A one-year-old in her arms, another child on the way, and a few clothes tied up in a small gamchha were all she had. Behind her lay a broken marriage; ahead, only uncertainty. Many thought one woman's life might stop there. But she did not stop. She turned her tears into strength and began the struggle of life again.

Today that woman is a familiar face at Mahasthanhat in Shibganj upazila of Bogura. Not only in Mahasthan but in wholesale vegetable markets across the country she is known as the 'pumpkin queen'. Sweet pumpkins she collects travel regularly on vegetable trucks from Thakurgaon to Chuadanga, Kushtia, Sirajganj, Mymensingh, Khulna and other parts of the country. Wholesalers know them by one name: "Shirin Apa's pumpkins".

There was a time when two meals a day were not certain. Today dozens of farmers, labourers, transport workers and commission agents earn a living connected to her business, and the woman who built her identity out of struggle is an inspiration to many.

Shirin Akter was born in the Nagarkandi area of Mahasthan village in Shibganj, Bogura. Her father, Afzal Hossain Fakir, worked at a timber sawmill; her mother, Jahura Begum, was a housewife. Want was a constant companion in the family of five brothers and sisters. Rain came in through the broken tin roof, and on many days there were not two meals.

At just 13 she married, for love, a truck driver who already had a wife. The dream of a happy home quickly became a nightmare. Abuse from her co-wife, her husband's neglect and mental anguish eventually broke the marriage, and she was divorced. In 2003 Shirin returned to her father's home with a baby in her arms and another child in her womb. That return was the hardest moment of her life.

In a household of want she relied not on others' pity but on her own labour. With her two children she opened a small paan shop, and from there grew an interest in trade. Gradually she began buying and selling yard-long beans and flat beans, then went regularly to the large vegetable market at Mahasthan. She collected vegetables from farmers at dawn and sold them herself, and later began sending them to markets in Dhaka, Sylhet and Chattogram.

Two decades ago it was rare to see a woman doing wholesale vegetable trade at Mahasthanhat. At the market she faced taunts, contempt and insults; some even made indecent proposals. Many asked how a woman could do business at the haat.

"I didn't listen to anyone," Shirin Akter said. "I heard the insults, but I didn't move a hair's breadth from my goal. I believed that one day the work would answer every question."

The fight was not only with society. Early on she lost about Tk 6 lakh to Tk 7 lakh to a few dishonest traders. Many thought she would not recover this time, but that blow became the biggest turning point of her life.

After the loss she began to think afresh. Studying the market, she saw that sweet pumpkin had great potential and began dealing only in pumpkins. At first she bought each pumpkin for Tk 25 to Tk 30 and sold it for Tk 35 to Tk 38, a profit of only Tk 5 to Tk 8, and she had to be content with selling 80 to 100 pumpkins a day. But she looked beyond the market of the day to the market of the future.

At the start of each season she began making advance agreements with farmers to book the pumpkins in their fields. Her business grew steadily, and she started sending truckloads to districts across the country. Now she buys pumpkins by weight at Tk 300 to Tk 400 a maund and sells them to wholesalers in Dhaka and other districts at a profit of Tk 300 to Tk 400 a maund. In the season, 5 to 8 tonnes of sweet pumpkin a day are supplied through her to different districts.

She has also made the business more professional. Next to her home she has built a well-ventilated store, where over-ripe pumpkins are kept separately and the rest are stored in a shaded, dry place to prevent rot. Every day she takes orders by mobile phone from wholesalers in various districts and ships the produce on time through local transport. Her plans are now bigger: she wants her own transport and her own brand, 'Pumpkin Queen Shirin Akter'.

The woman who once worried about two meals a day has bought land and built a brick house from the income. She has built a separate house for her son and set him up in business, and has married off her daughter. She also farms leased land herself and plans a modern poultry farm.

Success did not come easily. Two major operations on her back and legs cost about Tk 12 lakh, and she still spends about Tk 1,000 a day on medicine. Unable to rush around the fields as before, she has built a network of 15 workers. They work in the field, but she still handles the planning, buying, selling and management.

"My body isn't what it was," Shirin Akter said. "But I make every decision in the business myself. Sometimes I still sit at the market and trade. It's the place I love. I want no woman to have to hold out her hand to anyone. Let everyone stand on their own feet."

Rafiqul Islam, who has traded vegetables at Mahasthanhat for 15 years, said: "When Shirin Apa first came to the market we would stare in amazement. A woman on her own, hauling crates, loading pumpkins, bargaining and handling money. Today her pumpkins go to districts all over the country. It makes us proud too."

Commission agent Anwar Hossain Babu said: "At first many people laughed. But Shirin proved them all wrong through hard work. Now many wholesalers wait for her produce in advance."

Kuddus Ali, a trader and member of the market committee, said: "I have been in business for about 30 years. I have seen very few women as self-reliant, honest and hard-working as Shirin Apa. She is a model for newcomers to the trade."

At dawn Mahasthanhat still fills with trucks, farmers and wholesalers. In that crowd the woman who once began her journey by swallowing insults is now seen with respect. She came back to her father's home with a broken marriage, poverty and society's neglect; today she is a name of trust for vegetable traders across the country. The people of Mahasthanhat no longer know her simply as Shirin Akter. To them she has one name: the 'pumpkin queen'.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.