How will you manage household expenses now?
How will you afford the school fees of your young children?
How will you afford medical costs?
Why don’t you sell your house?
These were the questions thrown at Laveena Jain and her husband, who once ran a thriving private transport business in Meerut city of Uttar Pradesh. Everything turned upside down in 2010 when the couple was diagnosed with cancer — breast cancer for Laveena and mouth cancer for her husband.
With both undergoing surgeries back-to-back, followed by gruelling chemotherapy and radiotherapy, their transport business ground to a halt. They found themselves borrowing money from friends and family, with no clear idea of how much they had spent or how they would pay it back.
Each day was a battle not just for their survival, but for the future they dreamed of for their children.
The prospect of selling their home — a symbol of their hard-fought journey — was put forth as the solution to ease their burdens: clearing debts, covering school fees, managing medical expenses, and keeping food on the table for their children, without asking for external aid.
Recalling the daunting crossroads she once faced, Laveena shares, “We were devastated, not just financially but mentally and physically. Yet, we knew we were in this fight not just for ourselves, but for our children’s future. My son was 14 and my daughter was 12 years old. Selling our home felt like an admission of defeat and it was contrary to the example of perseverance we wished to set for our children. We considered it as a last resort.”
So she braced herself to confront the challenges head-on. It was this determination that became her guiding light during the darkest of times. In 2011, she decided to turn her passion for cooking into a business and launched ‘Laveena’s Tripti Foods’ — where she sells homemade squash, jams, pickles, and much more.
We sat down with the 56-year-old cancer survivor to learn how she transforms jars of homemade delicacies into symbols of hope and courage!
Echoes of a forgotten skill that led to a modest beginning
Post the treatment that took about eight months, when Laveena looked for ways to sustain their family, her latent skills in food preservation — a craft she acquired in her teens — came to the forefront.
Back in the 1980s when she was in school, she had enrolled in a course on food preservation, more as a hobby than a pursuit of necessity. It was during this time that she learned the art of making murabba, pickles, jams, and more.
“I was just doing it out of curiosity. I remember my maasi (aunt) would invite me to her home, give me 10 kg of tomatoes, and together we would make sauce,” she recalls.
Little did she know that these skills, once tucked away amidst the trials of her youth, would prove instrumental in her survival years later. She decided to utilise these long-forgotten skills, with the encouragement of her husband, who was unable to speak for six months and remained frail yet steadfastly supportive.
Laveena joined the Uttar Pradesh Government’s 100-day employment development programme on food preservation — her first step toward reclaiming their future. Post training, she launched her food startup with just Rs 1,500 in her pocket.
“We had tan-man (the will), but we lacked dhan (money). I made our first batch of lemon squash with whatever little money we had then,” she recalls, her voice tinged with the pride of those humble beginnings.
These early days were filled with uncertainty, as she grappled with the challenges of not just making her products but selling them. “I remember wondering how to convince people to buy what I made. It is easier to make a product than to sell one,” she says. Her breakthrough came through local kitty parties, where she presented samples of her creations, quietly confident in their unique, homemade appeal.
The reception to her lemon squash and pickles was overwhelmingly positive. Starting with small batches and reused bottles from home, gradually gave way to pre-booked orders for mango pickles and other products like homemade murabbas, jams, and dry lentil stuffings for kachoris, as demand increased.
Today, her business boasts an impressive range of 60 to 70 varieties of food products. She constantly explores new additions to satisfy her customers’ palates.
A family’s fight against adversities
Despite the growth, Laveena never lost sight of her primary motivator: her family. While she initially dreamed of her son becoming a chartered accountant, he found himself part of the family business, attending exhibitions and managing operations alongside his studies.
Her son Kinshuk (30) reflects on a transformative journey shaped by family values and resilience. “I remember our parents made us sit and broke the news to us. They said it was fourth-stage cancer and they are opting for surgery but didn’t know what will be the outcome. While informing us about our family assets, they also made us understand that no matter what, my younger sister and I will have to have each other’s back. This left a huge impact on us,” he says.
“Growing up, I observed a lack of support among our extended family members. Whereas, I would see how my mother insisted we share meals after we came home from school. I cherished these values, and I wanted to be with her in these difficult times,” he adds.
For Kinshuk, it was challenging to build a customer base for the products. He says, “I remember going to the colony gate and coming back again and again. I didn’t know how to convince people to buy our products.”
And that’s when he says his father motivated him. “As he could not speak for a while post-surgery, he wrote on a paper and asked me to quit hesitating. He gave an example of how he himself would personally invite passengers on his bus despite being the owner. This motivated me to go door-to-door with our food samples. This simple strategy helped us get orders,” he shares.
The small venture, begun with a rested resolve, now sees its presence beyond Meerut in places like Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, and Noida. Laveena’s products are available both offline and online, including on platforms like Amazon. “On average, we get 300 orders a month. The profits from the business have helped us clear loans of Rs 15 lakh,” shares Kinshuk.
Meanwhile, it’s been 13 years since the inception of their food business. Laveena today embodies an inspiring narrative of overcoming adversity. “I do not think of myself as a beacon of hope and inspiration but through my example, I want to show that one should not be bogged down in any circumstance and lose courage, come what may,” she shares.
Today, each jar of pickles, bottle of squash, and pack of jam that leaves her home carries a piece of her story — a story of resilience and perseverance, forged in adversity and nurtured by the reassuring warmth of her family.
Edited by Pranita Bhat; All images courtesy Kinshuk Jain
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