The Nobler Sex

                         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.