Women I Admire

Note: This is a re-run, to celebrate the 30,000 readership of this blog. This was one among the top ten read blog posts. I could add a few more women to the list, particularly colleagues and students, but will refrain from doing so, for reasons mentioned in the post. 

There are several, despite my usual take-offs on the 'better half' of our species (which is due to genetic wiring, and not my fault). Let me try and list a few, with reasons completely my own -defensible or not- for admiring them. I am sticking to those in public life, to prevent a 'tu tu main main' (you you, me, me in Hindi, or a dogfight in plain English) among women who are in close proximity for either excluding them, or including some others- wonder how the kings with 100 wives managed the politics. Anyway, here goes.

Nandita Das gets vote number one, for sounding real. That may not seem like a big deal, but most people in public life look fake to a degree, and she is the closest I find to being a real person. What she achieved or not is irrelevant to this measurement parameter.

Hema Malini for looking so good, that she beats her daughters hollow at 50 (or whatever her age is). She really made us believe, apart from one or two others, that dreams can come down in human form. The only fault I can find in this dreamy apparition is her Hindi diction, but what the hell?

Indira Rajaraman, a professor of economics who taught us at IIMB. She was the only one who could make me understand a bit of macroeconomics (what's that?) which sounded like gobbledygook until then.

Preity Zinta for standing up to testify against some threat callers from abroad, when no one else was willing to go on record.

Medha Patkar, for obvious reasons-standing up for rights of the dispossessed in a never-ending fight, knowing that it will never end.

A couple of nuns in my primary school (forgot their names, sadly) who controlled the unruly class consisting of more than 50 boys and girls and managed to smile sweetly through it all. 

Enid Blyton, for creating wonderful stories for kids to savour. Childhood might have been boring if she had not existed.

Agatha Christie, for creating Hercule Poirot, my favorite detective. Just his description- the egg-shaped head, the carefully waxed moustache, his mannerisms and his 'little grey cells' made the books starring him unputdownable. What imagination! 

Asha Bhosle, for her energy, lovely voice and the come-hither quality that she brought to the many songs that required it.

Finally, Draupadi, for managing five husbands. I am sure it must be as difficult as managing five wives, if not more.