matsya trails
January,16 2012
Ufff it’s mad & like a circus. We fall and we stand up by learning new things,meeting new people each day & dare to do things which is beyond your imagination. Yes by now you know you might have guessed All the lovely people who stumbled upon matsya have some similiar & unique experiences check them out….
Sonal Goswami & Karnika Singh went through a similar roller coaster ride & illustrated one for us.
I absolutely enjoyed my three months stint with matsya. Understood the functioning of a social enterprise, the hardships faced while working with the artisans in explaining the designs and the learnt how to be patient while the whole order is executed…The products at matysa are all hand-made and very unique…made with an eye-for-details….they are not mass-produced and hence each and every product is unique and no two products are alike..I will cherish the time spent at matsya and even after having a good 12 years of work experience, I still learned a lot…My best wishes to Neha and I’m sure she’ll take matsya to great heights…
Valukam Salam, thanks sophia your contribution to matsya was incredible.Your professional & prompt behavior is highly commendable. It was a great turning point for matsya & i learnt so many things from you. Thanks for all your efforts your have helped matsya upscaled which impacts the livelihoods of thousands of artisans in the most ethical,profitable,fair,sustainable way. I wish you all the very best for your new venture & i am sure you will be a next social entrepreneur trying to bring a change . Khuda Afeez & stay connected:)
The journey with matsya stared with a intention to make contribution in some small way to the big platform matsya is.
What I got out of the whole experience is far beyond my expectations.
I worked with mostly the administrative part which usually seems boring..but at matsya packing and shipping can also be a adventure…a casual talk can turn into a major project….matsya has been a transforming point in my life…the way I look at things, the way I interact with people has taken a complete turnaround.
Neha the amazing mind behind matsya has been a great teacher…she has supported me, nurtured me and pushed me explore my limits…and trust me there have been times when I didn’t like it but she was there to guide me through it. And today when I leave this amazing place behind I look back at these moments and I know there were the best days of my life!
Thanks sneha for sharing your valuable experience at matsya. We believe in quality & not quantity. Your ability to manage things in limited resources is greatly appreciated. I wish to thank you for suggesting a lovely studio space for matsya where we are currently present today in mulund east,mumbai. We wish you good luck for all that you do not only in your professional but personal life. Hope you can transform & contribute to bring a change in your present & future ventures. Stay connected:)
Challenges are what makes the journey that bit interesting and me a little wiser!Walking in i was every bit a student who had no idea what she was landing into! from understanding matsya’s pulse to sending a courier! i did it all!easy thinking,simple solutions & a broadened view point is what matsya has taught me. Giving up was never an option.
I never imagined an intern to get completely integrated with all our ongoing work at matsya! With your lovely writing skills you become a copy writer for matsya, your ability to explore, experiment, work independently is highly appreciated. Looking forward for the next phase which i believe is going to be the most challenging yet interesting. See you soon.
Working at matsya was making optimum use of my vacations. It is one of the best times i have had work-wise. Like everyone else said, what you learn at matsya is something that helps you in everything you do. You start thinking and looking at things differently. You learn so much more than you have expected-managing in limited resources, interacting with people, learning about your culture and respecting it even more, loving nature and so much more. i got my inspiration for my final project at matsya..that is what matsya does to u! Best of luck to matsya and neha for all it’s amazing projects ahead. I am sure you are going to make a difference in lot of people’ life.
Rucha,
Thanks for your wishes. Your prompt behaviour & timely deliverables, ready to learn, accept challenges are truly worth rembering. All the creative work that we did together was so much fun. You are a lovely calligrapher, i hope you pursue this & use this to express yourself.Good luck for your final & future projects. Stay connected!
My Experience with matsya was so good.I come to learn so many things such as how to work in limited resources,figure out things and solutions,stock count,and management, tagging,
packaging,shipping.etc It feels good working in such healthy and attractive environment.matsya has own culture.I like that.also more i learn about gardening through crazy farming.it was nice experience to working with Neha mam.she teaches me small things also which are helpful in my future.Thank You mam.Best Wishes to matsya.Have a great journey ahead.
A bit shy, scared girl hoped into our studio sometime ago & within three weeks i saw a new kalpana confident & deterred. An ability to learn & perfom till the last day,minute very inspiring.Keep up the good work. good luck & see you in nasik.
Stay connected!
At matsya I got the opportunity to work as a photographer. It was my first assignment. The numerous variety of products posed a challenge, but the work environment was such, that I was not subjected to any pressure. It was always a ‘learn-click-learn-click’ process. It enabled me to understand the efforts that are taken to ensure a smooth functioning of an independent organization. Dispatching couriers, oragnizing craft tours, exhibitions, workshops and many other activities are done with utmost care so that ‘friends of matsya’ (as Neha coined it) have a wonderful experience.
I was lucky enough to start at matsya and hope to be a part of it in the future too.
All the best!
It was a pleasure working with you. Your enthusiasm,dedication to the work was incredible. It’s a great inspiration for amateur photographers.You will always remain a part of us still lots more to do.
As a student of a post-graduate Social Entrepreneurship course, it was great to know and understand the challenges that Matsya faces as a social enterprise. I would like to thank Neha for dedicating time for us to talk about her venture and highlight the underlying issues. I was particularly impressed with Neha’s bottom-to-top approach wherein she got to know the issues of the locals in Kutch by living and working with them for considerable amount of time, before venturing out to start the enterprise. I could notice that Neha’s field work has ensured a certain ideological framework to the way Matsya functions. Neha’s philosophy of taking each day as it comes and seeking to learn and grow through it is inspiring. Its quite amazing that she is able to actually practice this. I wish the very best of luck to Matsya!
Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s really nice to see when young students like you coming forward to understand a platform like matsya. I hope & wish you can be the future change makers of our society.Together we can make the difference .Stay connected!
As I was engaged into my masters level dissertation at TISS, it was a great journey I had and great experience understanding the young social entrepreneurs who creates the social value to the different spheres of lives of marginalized people like Neha Gandhi. Social Entrepreneur addresses the social problem through the innovation and business model which Matsya is doing. I had a great exposure to the person who has made a road by walking. My best wishes to Matsya and Neha for always stepping a ladder ahead.
The constant hustle bustle of today’s world…the pressure of being a fresh graduate and the fear of getting stuck in a rut too soon in life.
These were a few things that prompted me to go and volunteer my services at a social enterprise which is matsya.
Going back to my roots, learning to unlearn, reviving my hand skills, gaining digital experience are just some of the things that matsya helped me with.
matsya showed me what a peoples organization really is. Meeting with the many collaborators who have shaped matsya into what it is today. Interacting with different kinds of people all of whom are not only experienced individuals but are also more than willing to help and teach a fresher like me. Watching and learning from them, understanding what makes them so passionate, and seeing their passion communicate through their work just revived something in me which I didn’t even know i had!
It was a passion, some kind of drive to imbibe everything that comes my way in life and to make sure to learn something from each experience.
matsya works at a grass root level, takes you back to the start and makes you think. Think hard. Introspect. Understand. Realize. And most importantly enjoy.
My entire experience at matsya would not be complete without the learning and guidance of Ms.Neha Gandhi, the backbone of the organization. Through her many experiences in life; both personal and professional which she ever so kindly shared with me, I learned a lot more than I possibly imagined.
All in all I have emerged as a better person through all the experiences I gained during my 6 week tenure at matsya.
Every time that I now do any work, personal or professional, I know that I will apply the many things I learnt here - to do a thorough research, put my self in the other persons shoes, understand, feel and introspect.
maysta has welcomed me with open arms and I am always going to be more than happy to help matsya whenever she needs me!
migh migh you have poured your heart out.Thanks so much for extending your support by volunteering with us.we shall definately connect in the future…you are all very unique to have worked with matsya.
Being a man of less words, this was challenging for me to share my adventurous journey at matsya in a testimonial but there is no better way to thank.
The two months, I spent with matsya as part of the entrepreneurship course was seriously magical (as neha says it). It all began with traveling to Mulund at matsya’s office where I had to be there for a drill everyday for 8 hours. Then what followed after, was a session to clear my thoughts on the known ideas, learned how to work with a team, help was given at every stage of planning and execution of my business plan for 8 weeks on a bootstrap budget, the challenges and positves of being an entrepreneur were made known to me with a lot of references, the art of unlearning was taught, was pushed to get into unknown territories like living in a hostel in Mulund for 2 months (which was very inspiring), meeting with a bunch of different and helpful folks (like Flying Cursor, Rickshaw, Diti Kotecha, Clean Planet), the art of giving back and being grateful, spent some good quality time with myself and discovered so much and being there for causes which I’m passionate about.
As a student, I might have not been the best one but as a content marketing person I did try understanding more about matsya and the social enterprise scene in India. I hope my recommendations for changing the product names and communicating as a desi (indian) brand on all communication platforms (like social media, website and email) helped in matsya’s growth.
It’s been a month that I’m out on my own as an entrepreneur and my current status is that:
- I’m the founder/teacher of a start-up named Daadiwala which teaches Indian entrepreneurs and businesses to communicate their ideas through content.
- Daadiwala is a registered company.
- I work from a collaborative workplace named Bombau Connect and pay monthly rent.
- I already have a few clients to work with.
- Researching on a product to create another global start-up.
Thank you, Neha for making me reach till here and I’ll be always indebted for all the support and respect I’ve got from the team at matsya. Hope to do something together as two businesses soon
The time spent at matsya was like a breath of fresh air in the otherwise mundane bschool life!Life here is as colourful and vibrant as the design studio. Guides like Neha are rare to find who give you the freedom to make your own mistakes.My biggest takeaway from matsya is the change in my outlook towards life and people around me.How she manages to convert even the tiniest of experiences into amazing ideas is something that I have learnt from her.Craft tours is a living example of this.
I can’t wait to see matsya go global and touch the lives of many more people.