her son in Bangalore, who had come down for a visit from US. As we chatted in our train journey, she said that she was busy maintaining her house and she has a hobby of making nettipattam based on the orders. This makes her very busy – procuring the materials, making it with care and time. I wish every women had something productive, something which makes them useful.

Activity and Support Centre for Widows

I’m not sure if there are organizations in India specifically for helping widows with counselling, advice, support, help them combat loneliness, make them active in life, or help them with their grief, depression or help them find a life partner, if need be.

What if there’s a NGO or Private Agency for Widows?

Before we talk of the agency, let’s see what should this agency do.

Here’s my thoughts and suggestion!

1. It must have office cum activity centre in major cities and towns

2. Have a website, an App ( where people can select options)

Next what kind of activities it should provide.

1. Legal work
2. Support – 360 support
( Hospital, Care giver, Financial Management, Solace, Grief etc)

Activities Incumbents can Choose:

1. Hobby ( Sports, Swimming, Cooking, stitching,etc)

2. Social ( Traveling, Volunteer for a NGO, )

3. Relaxation ( Massage, Grooming, Well-being)

4. Sexual ( A forum to share sexual needs)

5. Spiritual ( Visit to holy places, Prayer, etc)

6. Learning/Knowledge ( Facilitate learning new topics,

Each program should be custom-build for the individual. The option to choose the activities should
be left to the user. Mobile App, will provide hassle-free facility for the user to click and select the activities

For instance, user can select any activity for any date. Once selected, agency will get notification and it
will work to execute the order.

What’s does most widows do now?

In a typical day, I feel they are finding themselves as a support structure fo the siblings.

1. Baby sitting
2. Cooking
3. Cleaning
4. Shopping for the family
5. Watching TV ( Serials)
6. Whatsapp ( Forward and sharing it on family groups)
7. Gardening or keeping the surrounding clean
8. Shuttling houses – visit kid’s house

Make Yourself Valuable, Useful and Productive

When  I searched online, all that I could find in India was .nic sites and Army sites. Few of them were about army widows, Widow ashram in Varanasi, and then came widow dating sites, which obviously was not of Indian origin. Also, few sites were about empowering widows from economically backward sector.

This project I have envisioned was for widows who are economically self-sufficient. Meaning, they have a sufficient bank balance, but looking for something more than just doing the routine stuff.

Probably, they can choose activity, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly and subscription will be based on the usage.