Inspirational Indian Women stories this Navratri!

Inspirational Indian Women stories this Navratri!

The auspicious festival of Navratri!

Navratri, meaning nine nights, is a Hindu festival celebrated in Autumn in India. Celebrated with amazing festive spirits, these 9 days are dedicated mainly to “Maa” (Mother/Goddess), be it Maa Durga, Maa Kali or any other form. The story associated with Navratri is a battle which took between goddess Durga and the demon Mahishasura. The Demon here represents Selfishness, Narcissism, Egoism, falseness which was killed by the Goddess, a Women, a Maa representing the power of a woman, victory of truth, sacrifice and love that a Maa’s heart has! 

Why I associate Navratri to Womanhood?

These 9 spiritual days are full of colours and various festivities and I personally love celebrating this as a festival of women. A festival wherein I see a woman as a strong person who has sacrificed her life for her relations and love. One who has struggled her life to spread love, joy, care for the world. It empowers me more as a woman and signifies a life full of dignity.

So while this festival is going on, why not let me celebrate the essence of inspiration, with some really, not-so-popular but highly inspiring stories. Some stories, which may trigger goosebumps and even tears, but they trigger a sense of achievement. They rise pride in me being a woman, and creates a sense of belonging for the “Women community” all around the world.

Salute to all the beautiful ladies and mothers out there! Wishing all a beautiful Navratri.

So here goes 9 ladies who are strong as rock and whom I personally adore for some very real reasons!

Navratri with 9 inspiring women in India

1. Sunitha Krishnan :

A real life heroine I would say!  A woman whose love to give something to the society, women, challenged children, rose even before she was 8years old. She taught children in the slums and during one such literacy campaign, at 15, she herself was gang raped by eight men. Yes eight men, at the age of 15. But she says, that being raped was not what remains much in her conscious, the aftermaths, the victimisation of a victim, the isolation from the society, the feel of being cheap and ashamed was what infuriated her.

This incident gave rise to an organization “Prajwala”, which means an Eternal fire, a fire inside a woman. A fire to save commercially sexually exploited children and workers of sex slaves. She has saved more than 3200 children which were sold out in the name of adoption, organ trade for this highly traumatised skin business. Kids as small as 4-5-6years have been rescued by her and she ensures that they are well educated, loved and cared for with the dignity of being a women in her organization.  She is a social activist, rehabilitating sex trafficked children. One can always find a helping hand from this strong and tender hearted woman, who despite numerous threats towards her own life, has not deterred from her cause.

Do watch her inspiring TED Talk, which got me into tears, tears of pain and agony. I salute her, bow my head for the work she is doing for this society and innocent children from being sexually exploited.

2. Arunima Sinha :

That’s a story for the brave hearts, the one who climbed Mount Everest with one leg. Yes, Arunima is world’s first Indian female amputee to climb Mount Everest. Life is full of twists and tragedies and the same  confronted this National level Volleyball player. She was travelling in a train, wherein she was encountered by robbers who tried to rob her bag and a gold chain. She fought, resisted and this resulted in her being pushed out of the train on parallel tracks. Before she could react, another train already ran over her leg. With serious leg and pelvic injuries, doctors had no option but to remove her leg.

In the hospital, this brave heart girl threw a challenge to her life and soon got trained under the guidance of Bachendri Pal. She reached the summit of Mount Everest on 21 May 2013, taking close to 52 days, defying all odds. Odds of being a woman and an amputee, she took the world not to pity her but to cherish her strong mind. Apart from these, she has also climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt. Elbrus, Mt. Kosciuszko and Mt. Aconcagua.

She is dedicated for the social welfare of Physically Challenged people and has opened an academy – Pandit Chandra Shekhar Vikalang Khel Academy, supporting sports for poor and differently abled people. She wrote the book “Born again on the mountain” in 2014 and is gratified by many Awards.

Her story ignites something in me, something called passion.

3. Sindhutai Sapkal :

Rightly called “The Mother of Orphans and Abandoned Children”.

Her story reflects an incredible grit a woman can have despite suffering dejections in her life. A young girl who loved studying but her mother opposed it and she was married at a tender age of 10 to a 30year old man. Though a victim of Child marriage, she continued to fight for her exploited village women. This infuriated many and a nasty rumour of infidelity during her pregnancy made her life worse. She was beaten and ousted by her husband while in her last month and was even dejected by her mom, strange! She gave birth to her daughter in a cow shed, forget hospital or home.

But all this did not shook her, she took to singing and begging to make her and her daughters ends meet. While all this, she realized that there were so many children hungry, homeless and orphaned. She couldn’t tame her loving heart and started adopting those orphaned children. She fed them with her hands, she begged and travelled from village to cities to raise money and nurture these beautiful lives. Stats say, she had raised more than 1200 orphan children, to be boasted, many of those are lawyers and doctors and call her as “Maai”, meaning mother.

She has won close to 750 awards. Her life has been full of kindness in this harsh world. Even today, close to her 70’s, she is the same energetic Maai, nurturing many more such homeless kids in her Ashram’s, to give them a beautiful life full of dignity. Read more about her, her work and one can contribute their part towards it!

You can see her video here .

4. Kalpana Saroj :

Her story tells you of a person who ventured life from rags to riches. A Dalit, Child bride rescued from the slum goes on to be a $112million CEO. A heart breaking story but it rejuvenates faith in hard work done from the heart.

A Dalit, who saw a differential behaviour from society, teachers right when she was a little child got married at the age of 12. She was a victim of severe physical abuse by her husband and extended inlaws family who made her a “walking corpse”, as described by her father. Within 6 months of her marriage her father rescued her from those inhumane clutches but the society didn’t leave her all alone.

She got to hear lots of comments, that she was a shame, to return back and the hate towards her grew consistently. She couldn’t cope up and she drank a bottle full of poison. But destiny had something else for her. She had to live, she got a second chance to live a fearless life. She moved to Mumbai and learned tailoring full time. As fate would have it, her father lost his job and the poor family was poverty stricken. She couldn’t even save her younger sister’s life due to insufficient funds to get her treated.

This tragedy got her to hone her entrepreneurial skills to earn money at any cost. She worked hard, understood many government schemes, took loans and started off with her furniture and tailoring works. She started her own NGO and her business started to grow. But just to save the lives of 566 starving families, she took over the business of “Kamani industries”, laid off the debts and is now a chairman of that group running it successfully.

Wow, a 7th class literate, a victim of physical abuse, a survivor of suicide, from entrepreneur to chairman, this woman is a self made woman, whose acts deserves to be copied with pride.

5. Laxmi Saa :

From an acid attack survivor to a face of fashion brand, this is a courageous story. Just 15 and she was attacked by a 32 year old man, whose advances she refused to accept. He threw acid on her face but she survived. Though her face yet has all the burns, she then gathered all the signatures and initiated a petition to regulate acid sale in the markets. Her petition was heard by Supreme court of India and the state governments were asked to regulate the sale of acid. She started her own NGO to help Acid attack victims and her courageous moves have awarded her numerous awards, including International Women of Courage award in 2014 by US First Lady Michelle Obama.

While girls get on their nerves when it comes to fashion and their figure, she has challenged every girl out here. She fought back her terrible condition, admired what she is after the attack and now is The Face of Courage of Viva N Diva Fashion brand

Watch her video right here . She is not just a survivor, but a Motivator to every person in this world.

6. Sarla Thakral :

She is one unsung hero, who could challenge numerous women even today. She saw her dreams in skies and went to fulfil as she became the first Indian women to fly an aircraft. She earned an aviation pilot licence at the age of 21, in 1936, times when this sector was male driven all across the world. Also, when she did that she had a 4year old daughter. We, the women, forget our dreams, quit our aspirations once we have kids. And later, blame it all to the life post kids even if we have supporting surroundings. Then, what should we call Ms. Sarla, since she conquered in the ages of male chauvinism, after giving birth to a daughter. That calls for a confidence of a woman.

Sarla took the pilot’s cockpit of a Gypsy Moth in a saree and made a history as India’s first lady pilot. She also obtained her “A” license after accumulating 1000 hours of flying. As she was about to attain her commercial Pilot license, the World War II broke out and her husband died in an airplane crash. Post this, She took over to her interest in Arts and became an entrepreneur in custom jewellery and designing. She indeed is a face of confident women, who tap upon their dreams and cross all the hurdles to achieve them.

7. Kanika Tekriwal :

A young bubbling girl who loved the aviation industry and was working for it while she was just 17. She wanted to give her dreams a fly in the form of providing an Online market place for hiring Charter services but for her too the luck was not that easy. She was diagnosed with cancer and the  first result she heard from her doctor was “Kanika, you have very little time”, as she says. She was hardly 22 at that time. But her strength, her determination to live and her faith in doctors across this country, made her stand once again within a year with the tag of founder of “JetSetGo”. JetSetGo is an interactive platform which enables the users to search and charter aircrafts and helicopters across India.

At such a small age, battling with cancer and indeed turning her dreams into a reality does makes us proud of having such strong headed women in India.

8. Neerja Bhanot :

Yes, after the movie Neerja, most of us have known about her life. A girl, a senior flight purser of Pan Am was shot killed when her flight was hijacked by 4 terrorists at Karachi Airport in Pakistan. It was not that simple, since she was the one who saved hundreds of the lives in that flight single handedly with her intelligence that day. Even after being hit by the bullet she continued to save people by sending them via emergency exit and being the leader of the crew she did not exit herself until all were safe. Though few more people died on that flight that day, she became martyr forever.

She was bubbly girl, but her painful marriage had wounded her a lot. She had abusive husband who was more in love with getting dowry and even in those days she listened to her heart and divorced that man.

Bhanot received India’s highest gallantry Award, The Ashoka Chakra and is the youngest and the first woman recipient of it. One should watch movie Neerja, which instills a live terrorism and how a girl single handedly tackled the situation. It needs a brave heart, an intellectual mind and an sense of gratitude and kindness for what she did.

9. Mary Kom : 

Mary Kom needs no introduction, since she has been shown in the limelight. But, there is something in her which inspires a mom in me and that’s why I salute to her. She was born and brought up in a poor family and she helped her parents in the field even when she was very young. She loved sports, but definitely did not play Boxing, a typical masculine sport. When a Manipuri Boxer won Gold Medal at Asian games, something ignited her and she took up that sport.  Life was not easy for her to get trained in Boxing.

But her hard work, determination to excel made her 5-time World Amateur Boxing Champion. Even motherhood did not deter her and she continued her training and efforts even after she became a mom. Hell, that’s when most of us leave everything. Yes, this is why this lady inspires me tons.  She has won many Gold’s in many championships and her Bronze in Summer Olympics and Gold in Asian Championships are cherished.

She is also the only women boxing champion to get a medal in each of the six championships that she has participated in.

Get up Girls, wake up moms, It’s the time to give your dreams a fly. These 9 women in such diverse fields have much more to their credits. I would ask you to research on each one of them and read their detailed stories. I did that, I had tears, I could barely speak. But at the end, I was firm to give my dreams a fly, no matter what. None of us have an easy life, but what matters is to stand against all the odds and achieve those dreams which might remain dream till we die. Passion never dies but circumstances may die! Our Steps will not end but complaints will end!

Move on ladies, fulfil your dreams. No one in this world can hold it back. You are loving yet ferocious, Give a pat on your back and start your journey.

I would love my readers to share more such inspiring stories here in the comment section.

Happy Navratri!

Navratri with 9 inspiring women in India

Jhilmil

Quest to live the life surrounded with the charming little bundle's of joy. When they speak, I sing, When they smile, I rejoice , When they hug, I hold them never to lose, Such is my passion for these Gifts of God.This love urged me to navigate separately from my Travel Blog & establish an "All-In-One" Blog for budding mothers. Mum's have multi-tasked this world ,with all her professional commitments , she still makes an extra effort to be a loving, caring and be an intellectual mommy! Cheers, for me too come from the same fraternity, post having a superb academics & close to 8 years of professional experience and blessed with a little one "who has indeed changed my life from Autumn to Spring";)

This Post Has 95 Comments

  1. Rinku

    Salute to all the wonder women for showing path to those who has suffered

  2. ashok bhansali

    Excellent, highly commadable to listen, learn and like for everyone, indeed it is need and demand of the day and nation’s voice, keep it up jhilmil

  3. Mamta Sharma

    I don’t have words to comment , as no word is made to define my feelings . Just simply wants to say wonderful . I salute all of them .

  4. Aditya

    I salute to all women who made not our country proud but they made their homeland proud as well.

  5. Amber

    Wow, these are some wonder women. Thank you so much for sharing their stories. I admit, I hadn’t heard about a lot of them.

    1. Jhilmil

      Yups, most of us haven’t. That’s why we all need to read more and get inspired by women to pursue our dreams. Thanks

  6. Anne

    Yeah, I like the spirit! Very, very nice article idea. I actually always wanted to visit the festival and this article just reminded me of me wanting to go there. Should do that soon! Thank you for dedicating an entire article to powerful women – there should be more of those!

    1. Jhilmil

      This festival is really colourful and I love the spirit. Do visit India sometime in this duration. Thanks

  7. theterrificfive

    This is a great list of 9 amazing women. Enjoy the festival!

  8. MissHarleyRose

    wow, I never knew an amputee climbed Everest! that is absolutely incredible.

    1. Jhilmil

      Actually, so we all can definitely nurture our dreams, when they can!

    2. Jhilmil

      True, women are incredible, just need to know our inner strength:). Thanks

  9. Christine

    Excellent post…informative and interesting! Thanks for sharing the stories of these amazing women!

    1. Jhilmil

      Thank you so much Christine, hope you feel inspired:)

  10. Karyn Locke

    A real life heroine, indeed! It’s so easy to take inspiration form such a strong woman!

  11. Patricia G.

    These are such awesome women! I am ashamed to admit, I didn’t even know about them until today. Thank you for sharing! May these women’s legacies live on forever!

    1. Jhilmil

      That’s what the world is, many such women are not shown to the world, who inspires us tons. Thanks

    2. Jhilmil

      Most of us didn’t knew inspite of staying in India, but we need to know, their work, their circumstances from which they rose. It all motivates being a women so much. Thanks

  12. Rose

    Thank you for sharing these womens stories. Of course I have not heard of most of them but feel better now. I think we all need to recognize strong women and appreciate what they have accomplished.

    1. Jhilmil

      Indeed, recognize and feel inspired to achieve our dreams. Thanks

  13. Familyearthtrek

    Being a woman in this mans world is really hard but I know it must be even harder for being a woman living in India so to read about all these strong women makes me want to cry because I cant imagine how much suffering they must have gone through to arrive to where they are now! Really inspiring and I really hope that the world will change one day!

    1. Jhilmil

      Yes, I do hope and I wish that women get inspired to take up their dreams. Thanks

    2. Jhilmil

      Yes, Though India has changed a lot but the pockets of society still have same traditional thoughts. And becoming that strong women emerging from negative circumstances really trigger so much of an inspiration. Yes, hoping world changes one dy. Thanks!

  14. Star harford

    Sunitha Krishnan’s story made me cry! What a strong woman she became and managed to use the negative that happened to her to make positive for so many children!

    1. Jhilmil

      Same happened to me, hearing her Ted Talk , I cried multiple times.. I was so inspired from her and others that I just wanted to run and support them out. Thanks for reading!

  15. eliza

    Wow! These days are truly meant for girl / ladies power! Power not only terms of strength but how they influence other women’s life and how inspiring they become. Salute! and thanks for this remembrance.

    1. Jhilmil

      Thanks ELiza for giving it a thought!

  16. Sarah Fleming

    What an inspiring post. I love reading about women that overcome hardship and are positive role models!

  17. jmsterb

    Oh my goodness, all these women have such inspirational stories, thank you for sharing! I can’t even begin to imagine what they have gone through. I particularly like the stories about the woman who climbed Everest with one leg, and Kalpana’s.

    1. Jhilmil

      Really, she climbed with one leg, these women are an inspiration. thanks

  18. Gillie

    What a marvelous festival. I appreciate that it is more than one day. Plenty of time to immerse oneself in the sense of this celebration. Thank you for sharing the stories of these inspirational women.

    1. Jhilmil

      Thanks, 9 days are quite long and they are extremely colourful and vibrant.

  19. Eloise

    Love this! it’s a truly inspiring post for all women! Each of these amazing women have achieved greatness by helping others and I’m happy I was able to get to know them through your post. I would love to be a part of the celebration in the festival : )

    We women need to support one another and build each other up, and sharing this post helps with that!

    1. Jhilmil

      Indeed, we need support to nurture our dreams. The Navratri festival is going on now and I would love you to come to India next year and experience the vibrance, positivity then! Thanks

  20. Nayna Kanabar

    What a heart warming post and I totally admire the courage of all these women who have achieved do much and made us prouud to day that women can reach great heights too.

    1. Jhilmil

      Indeed, even adversity cannot stop a strong and brave hearted women, and that’s what I wanted to share here. Thanks

  21. cvnxena

    wow i’ve not heard of this celebration before but I am all for it. It is so important to recognise those who are inspirational and making a difference!

  22. kalliamanika

    First of all, thank you for sharing the details of the Navratri festival. I have never heard of it before and I had no idea it existed! Love women empowerment, so this is lovely to see! Great of you to share all these ladies!

    1. Jhilmil

      Oh, I would love to welcome you to India during this festival, it is so bright, colourful and vibrant then. Thanks

      1. kalliamanika

        Awe! Thank you so very much dear!!! I can only hope so one day!!!

  23. maddy6686

    Thank you for sharing about your culture and the inspirational stories. These women you highlighted are very empowering and full of light.

    1. Jhilmil

      Thanks! Indeed these women are wonders.

  24. Elizabeth O

    Happy Navratri to you and yours! I am bookmarking your post so I can come back and follow the links to each brave woman’s life story. Very inspiring!

    1. Jhilmil

      Thank you so much Elizabeth. Do read out their stories and listen to the Ted talk link I have shred. You’ll really feel something being a woman.

  25. Violinkit

    So glad that there is a festival to celebrate women and there achievements especially in the face of adversity. The festival of Navratri is a very worthwhile and important acknowledgement to mark the extreme circumstances that these women have risen above. I salute all of them. x

    1. Jhilmil

      Hey Thanks! Indeed it is must to pay onus to mothers and women.

  26. Woah! Inspiring post. I love reading about people that overcome hardship and are positive role models!

  27. toastycritic

    These are all such amazing stories of women in pursuits of dreams or helping people. So sad about how some of them were treated though. Hate to believe it happens but I know that it does.

  28. I love the sound of this festival and the super women. More grease to their elbows. Great article.

  29. Salute to all the women mentioned. It was refreshing to read about them and their stories.

  30. These are all truly inspiration women. Although I’d not heard of any of them before I thoroughly enjoyed reading their stories 🙂

    Louise x

  31. Keoshia

    What an inspiring post, I loved the stories of all the women you chose. I can see why they are an inspiration to you!

  32. saakshirajat

    Kudos to you for putting the list of inspirational women together.

  33. Brandi

    This is very inspirational! Sounds like some amazing people and a great way to celebrate.

  34. Judy

    This is such an inspirational post loved it!

  35. karan

    WOW VERy inspiring, thanks for sharing

  36. Aditinona

    Truly inspiring and awesome post… great work.. thanks for sharing

  37. My Rumblings

    Yes it is high time we need to celebrate the power on womanhood. Such inspiring stories of women who has been making powerful statements needs to highlighted more often. The society needs to start accepting the women as equal to men, need to accord them with respects which they befits. Thanks for bringing such stories ….Also most notable fact that as a nation if we want to succeed in all respects respecting the women and empowering them is a desirable aspect which everyone should wholeheartedly accept and move forward.

  38. bestiesnotepad

    That’s a great post!
    9 days of navaratri dedicated to the wonderful ladies..salute to womanhood!

  39. Prakhar

    Beautifully written… Respect for all these women!!

  40. Aradhana

    It’s a great topic and you nailed it. Keep writing awesome stuff like this.

  41. Jhilmil D Saha

    Very inspiring post Jhilmil. I appreciate that you have shown and represented Navratri from a different and nocel perspective. I am sharing it.

  42. fromroopalismind

    You have selected a very inspiring topic at the right occasion, well done

  43. Neha

    This is the perfect inspiration for our daughter’s to be! Never give up is what these nav durgas teach us.

  44. makeupadda1

    I loved reading it.. Very nice and informative post

  45. Zainab

    This is an amazing post, salute to these power women! More power to them!

  46. Prerna Sinha

    Empowering other women is what womenhood is all about, more power to you too! ⚡️

  47. snehalboricha

    Hats off to all these lovely, brave and talented women! 🙂

  48. Nisha Malik

    That’s really something need a salute. Kudos to you for writing such a wonderful piece. These women are like devi avatar ?

  49. Namrata

    The ladies are so inspiring, they all deserve a grand salute!

  50. Dr Bushra

    That’s such inspiring women makes us proud and more power to them

  51. Varsh

    Every woman is an inspiration in herself. These women must be looked upon as an icon of strength, fearlessness and compassion. Beautiful post.

  52. Minakshi bajpai

    I am feeling very proud that these women belongs to the same nation which I belong. These are like an inspiration for all women of our nation. Want to stand and salute them all.

  53. Glow Origin

    Lovely post thanks for sharing this wit us.. Salute to all wonder women

  54. Mrinal Kiran

    Thank you so much gor sharing these stories.. they are really so inspiring

  55. worldofmakeupmagique

    Wow!! Such inspiring stories… loved reading all of them

  56. I saw sunitha krishnan’s video when i was in college and ever since i have not forgotten what she told us in the video. salute to women like her who are doing loads for others!!

  57. Trystwithvanillagirl

    You have beautifully amalgamated Navratri with Durga of this modern world. I always felt same but never really took time to pen my thoughts. Thanks for this inspirational post

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