Tagore says, "Women is god's best creation". Women is the perennial
source of inspiration in the odessey of life. Gandhiji is a stickler of truth.
His entire life have been,"Experiments with truth". Being a lover of
truth, he tried to verify the truth of any new thought before accpeting it. His
relationship with Kasturbai helped him to understand real status of women.
Gandhiji considered women to be the nobler sex. He wanted the women to be
independent and to design her own destiny.
Somehow,
history tends to forget its women. Many heroines, who walked shoulder to
shoulder with the men during trying times, still remain in the shadows, their
faces forgotten and their bravery unsung. Saraswathi Rajamani is one such
heroine, a woman whose exceptional bravery and intelligence deserves to be
recognised and respected by her country.
Saraswathi Rajamani was born in Burma, in a family of freedom
frighters. Trichy was their native place. Netaji was awestruck, when Rajamani
donated all the gold and diamond jewelleries that she had worn and owned for
the INA, even at the young age of sixteen. Later she and her friends were
recruited in INA's Intelligence wing and they masqueraded as boys for almost
two years. Once when she was rescusing her friend, she suffered a bullet shot
in her right leg which left her with a permanent limp. Netaji admired her
adventurousness and courage.
After independence, this veteran freedom fighter lived alone
in a dilapidated and cramped one-room apartment in Chennai. Age has hardly
withered Rajamani’s spirit and determination to serve her nation. Even at
this old age, she visits tailor shops and collects cloth scraps as well as
rejected fabrics from them. She uses these materials to make clothes that she
then donates to orphanages and old age homes. During the devastating tsunami of
2006, she also donated her meagre monthly pension as a freedom fighter to the
relief fund. Though she is very grateful to the chief minister, the very thought
that what she accepted was charity, for the first time in her long life,
troubled her. At the end of an interview as they were ready to go, she
stood up, saluted and said, Jai Hind! And, the handshake! They found that it
was not the handshake of a tired old woman; it was warm and very strong,
exactly like that of a lionhearted woman. She is not only a woman of audacity,
but also generosity.
According to Gandhiji, what women needed the most was Education.
Women's birthright to be equal and free must be recognized. She should become
independent like man. Nehru says,"When women moves forward,the family
moves,the village moves and the nation moves".
Doctor by profession, 36-year-old Seema Saadikha is a resident of Bengaluru. As
a student of medicine, she used to be a part of many health camps organised in
different villages and it was since then that she developed an interest in
going out of her way to help people. She was first attracted by the Banadur village
of Karnataka. Earlier she found that it was difficult to bring them
on same the page in any discussion. But soon Seema came to the conclusion that
the best way to bring the villagers together would be through children. She
found that due to the lack of electricity, it used to be dark by the time the
children returned from schools, and could not study anything after reaching
home. In May 2015, she started an NGO named Namma Mitra Foundation, which
installed a mini solar-grid in the village, which now provides electricity to
70 houses, and powers street lights which helped their children study better.
Every month, the organization collects Rs. 20 from the each house and that
money is used for the maintenance of the grid and to pay a salary to the
caretaker. This way, they provide jobs to the villagers as well. They are
expanding and taking the same projects to Kukrewada and other villages. Other
than training villagers and employing them, Seema has a team of volunteers
helping her run the NGO activities. Being a doctor she could have opted for
building many hospitals rather than solar panel installation. She proved that
developing a village with educated kids and employed youths is far better than
increasing one’s own bank balance.
Swamy Vivekananda says, "There is no chance for welfare of the world,
unless the condition of women is improved. "Gandhiji wanted to
abolish the superstitions of tradition bounded India.He wanted to abolish
untouchability,widowhood,child marriage and superstitious practices.
We live in a patriarchal society . An educated woman may have money
and independence, but that is also snatched away when she becomes a widow.
Culturally as a widow one cannot do anything. They cannot grow their hair, they
should not look beautiful, etc.
Mohini
Giri is a prominent women's rights activist in India. She is the
daughter in law of our former president V.V.Giri. She has received several
honorary doctoral degrees from universities in India and abroad, as well as
numerous awards and distinctions. Giri lost her husband when she was 50.
She began her involvement in campaigning and advocacy, founding the War
Widows Association in response to the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war.The organisation
provides emotional and economic support to women who have lost their husbands
in war.Hindu widows are expected to live a spiritual and bare life in constant
mourning for their husbands, according to tradition.In a country of 1.25
billion, with 80% of these being Hindu, there are an estimated 40 million
widows in India. Generally all widows are ostracized. Dr Giri established the
North Indian Branch of the Guild of Service, which is one of the oldest
social service organisations in India working in education, disability, social
welfare and health. She chaired the Delhi State Social Welfare Advisory Board
from 1987 – 1990, the National Commission for Women from 1995 – 1998 and led
the development of a National Policy for Senior Citizens in 2011. She was a
founding trustee of the Womens Initiative for Peace in South Asia. She is also
a board member of The Hunger Project.Dr Giri has emphasised in her social
activism that all who engage are agents of social change. Empowerment is found
wherever people act and are supported to act to enhance their society.
God cannot be everywhere, that is why he made
Mothers. These three women though had chances to live a hedonistic life, they
were very magnanimous. They extended their mother love to many people. Hence
they prove Gandhiji's words, that is, women are embodiment of self sacrifice,
silent suffering, infinite love and have soul force to reach their goals.