'DNA' women's marathon: From Riyadh to running

Abha Singh, 46, is not going to have much time to rest before she starts the 5km run on Sunday morning. She’s going to spend much of Saturday night on a flight from Dubai, only touching ground at 2.30am. But that doesn’t matter to her, according to husband, retired IPS officer YP Singh.

“Abha has always had an overwhelming sense of commitment to women’s issues,” he says. Abha Singh has two children to raise and is also the director of Postal Services in Maharashtra. “My wife, when she was posted in UP was the first to create opportunities for women in postal services. She pioneered the concept of postwomen in UP,” says her husband.

Abha came from a conservative family, and was married off when she was only 21. However, she continued studying for her civil service exams after marriage and went on to have a successful career as a civil servant. “Her father believed in educating his daughters, so she had the best opportunities they could afford.

And she really believes that women need to be educated for the development of the country.”

Such is her passion for women’s right that even on her vacation, Abha and her daughter have gone to Riyadh to study the situation of women there. “She was supposed to come back from Riyadh on Sunday. But she really wanted to participate in the DNA half-marathon, so she preponed her flight and she’ll be there on Sunday at 7.”