Leading Ladies of India

“They wrote their own ways into the book,” says Sudha Menon on the remarkable women whose journey she has documented in her book Leading Ladies.

She tells the stories of women ‘who inspire India’ in all walks of life — Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Lila Poonawalla, Mallika Sarabhai, PT Usha, Naina Lal Kidwai or for that matter, Shubha Mudgal, to name a few.

Menon has a background in journalism with over two decades of experience as a business reporter. She worked with the Times group, the Hindu group and her last job was with Mint.

She quit Mint about a year and a half ago and started writing Leading Ladies from December, 2009.

But the book had been forming itself in her mind in the years preceding that. “I am deeply curious about people. As a business journalist, I had the chance to see many remarkable people whose lives extended beyond their designated professional identities to social work, activism and pursuit of many interests that would be otherwise incongruous. They left a deep impact on me,” says Menon.

“They all worked hard and yet seemed content, rooted and led perfectly balanced lives. I wanted to know how they achieved that.”

“We get so comfortable with our monthly paychecks that our real passions get left behind. I was scared that was going to happen to me,” says Menon.

This fear drove her to give up her job and focus on getting the book written. It was at an emotional journey. On one hand, there were apprehensions that come with giving up a job and being perceived as somebody who’s not doing anything. And on the other, it was an immensely rewarding and enriching process of seeing these super-achievers and getting to know their stories.

And these were not the glossy publicists’ accounts of the success stories, but an insight into their lives, the challenges they faced and the values they hold dear.

“There were instances, when in the course of conversation with me, some of the women would verbalise or admit to themselves for the first time their personal trials and tribulations,” says Menon. And if it was in any way cathartic to them, it was even more of a therapeutic exercise for her.

“My 22 years’ experience as a journalist had left me cynical. As I heard their stories, I drew hope. I grew more positive. It was a rejuvenating experience for me,” Menon explains.

Menon makes easy of the immense research that goes behind the book. She started with a list of about 100 women and got to setting up interviews with them. Her business reporting background made access to corporate figures easier than the others.

But time was a constraint. For most of these women are inordinately busy and travel a lot. “But fortunately, after the first interviews with each, it inevitably was established that this wasn’t going to be a sensationalised account, but a documentation of a journey and values which other people may draw some inspiration from. That made the subsequent interviews easy. The time and support each of them gave me is overwhelming,” says Menon.

By the time the first ten or so interviews were done, she realised that the entire list would be difficult to do justice to in one volume. She arrived at a whittled down list of 15 that she and her publisher agreed to and proceeded to take it up from there.

Menon’s mother played a big part is shaping up the book and what object it would serve. She reminisces: “My mother is from a tiny village in Kerala, married off right after school at 16 years of age. She had her first child when she was 17 and devoted her entire life to her family. People of her age, some of my friends who are her age, are so much more confident than she is because their lives took a different course. She never had those opportunities. She didn’t know another life existed. I wanted to write this book because I also wanted to tell people, it’s all about the right opportunities. Give your daughters the same kind of opportunities and see how much they can achieve.”

Menon speaks about women who transcended the privileges and the lack of them they were born with. Shikha Sharma or Kalpana Morparia belong to ordinary middle class families and worked their way up.

Then there’s Lila Poonawalla, who became Alfa Laval’s only woman CEO anywhere in the world, a long walk for a three-year old child in a refugee camp. Today, the Lila Poonawalla Foundation funds the education of hundreds of girls from underprivileged backgrounds.

Then there’s Anu Aga. Born to a business family, she’s had to fight her way up to take charge of the business, dealt with grief at its harshest as she lost her husband and son within a year of each other and battled demons — inside and out — suggesting she may not live up to the responsibilities.

“It’s not the privileges that make a woman remarkable. It’s what she does with those privileges,” says Menon. And this book, she hopes, goes a little way to show people to take heart, to go that extra step and to remember there are greater tragedies than the daily grind and greater causes they can contribute to.

This book is about women, but certainly not just for them. It is for everybody to read and take stock of life and make sure the same opportunities are provided to their daughters, sisters, friends and wives to ensure a better, capable world.