The Nassars, a Malayali Muslim family, came to Vadodara in the early 1960s, in search of employment.

Shop owner, K T K Ahmad, 55-plus, came from Nellipurtha village of Kannur, Kerala, after he was informed by late Mohammad Kuti (who lived in Malvari Chali, Raopura and was known as jhadoowala) that Central Gujarat offered a lot of opportunity for Keralite brooms entrepreneurship. The man came with a bagful of raw material, made brooms and sold them on a hired bicycle. Subsequently, he rented a shop and ran his business from there.

Today, he and his about 30-year-old brother N P Nassar have a full-fledged business, with a turnover of more than Rs 50 lakh. They have also employed four workers.

While a decade ago, they themselves fetched the raw material (grass) from Assam and parts of South India, today they get the same through chartered trucks.

Going down the memory lane, Nassar says they had to struggle a lot to reach this stage. Though he studied only upto school, today he can speak Hindi, English, Malayalam and Gujarati fluently.

``We never compromised on quality and that is why today we are doing better than retailers, whole-sellers and industrialists of the entire Central Gujarat'', he says proudly, sitting in his chair, while his employees are busy collecting straws, tying and tightening the brooms with perfection.

More than 10,000 brooms are made here every fortnight or month, depending upon the demand. Other materials like door mats and carpets come straight from the villages.

``I have trained hundreds of hands and all of them today have their own small units'', he says, as his other trainees Babulal, Mustafa, Salim and Allaharakha join in to say how they were once moving around looking for a job, and today earn about Rs 100 a day.

Though his past had been a constant struggle, Nassar's hard work and determination has paid off. Today, he says, he can look forward to a bright and secure future.

``My family is contend today, but I have to work hard to keep up the reputation, which we have earned through our hard work and determination,'' he asserts.