The Powai-Chandivali area houses a self-sustaining ecosystem with Powai Hiranandani boasting of a posh neighbourhood. It has great schools, hospitals, restaurants, salons, spas, malls, housing projects, businesses, banking and retail all within reach and with great variety. There are a few evolving communities that have gained prominence in the Powai area in the last few years. Not a sub-sect or a section by itself but a kind of intranet that strengthens the very foundation of Powai. Be it residents or visitors, the Powai-Chandivali belt has much to offer to convince you to be a part of it. The more striking feature about these communities that thrive within, is the upliftment, connectivity and strength they emerge with. Most of the communities or groups that we came across were women-centric or say women clubs in Mumbai, and rightly so, as they are the ones driving them. A true essence of women-power, these Mumbai social groups welcome you with open arms and open up conversations and lots and lots of ideas.
Powai Women Networking – PWN
Beginning with a handful of people, consisting of people known to her through school, yoga class and the general neighborhood, Kanupriya Agarwal brought together a few like-minded people into a closed group on WhatsApp. These were people from in and around Powai, Chandivali, etc. Many had children around the same age, which meant they were all up at the wee hours of the morning. What better to do but connect with one another. It began with a small group called the ‘Yummy Mummies’, but around Mothers’ Day 2012, these ladies decided to go out and celebrate the joys of being mothers themselves. Soon regular chatting began in the Powai-centric mommy group organizing play dates. Never was any marketing done to encourage people to join. The closed group soon opened up to new members as everyone began to add more and more moms into it. This triggered an unstoppable and organic growth to their WhatsApp (with a limitation of 50 people maximum) and Facebook (limitless) groups. Soon the platform was being used for queries and business proposals, melas, fests, sales, and small-scale entrepreneurial projects. It is at this point that her personal attachment and responsibility towards Powai Women’s Network was triggered. People opened up to the idea for connecting within themselves for a wide variety of work-from-home options. The group had a nice mix of working women, businesswomen, Homemakers, Teachers, etc. The only rule she maintained for the group was a ‘Strictly Ladies Only’. What Kanupriya envisioned for PWN, has been achieved, she only expects it to be self-sustaining now. “My story of starting PWN isn’t a sad one”, says Kanupriya, “it’s just full of enthusiasm and positivity”. PWN recently completed a tag mark of 20,000 members in their community. This is a great place for Powai women to ask questions, start a business, build your network, stay updated about Powai events like the Powai Run and other Powai exhibitions.
JAMMs (Journey About Mast Moms)
A Corporate Trainer, Motivational Speaker, and an entrepreneur at heart, Ritu Gorai, more lovingly known as RituG currently has a lot on her plate. But her journey to where she stands as one of the strongest support systems in Mumbai has been equipped with determination, struggle, harmony, rejection, success as much as failure. A rigamarole of positives and negatives alike, her initiative JAMMs (Journey About Mast Moms) has seen it all. The fact that it shone through it all despite adversities speaks volumes. JAMMs has been a team effort with its ‘Support Angels’ running the show under the guidance and drive of RituG. It all began with Ritu’s relocation to Mumbai to start afresh. JAMMs started as an initiative to connect moms of a single family for friendly advice. Slowly it grew organically into a collegial and harmonious community that looks out for each other, takes social initiatives, works relentlessly towards women empowerment and business opportunities. The community also conducts workshops on varied topics pertaining to almost all aspects of the life of a woman. From Hosting events across the length and breadth of Mumbai, to answering queries about just about everything under the sun, JAMMs connects like-minded moms across the city. What makes them different? Well, they are a “No nonsense and complete Momsense” group of women who mean to talk well and intend to change the image of the atypical vindictive women of society to the more nurturing kind that actually exist. JAMMs functions through an active WhatsApp and Facebook community that is segregated as per the age groups of the children of the members, hence teaming up people with relevant and relatable environments. They often employ, for a day or two ever so frequently, experts from across industries to answer queries that mothers may have. These are interactive sessions and everyone stands to benefit. An overall feel-good group, with over 40,000 moms connected across Mumbai, JAMMs has a long way paved ahead that just evolves as it goes along.
So why this information download on mommy groups out to make a difference? Here’s a thought … Why do we need to interact with people? ‘Humans are social animals’, a clichéd phrase we’ve heard from childhood, but what are the ramifications? We need a society to belong. Humans yearn to survive in a group and are often left clueless without one. As we go along life, have kids and households to manage, we tend to put ourselves in the back seat. While one may argue that priorities in life cause us to do so, it is also correct that we need our fair share of time and space. And why must one restrict only to me-time for grooming. It’s perfectly normal to have a life outside home and beyond just children and the role of an ideal ‘Bahu’. We are at a stage in life when there is a paradigm shift in the process of living. One where we have technology in our palms and a change in mindset that fuels a churning in the social media scene. What these social media groups on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc have in common is one aim: to connect, and they play this role well. What we as end users need to ensure is that we contribute and participate constructively. Brining the old Nokia phrase of ‘Connecting People’ to life, these groups unveil an opportunity to be an effective part of a society that actually believes in coexisting. While we as a race continue to explore the marvels of technology and information, here are few communities out to make a difference with the fresh ideologies and approaches to the very concept of networking.
Powai.info
Another good source of information on Powai is the website https://powai.info/ which covers all important details about Powai like a host of services, eateries and restaurants, schools, communities, wellness, art and culture, medical assistance and emergency numbers.