Work well done

Winning the number game

Gita Gopinath, a celebrated economist

When I was still in college, India was going through a serious economic crisis due to the large and growing fiscal imbalances of the 1980s. To study economics in the midst of this crisis was fascinating. It showed me how getting policies right could make an important difference to the health of economies and, therefore, to the lives of people.  The intricacies of international trade and finance made only partial sense to me and I realised the need to further my education. The reason why I am an international economist today is largely because of these experiences back in college. It is often said that women are deterred from entering the domain of economics and academia, due to a lack of role models. To ensure that more women receive tenure at top places, there needs to be a strong pipeline of women candidates, and once they enter the academic profession, they must receive requisite mentoring. I believe women benefit from being mentored by other women. Networking and collaboration is an important part of any profession and when it is mainly male dominated; it can become harder for women to get ahead. There are not necessarily conscious forms of discrimination, but conscious effort has to be made to ensure women have a level playing field. — As told to Anu Singh

Wheels of Courage 

Surekha Yadav, Asia’s first motor woman

If you thought a girl driving a Harley Davidson was cool, wait till you meet Surekha Yadav, Asia’s first motor woman, who has driven every kind of train-from suburban local trains to goods trains, from long distance express trains to the twin  engine ‘ghat-loco’ trains that ply through the Western Ghats. Her refreshing candour, modest civility and her presence itself redefines cool. There is no outward machismo in her dressing-no pants, caps or expensive shoes that she adorns. It is easy for this petite forty-eight-year-old to merge into the hordes of women commuters on Indian Rail in her everyday salwar kurta, mangalsutra and neatly plaited shoulder length hair. But if you looked closely, you would notice the precision and the speed of her long strides with which she crosses twelve coaches on a crowded local railway platform in three minutes flat. — Priyanka Jain

A well-balanced act 

Alisha Abdullah, India’s fastest woman bike racer

Life as a woman racer among macho men may not have been easy, but with experience, she has learned to tackle them with courage and speed. She gives credit to her father for being a pillar of support. ‘Whenever I felt low, my father was the person who cheered me up. He was not just my father, but my coach and guide too,’  says Alisha, getting ready to go international in April 2014 with the Asian Touring Cars  series that takes place across several Asian countries, after making history in India. 

Not to forget, speed, too, is like a religion for her. ‘Speed, to me, is like a diamond that has to be used very carefully. I cannot afford to lose the diamond. If I misuse it a little, it will be gone forever. In fact, I want to spread the love and respect for speed.  My dream is to open a racing training camp where I can train girls. I also want to have an all-girl racing team. Because there is no stopping a girl who knows where she is headed!’ — As told to Shobha Warrior

Fire within

Tessy Thomas, missile scientist

This 49-year-old scientist spearheaded India’s most illustrious Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Programme — the Agni. After successfully test firing the over-5000 km range Agni-V missile recently, Tessy has now set her eyes upon a canister-based launch for the missile. Having been acknowledged by the Prime Minister of India at the Indian Science Congress in January 2012, where he said, ‘Dr Tessy is an example of a woman making her mark in a traditionally male bastion and decisively breaking the glass ceiling’, she attributes her success in the field to the non-discriminatory nature of science as a discipline, ‘I see no gender discrimination in science, as science doesn’t know who is working for it. When I reach the office, I am no more in the role of a woman. I am a scientist.’

However, she does admit that it was a rather unusual choice to be made in those days, to enter the male-dominated sphere of defence research. She also strongly believes that sincerity towards your work irons out all differences. ‘When you are not in a majority, you are bound to face a lot of hurdles. You do your work sincerely and you will get good results, along with wider acceptance,’ says Tessy. — Divya S. Iyer, Cynthia Chandran

Wings of grit

Padma Bandopadhyay, first priyadarshini award winner

The sky in the Arctic used to feel so low…as if you could pluck the stars and the moon. After attending to patients in a nearby hospital, as I walked back to the residential station, I also had the luck of watching the beautiful aurora borealis. Wondering what fascinating work took me all the way to the Arctic Circle? At that point of time in my long journey, I was living in the North Pole for four months as part of an Indo-Russian physiology experiment, to determine if people from tropical climates and countries could acclimatise themselves to the extreme cold conditions. 

As a 45-year-old Wing Commander, I had been posted at the Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences and had lived in the western and the eastern Himalayas in high-altitude areas, researching acclimatisation methodologies for Indian soldiers and how they could avoid being affected by High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema and High Altitude Cerebral Oedema. I was selected to conduct research in the icy Arctic winter. Its aim was also to find out whether Indian soldiers coming from tropical climate would be able to perform at their best. If yes, how long would the acclimatisation take and how long will the body’s adjustment process last, once they leave the Arctic. — Excerpted with permission from the publisher. Picture courtesy: Publisher