Tamanna ki Vus’at @ Amal Mega Project

When you are in a dire need of getting away for a cup of coffee so you ask Maps to find you a place nearby and all that comes up is a list of a couple of Snooker/internet cafes, you know you have a problem. With a decent option among the list only at a 32 minutes walk! While ALL you only wanted was to grab a quick cup of coffee and some peace of mind.

When you have come back from chores, university, college, and looked for a place to unwind for a bit before going to the other world (a chore in itself! desi households anyone?) and never found one, you know you have a problem!

I know many of the readers (looks at the boys) will feel like that is not an issue because, well let us not go there. In fact, when I shared this problem with a person of the opposite gender, his first reply was: what there are a lot of such places! When asked to name one where you do not have to get by transport and women can go there freely and feel at ease, he realized there were not any!

So yes! This is the problem I am willing to work on!

But, being the overthinker I am, I was not sure if other people share my sentiment around this issue. So, I came up with a questionnaire following the tips given in Startup Grind’s medium blog.

Since the sample I picked was mainly from the female population living nearby me, I could easily test my initial hypothesis. The results were not particularly shocking since a majority of responses said they did not have any such place around them and if there were any, they would most likely go there.

When asked, why the respondents would not go to such a place, their responses again reiterated that they did not feel comfortable due to the environment.

So, based on these responses, the problem statement that I came up with for my project looks like this:

Due to a lack of a safe space in terms of a cafe in my area, people, especially women, do not have a place to unwind and relax, that is accessible. Such spaces can provide women to have some time off from their daily grind and relax on their own.

Even if I do not get to work on this idea immediately, I am willing to work on it one day, because a) a neighborhood cafe can be an important place for the community and important conversations and b) growing up in a desi household I know the struggle of not having a safe space nearby, and I do not want the others to feel the same.

In the end, I think I must provide some insight into what is going on with the title! Tamanna ki Vus’at is a phrase from Noon Meem Rashid’s Hassan Kuzagar, and it means the vastness of desire.