Doddaballapur(Bengaluru Rural): In an inspirational story, a visually impaired woman from Bengaluru Rural in Karnataka will be the first blind woman to start a culinary YouTube channel. Bhumika (40) hailing from Someshwara layout of Doddaballapur city in Bengaluru rural district lost her eyesight in the year 2018.
However, the adversity has not dampened her human spirit. With moral support of her husband Sudarshan and family members, Bhumika is all set to start her own culinary YouTube channel to carry on her passion. Sharing the ordeal in her life, Bhumika said that in the year 2010, she developed an eye problem.
The issue worsened with Bhumika completely losing her eyesight by the year 2018. A rare eye disease 'optical neuritis' that affects only one in 5 lakh people is the reason for her blindness. Faced with the new bitter reality of life, Bhumika was left with two options-either to be confined to the four walls of her room and be dependent on her family or rise up to the challenge to take it head-on.
Bhumika chose the latter. The family too stood by her. Bhumika said she was convinced that she can forget the pain and lead a happy life only if she engages in work. Later she started working with the help of her husband Sudarshan and family members. Bhumika was trained to be active despite being blind.
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At the same time, she developed a desire to do business. In order to realize her dream, Bhumika started a culinary channel after being inspired by her relative who had also set up a channel which had been monetized over the years. The YouTube channel started by Bhumika was an instant hit getting a good response from the viewers, who liked the content.
Bhumika enjoyed cooking. However, after losing sight, cooking was a big challenge. Identifying rotten vegetables from fresh ones, cutting vegetables, and identifying cooking ingredients was a challenging task at first. After joining the Blind Friend Lee Cooking WhatsApp group, she learned how to cook despite being blind.
Currently, Bhumika has shared thousands of cooking videos on her YouTube channel. She has close to one lakh subscribers and is earning a good income from the channel. Bhumika's USP is to cook with few ingredients, especially for bachelors. Husband Sudarshan is the backbone of Bhumika's work. From shooting videos of his wife cooking and editing the videos, Sudarshan does it all for his wife.
Also, Bhumika has the support of mother-in-law Sumangala and father-in-law Rumale Nagaraj. She is believed to be the first blind woman in India to start a cooking YouTube channel. Talking on her extraordinary feat, Bhumika said, “The reason why everyone knows that I cook deliciously and neatly is because of the support of my husband and family”.
“My husband is the reason why my cooking is so popular on YouTube. Sometimes my husband tells me about special recipes. But in that I choose myself. Besides, I have the support of our mother-in-law and father-in-law,'' Bhumika said.
