A 41-year-old woman suffers from a rare autoimmune disease that has severely impaired her mobility.
The woman is also the founder of an inclusive and adaptable clothing line that caters to the needs of people living with different forms of disabilities.
Soumita Basu, the founder-CEO of Zyenika Inclusive Fashion, suffers from psoriatic arthritis.
“Psoriatic arthritis is a type of arthritis linked with psoriasis, a chronic skin and nail disease,” says the website of John Hopkins University. “Inflamed, swollen, and painful joints… and deformed joints from chronic inflammation,” are among the symptoms.
Zyenika was born, in 2019, out of a problem that many differently able people have to grapple with — clothes that suit their conditions as well as look nice.
“Most of the time, she would be wearing a loose night dress. We would miss social gatherings because she did not have any suitable clothes to wear to a party,” said Amita Roy Chowdhury Basu, Soumita’s mother and primary caregiver, who also looks after the operations at Zyenika.
On Sunday evening, Basu will be felicitated at a programme along with 11 other achievers from different walks of life. All of them have one thing in common — they are single women, by choice or circumstances.
Among the awardees will also be Dipta Ghosh, a 31-year-old app-cab driver.
Soumita, who lives with her parents and younger sister in Jodhpur Park, is too ill at the moment to make it to the venue. Her parents will receive the award on her behalf.
An alumnus of the Welland Gouldsmith School, Soumita did her bachelor’s in sociology from Ashutosh College before studying journalism in Chennai. In 2012, she did a Masters in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies of the Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Her condition started worsening in 2011 and she would have bouts when moving an inch without help would be impossible.
“She has no background in fashion. But she is a voracious reader and did a lot of research that led to the start of her brand,” said Amita.
The sales, as of now, are mostly online.
Since Soumita was not in a condition to talk freely, this newspaper asked her mother to seek a brief response from her on the recognition.
“Being able to make a difference in people’s lives is something she is very proud of. As are we,” said Amita.
A girl who uses Zyenika clothes would earlier skip school because she would not be able to visit the washroom on her own. “Now, she visits the zoo and a host of other places with her parents,” said Amita.
On Sunday, Soumita will be one of the recipients of the Status Single Awards 2024.
Status Single, a Facebook community of those who identify as single women — never married, divorced, widowed, separated or abandoned — advocates for single women’s rights.
Kolkata-born author, and a single woman, Sreemoyee Piu Kundu is the founder of the group. The community is an offshoot of a 2018 book by Kundu comprising interviews with over 3,000 urban single women from all over the country. In 2021, the community transitioned into an offline space. Today, it is a network of over 6,000 women spread over nine Indian cities.
“The awards will recognise the accomplishments, struggles, sacrifices, glories, tears and achievements of 12 inspiring single women,” said Piu Kundu.
App cab driver Dipta Ghosh is the daughter of a mechanical engineer. Ghosh did electronics and communication engineering from the Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College.
She spent some time working at a firm in Kolkata that manufactured LED lights.
But a train accident in 2017 left her bedridden for close to a year. She could no longer work for long shifts and left her job.
She took up a teaching assignment and did another job until 2020, when her father suffered a stroke and passed away. He had bought a car that he wanted to put to commercial use. The car was delivered to their Bansdroni home seven days before he died.
It was Dipta’s mother who urged her to learn driving. She did and from March 2022, enrolled with an app-cab aggregator.
Dipta leaves home at 10am and comes back around 7pm. She rides around 100km every day.
“I get taunted by men frequently, by other drivers, passengers as well as pedestrians. In the beginning, I would get nervous very easily. But now, I am not bothered,” said Dipta.
Her aim? “I want to buy another car and hire a female driver.”
