She may be far away from the home she grew up in, but she feels at home in Pune now. Meet Punekar by choice Lolita Gupta.

"I'm from Kolkata. I grew up there, finished my education there, started my first job as a teacher there," she said. But from there began her nomadic life. "My husband's job had us travelling all around the country. We have been in Pune only for the last five and a half years," added the 40 something.

But it didn't take Lolita long to make this new city more than just another stop in her journey.

She first took up teaching. And then destiny led her to Manisha Gutman, who was running e-Exist a social enterprise dealing with eco-sensitive products. In Gutman's words, "We work with non-polluting products and also help underprivileged people generate an income."

Turning point
This was the turning point in Lolita's career. Now, she enjoys getting down to the brass tacks and working with eco-friendly products.

She displayed e-Exist's natural Holi colours and other products with pride. The organisation also produces eco-friendly Ganeshas, gift pouches and a wide variety of bags. She is also involved in a lot of educational programmes at the school level, in slums and even the Yervada jail. Lolita, a mother of two sons, makes the time to indulge her passion for music too. "Being a Bengali I obviously know Rabindrasangeet. But I am also into semi-classical music. At one point used to even perform on AIR."

As for her family, she said, "I am able to devote so much of time to work because my family encourages me completely." And to the city that saw it all happen, Lolita raised a toast. "Compared to other cities, people in Pune are ready to experiment. I got what I wanted in Pune, so Pune is close to my heart."