Int'l Women’s Day: Here are four ladies taking the bull by the horns every day

It is easy to spot Womenrsquos Day coming from a mile away the political and commercial gimmicks start weeks earlier But something as simple and basic as the fact that the entire month of March is celebrated as Womenrsquos History Month is never talked about Because celebrating a woman is more than a dayrsquos work we looked at some women who have been doggedly soldiering on in their chosen fields for years sometimes decades And with solid results to show for their labour lsquoMy dream was to change the lives of othersrsquoSangeeta KambleSocial activist MankhurdGrowing up my life was a mix of progress and hardship We had a small farm near Kolhapur and a separate spot in the village to fill water as we are from the Dalit community This was the first taboo I broke at 15 years of ageI was the fifth of six children and the second daughter My father was very vocal against untouchability and also worked for the welfare of fellow villagers building wells and promoting education for girls My sister and I were pushed hard to finish schoolingI didnrsquot need much motivation I loved to read and developed an interest in history The idea of changing the lives of others became an aspiration I wanted to live just like the historical figures I read abouthellip the freedom fighters and social workersIn the 1990s I got married and we moved to Mumbai for better income opportunities When I came to live in Maharashtra Nagar in Mankhurd it was a marsh Our first house was nothing more than a sheet of plywood over shallow water with plastic wallsIn 2001 a builder turned up to demolish the temporary houses saying they were on his land But because I read the newspaper every day I knew that people could not simply be uprooted from their homes With the help of a lawyer we took the fight to court getting a stay on the demolitionThat was just the beginning A local political leader decided to cash in on the situation and claimed she could get the demolition stopped if we paid R500 per head but I knew that there was no way to do this other than the legal one I called her out in a meeting and the residents thought I was being difficult for the sake of it They surrounded and almost assaulted meIt was the first time that the importance of education dawned on me it inspired me to take up more causes I formed a group with other women in the area and started writing to the municipal corporation seeking cleaner roads and better toiletsDuring the deluge of July 2005 I got an opportunity to help people on a larger scale We had moved into a pukka house by then but many other houses had been washed away I gathered all the women and children in the area and hosted them at home a day after the floods The women who had earlier tried to lynch me slept in my house that nightThe very next morning I began approaching corporates and social welfare organisations and in a day a truck full of food for the entire locality showed up This went on for four days till the government finally woke up and started sending relief suppliesFrom then on there was no looking back I underwent a certificate course in Social Work for ParaProfessionals and set up a primary school in Mankhurd The first teachers were neighbours who had worked as babysitters and tuition teachers Through consistent letters to the government I was able to get qualified teachers and a bigger space In 2007 I got a government grant to set up an anganwadi which is a source of livelihood for scores of women in the areaThis work automatically opened my eyes to other groups of people who were underrepresented and suffering Now I work with hawkers autorickshaw drivers and daily wage labourers My efforts are very basic Securing food shelter or the money they are owed Much of the work is filling up applications for them so that they can seek benefits they are entitled to under government schemesLife is a journey of lessons and alliances I am now a member of the Communist Party of India Marxist and of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions I have stuck with the CPI M because their policies are devoid of religion There is no religious picture or idol in my office because we believe in helping everyone who we are in a position to help After all what else does religion in its purest form preachlsquoSilence is no solution Fight backrsquoMegha VoraFounder and Chief Coach Womenrsquos Self Defence CentreI come from a conservative Gujarati family where we were always taught to be silent to pin our eyes to the ground when outside and not talk back I grew up in a small colony in Vile Parle and every other day we heard stories of verbal and sexual harassment In school just like any other girl I was sexually harassed verbally and bullied too often and even though it angered me I couldnrsquot do anythingmdashnot a word would escape my lips I couldnrsquot even make eye contact with the perpetratorMegha Vorarsquos personal trauma fuels her resolve to make young women capable of giving it back PicAnurag AhireIn college I met Mehul Vora who became my boyfriend and now husband Mehul had trained in martial arts since he was three years old and by the time he was in college he held a seconddegree black belt in Karate I had never known anyone to be interested or participate in armed combat as a sport which piqued my interest We became friends and one day when I asked him whether he would teach me martial arts he said with a smirk ldquoThen yoursquoll have to fight for yourself I wonrsquot go around beating up boys for you You wonrsquot need me yoursquoll be your own bossrdquoEvery day after college I would stop by at Juhu beach or the school in Malad where he taught after college and he would teach me classic lsquohaddi tod bonebreakingrsquo moves Six months down the line I snapped and used them One evening as I walked home a guy from my own colony started badgering me with crude and sexuallyexplicit terms I turned around and bashed him black and bluemdashbystanders tried to separate us but I just couldnrsquot let go of his hair I banged his head on a car bonnet not once but four timesAfter that sexual harassment of women stopped in the entire laneI felt something that I had never experienced before A sense of freedom and confidence The realisation that I had the power to protect myself It was atransformative momentIn 2012 the gang rape of the paramedical trainee Jyoti Singh in a public bus in south Delhi shook the world and I found my calling We started a nonprofit organisation the Women Self Defence Centre to teach women karate jiujitsu kickboxing and pressure point combat techniques for protection One of the most important techniques is how to use things found in your bag as a weapon such as a scarf or a house key It has been more than 10 years and we have empowered more than one lakh women so farGirls are not safe anywhere My students talk about the most traumatic experiences of abuse that take place in assumed safe spaces such as homesWe also try to help the girls mentally We are conditioned to not show our emotions or ldquomisbehaverdquo so when we are abused or attacked we freeze shut down or go numb The very first step in our training is to unlearn this and screammdashscream as loud as you can and embarrass the abuser If this doesnrsquot work enlist the three Arsquos Awareness Assessment and ActionWe educate women on adopting selfdefence as a lifeskill and not a hobby It brings discipline and balance to your life keeps you calm and conscious of your physical space and beingItrsquos been 28 tough and glorious years of fighting and teachingmdashthe kind of satisfaction I feel is incomparable Change is only possible when you work on yourselflsquoFed up of being told to shut uprsquoHasina KhanGeneral Secretary Bebaak CollectiveWe speak to Hasina Khan just days after one of the convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case was given parole to attend his nephewrsquos wedding The champion of rights for women marginalised by religion is swamped with work which takes her all over the country Khan takes a breather to talk to us over the phoneldquoBilkis is just one examplerdquo she says ldquoHistory is filled with examples of how the deck is stacked against womenrdquoFrom meetings to discuss prevalent issues to educating upskilling and helping in crises Hasina Khanrsquos life revolves around women marginalised by religionBebaak meaning fearless in Urdu is a national collective of women working together for the upliftment of their sex through education employment and financial and legal aid in both judicial courts and before the Muslim religious authorityldquoItrsquos worse if yoursquore a Muslim womanrdquo Khan continues ldquoIf I go to a police station I am automatically anticipating either an antiwoman bias or an antiMuslim bias or bothrdquoKhanrsquos first brush with the path that she chose came when she was a child and her mother told her not to wear a burqa if she didnrsquot want to The incident shaped her thoughts and ultimately her lifeldquoIt wasnrsquot easy for herrdquo says Khan of her mother ldquoShe faced strong opposition but just as she was my source of strength she too must have drawn her strength from another woman who dared to break free of patriarchy We all draw our strength from each otherrdquoThe turning point in Khanrsquos life came when she met Shehnaaz Sheikh founder of the nonprofit AwaazeNiswan AEN It was among the first organisations that challenged the Muslim Personal Law and the way Islam treated women In 1993 when Sheikh left the AEN Khan revived and led it AEN did the same work that Bebaak founded in 2013 now doesldquoThe women we work with have had enough of staying silentrdquo says Khan ldquoThey try to voice their troubles to those close to them but are told to stay quiet They labour through life thinking they will be heard some day but that day never comes After a point one gets fed up of always being told to shut uprdquo says KhanThis refusal to shut up is what keeps her goingldquoThe freedoms of Muslim women are tailormade to suit the comfort levels of their menrdquo she says ldquoThey are okay with us talking about the state of Muslims as a whole but the minute we start talking about the state of women in Islam they have a problem But these problems exist they will not go away if we donrsquot talk about them Rather talking about them will bring a solution All wersquore trying to do is let the victims talkrdquoBebaak coordinates with victims of abuse discrimination and violence across the country to connect them to solutions Discussions and collective learning are encouraged and instances of communalism and its effect on Muslim women are documented Since its inception Bebaak has campaigned against the practice of Triple Talak the politics around the beef ban and vigilante justice in the name of protecting cowsldquoThe meetings we hold are replete with examples of courage by women like the nude protest by Assamese women outside the Assam Rifles headquarters in 2004 against sexual atrocities by soldiers Shaheen Bagh is another shining example of women breaking their silence Again it is women drawing strength from each otherrdquo Khan emphasisesShe canrsquot help but express concern over the current political atmosphere which has made it all the more difficult for women to speak up She fails to see the point behind celebrating International Womenrsquos Day at a time when female wrestlers are arrested for protesting prolonged sexual harassment by political leadersldquoIt breaks my heart when I see a woman forced to give up after repeatedly asking for justice But I draw solace from these lines Yeh na samjho sadaa se haare hain hum Bas jalte hue angaare hain hum Donrsquot think we are lost we are silently burning embersrdquolsquoYoursquore disabled only if you choose to bersquoChhonzin AngmoVisually challenged mountaineerBorn in the otherworldy Kinnaur Valley in Himachal Pradesh Chhonzin Angmo lost her eyesight due to a reaction to a medication when she was only eight years old However Angmo chose not merely to navigate the world anew but to conquer it In September 2023 Angmo scaled Mt Kang Yatsae2 a majestic mountain that rises to 20459 feet in Ladakh Her successful climb is more than just a physical victory itrsquos a powerful demonstration of her unbreakable willldquoLosing my sight didnrsquot mean losing my vision for liferdquo says the 27yearold her voice resonating with conviction Angmo finds a deep connection with Helen Kellerrsquos words The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision Itrsquos this philosophy that propelled her to take on some of the most challenging terrains and adventuresChhonzin Angmo refuses to let her disability stop her from scaling new heights literallyThis philosophy is vividly mirrored in her academic pursuits She finished schooling at the Mahabodhi Residential School in Ladakh then advanced to earn undergraduate and Masterrsquos degrees from the prestigious Miranda House at Delhi University ldquoFrom there there was no looking back for merdquo she says her voice a mix of pride and humilityEven over the phone you can feel the positivity in Angmorsquos voice Her life is anchored in positivity and a belief in limitless energy ldquoIrsquove never let my disability define me or limit my ambitionsrdquo she says ldquoMy lifersquos purpose is to motivate all people with disabilities showing them that they are only disabled if they choose to berdquoChhonzin Angmo refuses to let her disability stop her from scaling new heights literallyHer passion for adventure began in 2016 with a mountaineering course at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports in Manali where she was awarded Best TraineeThe year 2018 marked a significant chapter in Angmorsquos life when she tandem cycled 550 km from Manali to Khardung La in Ladakh one of the worldrsquos highest roads in nine days She clocked 30 to 40 km every day going through six mountain passes at the highest elevation of 18350 km at temperatures that dropped to 4C to 5C at night to become a symbol of resilience The following year she embarked on another adventuremdash cycling across the Nilgiri mountains and covering Karnataka Tamil Nadu and Kerala in just six daysAngmorsquos spirit of leadership shone in 2021 during Operation Blue Freedom where she led a team of people with disabilities to the Siachen Glacier setting a new world record ldquoIt was an honour to be the only woman to reach the worldrsquos highest battlefieldrdquo she says In September 2022 she triumphed over the Mt Kanamo peak in Spiti Valley standing at 19635 feet ldquoBeing the first from my team to reach the top was a dream come truerdquo she recalls And then in September 2023 she stood atop Mt Kang Yatsae 2 at 20459 feet above sea level in LadakhAngmorsquos other interests span across cooking knitting yoga and football Among her numerous accolades being recognised by PM Narendra Modi in Mann ki Baat and receiving the National Association of Blindrsquos Madhu Sharma Young Achiever Award in December 2022 are particularly dear to herWhen asked about her challenges she says ldquoIn the initial years of college when I moved to Delhi I had to learn to do everything on my own I had never used a cane before There were times I would cry because I felt I could not manage on my own But then slowly and steadily I can proudly say I am independent now Life will always be beautiful no matter how tough it gets My blindness is not a weakness but a source of strengthrdquoCurrently a junior assistant at the Union Bank of India in Delhi Angmo dreams of climbing Mt Everest