Breaking Barriers

Venturing into the deep and rough waters of Arabian Sea on a 20-year-old single-engine boat, 45-year-old Rekha has been bravely battling the odds from the time she had stepped in to join her husband P Karthikeyan as a deckhand 13 years ago.

Shila Dawre shut all these stereotypes down when she became India’s first woman auto driver. Rubbing shoulders with khaki-clad men driving rickshaws, clad in her regular salwaar kameez, she drove around the lanes of Pune, owning them.

We need leaders who can expand their internal being and embrace people and bring them along to collectively achieve their dreams for this world.

Women in Madhya Pradesh are learning to use mobile phones and access the Internet, thus becoming self-reliant and breaking cultural and social barriers.

What keeps her going is an interest in her work, a desire to contribute to the household expenses and a passion to see her son educated and well-settled in life.

The LGBT movement in India is still in its nascent form in many places, with more and more leaders stepping forward to raise awareness and campaign for change. Vidhi Bubna talks about one such young leader who has successfully put India’s LGBT movement on the global map.