International Womens Day 2007!

I vaguely remember the first time I heard about existence of such a day..it was 4 years ago, probably. I still cannot figure out the reason behind having a single day dedicated to celebrate something like womanhood, same with a day dedicated to express your love-valentine's day...such psuedo celebrations really beats me. Nyways, after hearing all the hype that is being created around regarding this day, I decided to dedicate a piece to one woman I admire the most, other than my mom, of course!

Sudha Murthy. This name needs no introduction. Also the story of how she wrote to Telco on an open post card, only to be called for an interview, her meeting with Narayana Murthy through a common friend, their getting married eventually is also know to most people. When Narayana Murthy started Infosys, Sudha Murthy was a receptionist-cum-clerk-cum- programmer, and had to look into organising everything, a venture that was started with Rs.10,000 given by her to her husband.When she was asked to join the board of Infosys by Nandan Nilakeni..her husband did not approve of it... it would be either one of them on the board. The lady too the tough decision, though it was very difficult for her to accept the same at that point in time.

Now, this is where the crux of the matter is...this lady sacrificed something which many girls of this age would die for, but the beauty is despite all this, she goes on to make a name for herself through her writing & philanthrophy.Her sucesss lies in being a good mother, a good wife, and most importantly,being a good human being. One does not to be the smartest engineer or a smart corporate manager to be branded as successful woman! It takes a lot to have sacrificed all that you aspired for in career, but just move on and create a space and stature for yourself! Hats off to this woman!

Her idea of woman’s empowerment as she says, “is old-fashioned. I believe that it is the woman who should make more career sacrifices for the sake of keeping family values intact. She has to work harder than a man to keep the balance between work and home. But it is always worth that extra effort,’’ she says and adds with a smile: ‘‘The children end up being closer to their mother.’’

Great words from a woman who could have been an engineer/manager/entrepreneur/ceo ....what not? But she chose to be a woman and only that! no wonder, every guy searches for qualities of his own mother in his girlfriend/wife...

M'am, here's an heartfelt thanks for being an inspiration to so many, by just being yourself!

Final words:
Dedicating one particular day, organizing lavish functions and inviting speakers to come and give gyan does not make any sense to me to celebrate this day, especially when the listeners invited to such functions are the last people who will need this gyan. An ideal thing could be to probably empower the powerless by helping them in whatever way we can...as our Philosophy guru says..there is no replacement to "Karma Yoga"...few ways of doing karma yoga to those who have to start from scratch - be polite to your maid,she is after all another woman trying to making a living by washing your dirty pots and clothes,pass a smile at the sabziwaali/phoolwaali..ask her how her kids are..the joy on her face is something that you cannot probably replace by giving a 100 rupee note..

All you women out there, please do some good karma of making some powerless woman's life better than what it is... now, that is what I would call a reason to celebrate everyday as a happy womens day!