When MC Mary Kom, did not show up as anticipated at the Tata Salt "Desh Ka Namak" Award ceremony at Rendezvous, Taj Palace Hotel, Mumbai this Wednesday, Priyanka Chopra afforded a rather emotional felicitation to the honorees, albeit over two hours later than scheduled. But that will be the beginning and end of our rant, because the people honoured here are deserving indeed.
For instance, the salt-and-pepper haired septuagenarian, Subhashini Mistry from Hanspukur, West Bengal did everything from cleaning ponds and selling chappals to ensure that one of her children became a doctor. The hospital she started in a small hut—after cajoling the residents of Hanspukur to be generous with the little that they had—has grown into a 5,000-square-foot building, where we're told 'no treatment costs more than Rs.5 and no surgery costs more than Rs.5,000'. “We have all this because people have given,” says the woman who may not understand what you are saying but will hug you twice over, the minute you smile and reach out a hand.
With the support and encouragement of Meera Badve, Founder and Director of the Niwant Andh Mukta Vikasalaya, Pune, thousands of visually challenged individuals are today doing everything from making and selling chocolates to programming for Google. “There is no limit to what visually challenged people can do. We are the ones who are blind to the possibilities,” insists the former literature professor. It was whilst volunteering at a school for the blind in Pune that she realised that she could be of greater help to graduates of the school, who had nowhere to go once they turned 18. A firm believer in self-reliance, she is quick to point out that she can do all that she does simply because of her husband's support over the years.
Shravani Pawar from Hubli, Karnataka set up Safe Hands in 2009 to provide more career options for women by training women-only security task forces. Safe Hands currently has around 400 personnel and 48 clients in Karnataka. “Making agarbattis was too common,” she says, when asked why she chose to foray into a primarily male-dominated employment sphere. “Besides, organisations wanted women”.
The founders of Avanti Fellows—that enables students from economically challenged backgrounds to qualify for higher education—IITians Akshay Saxena and Krishna Ramkumar, were also honoured. Ramkumar, “does not view quitting a well-paying corporate job to create a sustainable peer-to-peer coaching system as a sacrifice”. The pay-it-forward mechanism, implies that the students they coach, will in turn help others, reducing the inequalities in access to education in India.
While the final honoree, Chetna Sinha could not make it to function, due to former commitments to the World Economic Forum, China, you've probably already heard a lot about her work, so we won't wax eloquent about her. Suffice to say that the strong-minded woman from Mhaswad, Satara, Maharashtra, who started the Mann Deshi Bank 1997 to empower women in rural India, intends to support one million women entrepreneurs by 2020.
Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country—Could John F Kennedy's words be the way ahead for our country?
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}