Chandrabhaga Wagh fought tooth and nail to revive her farm and to keep her family from falling apart. She worked hard to give her children a good and happy life. Her daughter-in-law, Lankabai, carried forward her legacy by keeping no stone unturned to keep the farm flourishing. Today, Rajeshri and Anjali, the third-generation daughters-in-law of the Wagh family are taking forward the inheritance by turning their sweat and tears into a blossoming piece of land.

Chandrabhagabai, today 85 years old, reminisces about her old days and feels a sense of satisfaction when she sees her daughter-in-law and granddaughters-in-law take care of the farm she brought into existence from nothing.

Remembering her old days Chandrabhaga shares, she got married to Karbhari Wagh in 1937 at the age of 12. At that time they had 37 acres of unfertile land which was uneven and had no supply of water. They barely made a living. There were times when they had nothing to eat for days. Her husband was engaged in wrestling and didn’t much attention to the home. She had a child with him and had to alone take care of the entire household. Even in this difficult situation, Chandrabhagabai decided to make their barren farm harvestable. She somehow managed to gather the funds for all this.

While their well was being dug up, they were out of money when the work was nearing completion. So Chandrabhaga and her husband themselves did the remaining digging. Their hard work paid off and the well water table rose up. Soon the farmland became fertile and they started harvesting vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, and onions on their farm. Many suggested that they should cultivate fruits instead of vegetables. While grape farming was expensive they decided to take up this challenge. They bought the grape vines from Pimpalgaon and set up the vineyard in just 1 acre first.

Although, it was challenging the farm was in a lot better position. During this time her son got married and they welcomed their daughter-in-law, Lankabai, into their family. Lankabai and her husband took some responsibilities off Chandrabhaga’s shoulders and started looking after the farm. In 2014, the Wagh family became associated with Sahiyadri Farms, and with the guidance of experts at Sahiyadri Farm, they could learn new farming techniques. Gradually their grape quality started improving and they started to cultivate export-quality grapes.

While everything was going fine, Chandrabhaga lost her husband in 2018. In the next two years, another tragedy hit the Wagh family when Chandrabhage lost her son Laxman Wagh to Coronavirus. This incident shattered the entire family.

During this time, Lankabai’s two sons got married in a gap of 3-4 years, and the Banton of the vineyard was passed on to her daughters-in-law Rajeshri and Anjali. Being highly educated, Anjali and Rajeshri have efficiently taken over the management of the farm and have even introduced new agriculture technologies there. Today, Chandrabhaga’s heart fills with pride when she tells us how efficiently her daughter-in-law and granddaughters-in-law are taking care of the farm. This three generations of hard work is a source of motivation to one and all and the applaud the Wagh family for not giving up in the times of difficulties.