Bharatiya naari - Myth or mystique or is it “you ain't seen nothin' yet”?

Have always liked this scene in Chak De! India (2007 vintage) when an Indian Hockey Federation official exhorts a prospective coach, Kabir Khan, of the Indian Women's Hockey team, "Ye lota belan chalaane waali bharatiya naariyaan hain, kahan ye nikkar ukkar pehen ke daudti firengi”. The doughty gals and their passionate coach, on a personal mission, prove the official wrong in the movie and win it all. And we thought it was just a stupid movie, right? This week we saw something amazing. Couple of Indian girls took both the Gold and Silver medals at the Asiad 2010 in nothing less than the 10000 m athletics event beating out the Chinese, Japanese and even an Ethiopian athlete. Indian women are now in hitherto unthinkable competitions and winning medals at the Asian level – hurdles, discuss throw, archery, rowing not to mention wrestling and boxing. This is just a follow-through of what we saw on our home turf just a few weeks back at the CWG in New Delhi. 34 of the 100 medals India won at the CWG 2010 were by girls. Of this, over 60% came from Haryana and Punjab, arguably the most conservative of states when it comes to rights of women. And the trend is just starting, in my opinion, in Sports. Look around if you missed it. Liberalization seems to have done the most for Indian women in the last 2 decades. Indian women have started to show up - not just in "soft" sectors such as academia, IT, banking, hospitality but also in areas hitherto assumed as male fortes - Civilian airline pilots (4 of 10 flights I take today in India has a gal in the cockpit), Army, Police force, manufacturing, business leaders, entrepreneurs in their own right rather than by inheritance, and even astronauts. This is apart from the traditionally strong Education and Healthcare sectors. What has changed for the Bharatiya Naari? Why are 20 and 30 year old Indian women really turning it on suddenly? Why do we see them really "kicking ass" on the World stage? In my opinion, there were three major events in the '90s (forces, if you will) that shaped this, apart from the economic liberalization of 1991 (Remember that our subjects were in their early to late teens then). The 3 forces, as I would like to call them, were 1. Sush & Ash 2. DDLJ 3. Cable News Now for the first…… Sush & Ash, yes... Ms. Sushmita Sen and Ms. Aishwarya Rai. The year was 1994 and these two girls redefined beauty pagents for a whole Gen of Indians that year by bringing home the twin trophies of Miss Universe and Miss World by not just looking beautiful but by showcasing their intelligence and never-say-die spirit. May be, just may be, it was all “fixed” by the powers that be but what the heck! The aam janta in India saw it as what Indian girls can accomplish on the World stage against strong World-class competition. And am sure there were millions of little girls in this Nation who saw this and dreamed a dream that they never dreamed before and neither did their mothers and grandmothers before them. They must have thought, "for me, an Indian girl, there is no limit to where I can go or what I can do or achieve and this entire World is my space". Wonder how many million teenage girls dared to dream and aspire that year. Second is DDLJ, the Mega hit movie of 1995, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge that made Raj and Simran household names in India. What was so special about this flick? It was one of those feel-gooder medleys of family values, traditions, culture, music, dance that was inspired by another hit, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (HAHK) of a few months prior. But something was very different about this movie. While the heroine in HAHK meekly submits to the wishes of the family, Simran, the heroine in DDLJ wages a resolute battle against established norms and conventional wisdom all throughout the movie with a mother’s silent wink and a nod. She wins a small victory at the start of the movie and wins a big one at the end, by her strong will and dogged persistence. My sense is, when her father relents and let's her go in the final moments, it wasn’t just Simran that he liberated but a whole generation of Indian girls fighting single-mindedly for their rights and freedom. Wonder how many million Indian girls grew wings that year, like Simran. The third force was Cable News. Star News debuted in 1998. What we suddenly saw were young women, as anchors and journalists - courageous, irreverent and taking on the establishment, asking the darndest of questions to the most powerful of men, willing to fearlessly trot the Globe for the "story". Am sure a whole Gen of Indian girls conditioned by the doe-like softness of Salma Sultan and the suave gentleness of Nalini Singh would have been awakened by the Barkha Dutts, Uma Sudhirs and Nidhis. Wonder how many million Indian girls were inspired that year to answer their calling? All these girls have now grown up after 15 years, rising from the hinterlands, full of aspirations and ready to take on the World. What you see playing out in CWG and Asiad is just the beginning of what would be a deluge of sorts in the very near future. As India grows, Indian women will assert themselves and contribute their mite to Nation building. When you see that happening, think of the three forces of the 1990s that shaped it. As a proud father of twin teenage girls, I couldn't be happier...... :-)