ॐ 1 | P a g e ॐ Inspiring and Unprecedented Initiative In an era of mass consumerism - not only of material goods - but of information, where society continues to be led by dominant and parochial ideas, the struggle to make our stories heard, has been limited. But the tides are slowly turning and is being led by the collaborative strength of empowered Hindu women from within our community. The Covid-19 pandemic has at once forced us to cancel our core programmes - which for decades had brought us together to pursue our mission to develop value-based leaders - but also allowed us the opportunity to collaborate in other, more innovative ways. It gives me immense pride that Hindu Sevika Samiti (UK) have set a new precedent for the trajectory of our work. As a follow up to the successful Mahila Shibirs in 7 vibhags attended by over 500 participants, 342 Mahila sevikas came together to write 411 articles on seven different topics which will be presented in the form of 7 e-books. I am very delighted to launch this collection which explores topics such as: The uniqueness of Bharat, Ramayana, Pandemic and the Hindu way of life, and the Contribution of Hindu women, amongst others. From writing to editing, content checking to proofreading, the entire operation was 2 | P a g e ॐ conducted by our Sevikas. This project has revealed hidden talents of many mahilas in writing essays and articles. We hope that these skills are further encouraged and nurtured to become good writers which our community badly lacks. I encourage all to read and share these works with their family and friends and hope our swayamsevaks and sevikas from across the world can take inspiration from this enormous initiative. Dhiraj D Shah Sanghachalak, HSS (UK) 2 Ashaadh 5122 (HE) 23 June 2020 3 | P a g e ॐ I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to all the Mahila (ladies) who participated in creating and publishing this eBook. From start to finish to write articles, edit them, check their content, proofread, and then format into eBooks within 2 months is just mind blowing. Ladies, you all have surpassed all my expectations and achieved the most amazing feat. Over the years, Mahila Shibirs have taken place at National level, Vibhaag level and this year as eMahila Shibir. At National level around 100 ladies used to attend a weekend varg. At a Vibhaag level most were organised as day vargs. This year, eMahila Shibir was organised for 2 hours, by 7 vibhags in which 500+ mahilas participated. The shibir included activities like skill session (public speaking or writing), games and a talk on Sevika Dharma. Second part of engaging mahilas was to choose a topic, research and utilise the skills learnt at the eMahila Shibir to write an article. It is amazing to see the enthusiasm with which 411 articles were written by the mahilas. A well-planned task requires a dedicated national and vibhaag level teams to execute it within the time limit, which was achieved. Your efforts will benefit yourselves and the Samiti work for the years to come. The on-going hard work of the mahilas and their commitment to the vision of learning the skill and putting it into practice to achieve such a wonderful goal is just amazing. I feel very proud of all the mahilas who have put in so much effort within such a short time to produce an amazing eBook. The book will remind us all of the creativity during the Covid crisis in the year 2020. Jayshreeben Mistry Kendriya Saha Karywahika, HSS (UK) 4 | P a g e ॐ Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in the articles are the respective author’s own and do not represent that of HSS (UK) or the author’s places of work. While each author and HSS (UK) has made every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors. HSS (UK) is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of any information in the articles. 5 | P a g e ॐ Contents Foreword ........................................................................................................................... 9 Nari ................................................................................................................................... 11 Vandaniya Saraswati Taiji Apte ..................................................................................... 14 Hindu Women in The Corporate World ...................................................................... 18 Folk Art ............................................................................................................................. 24 Sarla Thakral (aka Sarla Sharma) .................................................................................. 34 झ ाँसी की र नी लक्ष्मीब ई: Rani Laxmibai ........................................................................... 38 Suneeta Reddy ................................................................................................................ 46 Hindu Sports Women .................................................................................................... 49 Sindhutai Sapkal (Maai) ................................................................................................. 55 Savitribai Phule ............................................................................................................... 58 Sudha Murthy .................................................................................................................. 61 Sudha Murthy .................................................................................................................. 68 Mrs Sudha Murthy .......................................................................................................... 70 M S Subbulakshmi .......................................................................................................... 74 Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw ................................................................................................... 77 Mangala Gauri ................................................................................................................. 82 Girija Devi ........................................................................................................................ 86 Geeta Iyengar .................................................................................................................. 88 Dr Smt Kanak Rele .......................................................................................................... 90 Lata Mangeshkar ............................................................................................................ 92 Anju Bhargava ................................................................................................................. 96 6 | P a g e ॐ Lakshmi Agarwal .......................................................................................................... 100 BK Shivani ..................................................................................................................... 102 Niruben Mepa .............................................................................................................. 106 Rani Rudramadevi ....................................................................................................... 111 Brave Indian Women................................................................................................... 115 Rukmini Devi Arundale ............................................................................................... 121 Kalpana Chawla ........................................................................................................... 125 Mithali Raj ..................................................................................................................... 128 Ramabai Ranade .......................................................................................................... 131 Rajmata Ahilyabai Holkar ........................................................................................... 134 Sudha Chandran .......................................................................................................... 143 Ela Bhatt ........................................................................................................................ 145 Geeta Phogat ............................................................................................................... 148 Kiran Bedi ..................................................................................................................... 152 Raj Khaira ...................................................................................................................... 154 A New Approach to Keep Folk Art Alive .................................................................. 159 Meena Ganesh ............................................................................................................. 166 Sitara Devi ..................................................................................................................... 170 Sophia Duleep Singh .................................................................................................. 172 Indra Nooyi ................................................................................................................... 178 P. V. Sindhu ................................................................................................................... 184 Sushma Swaraj ............................................................................................................