Getting inspired by women who believed in ‘WhyNot’ and defied all odds!!!

 

Seeing a good movie, documentary or even reading a book, inspires us at multiple levels. But ever wondered why majority of stories have strong picture perfect male leads and damsel in distress women leads? No, that’s not always the case but if you were to count your favorite stories or films till date, a significant number would hold testimony to the above case. So, is it that we are so attuned to the idea of a male- dominated society we believe that women can’t be the major central inspiring characters? Well, we have nothing against anyone, but let’s set the ‘gender equality’ standards in place and for that choose our inspiration from fellow women. It's all about having an independent identity. Just look around you, there would be some zillion examples of amazing ladies out there who can inspire each one of us every single day of our lives! You must have heard about women like Mary Kom, Indra Nooyi, Sudha Murthy, Kiran Bedi, Gita Gopinath, Dipa Karmarkar and even Rani Laxmi Bai. There are countless examples of inspiring women in history. But this International Women’s Day let’s know about women who broke all barriers and defied all odds- they believed in ‘WhyNOT’ and became the biggest inspiration for each one of us.

 

 

Any form of bullying is not okay at all! It can happen anywhere be it at a nearby park, at college or even in school. You would wonder what can a school going kid do about it apart from informing parents and teachers. But you are in for a surprise. For Anoushka defied all odds. She is a 13-year-old who built an anti-bullying app Kavach! Her aim is to reach as many children as possible across the nation to educate them about anti-bullying. Her app can help in reporting such incidents anonymously that would lead to timely action and intervention. She saw a few incidents of bullying and her journey against it is now three years old. She pitched on Shark Tank India and became the youngest entrepreneur to do so and also receive Rs. 50 lakhs investment! What an inspiring young lady!!!

 

 

Have you seen the movie Chhapak? Then you already know some parts of the brave acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal’s story. It is one of the most horrific incidents that can crumble any girl’s confidence but Laxmi rose to each challenge life threw at her. She not only stood up for herself but her mission to help other acid attack survivors to lead dignified lives, is what makes her truly special. Her efforts to bring awareness and nip the problem at the bud by stopping acid sales altogether are exemplary. She even owns a café ‘Sheores Hangout’ in Agra where she provides employment to acid attack survivors to boost their confidence and let them lead a normal life communicating with everyone. She was presented with International Woman of Courage award in 2014 by former first lady of US, Michelle Obama.

 

 

When you think of great Indian women leaders, you will probably mention Indira Gandhi as she was the first woman prime minister of India. But if we asked you a few years back do you know any woman who is Sarpanch of any village, the first answer would be that’s quite difficult! Meet Chhavi, an MBA, the youngest Sarpanch in India who quit her lucrative corporate job and won the Sarpanch election in her village, Soda in Rajasthan at the age of just 30 years. Her zest to help her then drought-hit village is commendable as she worked in all core areas so that her village people live a quality life. She broke all prejudice associated with a stereotype image of Sarpanch by never wearing a ghunghat and roaming around in her jeans! Right from ensuring girl’s education, she challenged all gender bias and set her mind on bringing positive changes in her village. She was conferred with ‘Young Global Leader’ title by WEF in 2012.

 

 

Ambulance drivers are the biggest saviors for everyone requiring urgent medical help. You would wonder already its prejudiced that ‘women are bad drivers’ then how can a woman become an ambulance driver. Well, time to break this bias, meet M Veeralaxmi, India’s first woman, 108 ambulance driver, in the country from Tamil Nadu. She worked as a cab driver for 3 years in Chennai before achieving this remarkable feat. She has already taken the first step now towards breaking the stereotype. We see women driving amazingly be it their cars, cabs or working as delivery partners. They are ruling the skies too! Let’s all get inspired and take the first step towards learning to drive too!!!

 

 

In the patriarchal society, we see only a minority of women actually joining the army, but do you know about the biggest epitome of strength and conviction, Seema Rao? She is the first and only woman commando trainer of India! Wow! She actually trained the army special forces, Navy Marine Commandos, IAF’s Guard Commando Force and even NSG Black Cats among many others! She started her journey towards becoming a doctor but her inspiration from her father and her zest brought her here! She believes that nothing can stop a woman from excelling and reaching heights in her field. The Nari Shakti Puraskar Awardee is now 52 and after devoting 25 years of her life to her service working without any compensation, works for women empowerment.

 

 

If you were to scale the difficulty level of scaling the world’s highest mountain peak, Mt. Everest, what would it be? Probably 100 out of 10! It is super difficult for any person but then rethink about it because we have Arunima who has set some major inspiration goals. She lost her leg from below knee when she was pushed off a train while some robbers tried to get her gold chain and bag. And this was when she was actually on her way to appear for her CISF exam. While recovering, she found her inspiration from Yuvraj Singh and Bachendri Pal, and went on to become the world’s first female amputee to the climb the Mt. Everest in 2013. She also became the first female amputee to scale Antartica's highest peak Mt. Vinson in 2019 too. What an inspiration to women from world over who dream of conquering heights!

 

 

Is not being able to conceive a child the end of the world? No, it isn’t! And we have the biggest inspiration from Saalumarada Thimakka, 100+ year old environmentalist from Karnataka! She had thought of ending her life at the age of 40 when she couldn’t become a mother, but then she started planting banyan trees with her husband. Starting off with just 10 trees, she became a proud mother to over 8000 trees. Even now at the age of 100 plus, she still wants to plant many more trees while her next aim is to bring the hospital facility closer to her village. Building a better place for the future generations she deifies all odds! As they say age is just a number.

 

 

The examples of inspiring women are endless. Be it Kalpana Chawla (first woman of Indian origin to go in space), Shakuntala Devi (popularly known as ‘Human Computer’), Tessy Thomas (Missile woman of India), Smita Sabharwal (Popularly known as people’s officer) or Nirmala Devi (who made her village ODF in just 4 months), women from all walks of life have proved time and again they aren’t any lesser than anyone. We all believe in gender equality, and it’s time to make it a reality!

 

Still wondering what is special about women’s day? Well, it is one day you should definitely reflect on and celebrate being a woman! And also, commit to yourself that you will treasure fellow women and your own self throughout the life, not just on one single day! Don’t just learn about these countless inspiring women to fare better in a women’s day quiz at school, college or workplace. Let’s try and become better at understanding ourselves and ‘WhyNot’ become an inspiration to others too!

 

 

Liked this thought provoking blog? Read the first of the series ''#WhyNot- Time to Trash The ‘Perfect Girl’ Standards for Outer Appearance!'' and the previous one too '#WhyNot Empowering Women: Rebuilding Career After Divorce'