Kindle Small Book 56 Pages 240210

20 pages book, Kindle (133 X 200):Layout 1

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On the cover: A Self - portrait by Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo (born July 6, 1907 July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter. She painted using vibrant colors in a style that was inuenced by indigenous cultures of Mexico and European inuences including Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism. Many of her works are self-portraits that symbolically articulate her own pain. Kahlo was married to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Drawing on personal experiences, including her marriage, her miscarriages, and her numerous operations, Kahlo's works often are characterized by their stark portrayals of pain. Of her 143 paintings, 55 are self-portraits which often incorporate symbolic portrayals of physical and psychological wounds. She insisted, "I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality." Kahlo was inuenced by indigenous Mexican culture, which is apparent in her use of bright colors and dramatic symbolism. She frequently included the symbolic monkey. In Mexican mythology, monkeys are symbols of lust, but Kahlo portrayed them as tender and protective symbols. Christian and Jewish themes are often depicted in her work. Among other things, Kahlo has also been a feminist icon - regarded as an individual, constantly experimenting with the notions of self and gender, Kahlos work and memory will be inextricably linked to the quest of the modern womans true identity.

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This March Kindle celebrates International Womens Day by paying homage to exceptional women - women warriors whove constantly made a difference, shaping the Indian mindset - for better or for worse.


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High CommandAs the mudslinging matches plumb new depths of impropriety in the Parliament, she sits quietly beside the Prime Minister maintaining a dignied silence. If there was a prototype of an Indian politician, Sonia Gandhi does not t the bill at all. Neither is she a great orator nor does she deliver ery, rabble rousing speeches. Yet she is currently the most inuential politician of the country. Coming from a diametrically opposite culture, to being wife to the charismatic but the political greenhorn Rajiv Gandhi to suering his tragic death, she has seen it all. Emulating Indira Gandhis elegant charm but without her autocratic ruthlessness, Sonia Gandhi is the chief architect of the re-emergence of the Congress as the single largest party. Manmohan Singh may be the PM all right but it is an open secret that it is Sonia who runs the show from behind. Its not just this list of women but probably every such list which will feature her for her grit, intelligence and her political acumen.

To remain a saint in politics is the most difficult task.

Sonia Gandhi


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A Stubborn chink of light

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hen words more powerful than ideas y on the wings of an idealism - purer and stronger than imagination, the skies light up! Writer and activist Arundhati Roy has strong opinions, stronger ideals and their strongest possible expression, and thats a lot of force to reckon with! Although her last work of ction, Booker prize winning God of small things came out quite some time ago, she herself has been at the forefront of Indian progressive thought voicing impassioned opinions against globalization, war, U.S foreign policies, the Narmada Dam project, Indias nuclear policies and many other such crucial issues. Writing against the nuclear bomb in her essay The end of imagination, she writes, If protesting against having a nuclear bomb implanted in my brain is antiHindu and anti-national, then I secede. I hereby declare myself an independent, mobile republic. I am a citizen of the earth. I own no territory. I have no ag. I'm female, but have nothing against eunuchs. My policies are simple. I'm willing to sign any nuclear nonproliferation treaty or nuclear test ban treaty that's going. Immigrants are welcome. You can help me design our ag. That ag of hers is sure to y high!

Arundhati Roy

"So stand up and say something...Take it very personally."


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...And Justice for Allne of the most shining personalities on the Kindle list, Indira Jaisings name is synonymous with the ght for human rights, the rights of women and with those of the poor working class in India. As a lawyer and activist of enormous repute, Jaising has been on the insides of some landmark cases in the history of the Indian legal system her defence for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, the controversial Mary Roy case and the Gita Hariharan case and her work for the homeless pavement dwellers of Mumbai are just a few instances of Jaisings extraordinary stature. She also heads the lawyers collective (an organization dedicated to acquiring legal funding for the underprivileged sections of society), is a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies (at London) and is a visiting scholar at the Columbia University, New York but Indira is much more than all these glorious epithets her constant commitment to the cause of the periphery in Indian society and her courage in taking up cudgels against the powers that be, makes her an icon not just for women but for the sensitive, self-aware individual anywhere.

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An average woman must first of all remember that she has a right to be free from violence. This itself is empowering.

Indira Jaising


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The buck stops hereVery seldom does a profession become synonymous with a name. Mainstream Indian journalism today, despite the mushrooming of media and journalists, still throws up one name more often than any other and that is of Barkha Dutt the swash-buckling woman journalist reporting live from war fronts, riot torn by-lanes, taking on the biggest politicians, debating every issue with intelligence and intensityshe is every young journalists aspiration. Functioning within the usual traps of mainstream media, she has shown sparks of courage and honesty that never fail to inspire. They often call her Indias Christiane Amanpour, to be honest we didnt know of Christiane before Barkha happened. For most of us, she is quite original and rare!

Barkha Dutt

It is journalisms eternal riddle - that one question we ask constantly but are never able to answer simply


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The dream-weaverne of the architects of the modern fashion machinery in India, Ritu Kumar is the perfect example of applying rened western fashion concepts and using the vast reservoir of superior Indian craftsmanship in creating art that is unique and stately. Kumars work with folk artisans and her sifting eye for traditional beauty has made her bridal work and Indo-Western creations globally superlative, always maintaining a rooted Indian ethos.

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I am trying to take the basic ethnicity as well as the roots and give it a modern kind of feeling.

Having put not only the Indian woman but India on the world fashion consciousness, Ritu Kumar has been hailed a creative genius by supermodels and celebrities; to name a few: Princess Diana, Jemima Goldsmith, Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen and Priyanka Chopra. More than the glamour, entertainment and global recognition, it is Kumars work as a creative entrepreneur nurturing folk artisans and craftsmen is what puts her on this list.

Ritu Kumar


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The Mistress of the Arts

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ira Nairs lms are an eclectic mix the early documentaries and the rst lms see a common motif exploring the underside of urban India, understanding its complex socio-economic dimensions and chasing characters, people and personalities living on the periphery of accepted everyday life; the second and more recent period (post the grand success of Monsoon Wedding) is the one lived out on the global platform bigger, larger canvases, Hollywood A-listers for casts and new, epicscale projects. Without a shadow of doubt Nair is one of Indias most admired exports to the West and one of her more gifted directors; But what makes Mira stand out, is her steadfast determination, to carve her own road. Unlike many other lm-makers, Miras cinema may or may not be worthy of praise or acclaim but at no point in her career, has she compromised or toed any common, massy, accepted line in lm after lm, she has chased her private commitment to her craft, making movies, telling stories with air, building narratives that mirror the human experience and all its mixture of emotion, intercourse, irony and fate Miras current work may not have found the expected response, but her stature as a global lmmaker of repute and value is indelible.

Mira Nair

"I'm diseased. I'm permanently afflicted by cinema. I could not imagine life without making my work."


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The pen of swordsIf I were to list the number of awards which Mahasweta Devi got in her already hyperkinetic lifetime, it would ll up reams of pages. But Mahasweta Devi is not just a writer-activist or an activist-writer. She has stood up to the challenges of time and wielded pen like a rapier. Mahasweta gave us alternative parables of Birsa, of Puran Sahai, of Basai Tudu, of the photographer in her searing work Choli Ke Peeche, of Shanichari in Rudaali, of Brotis memories in Hazaar Churashir Ma, of an imaginary conversation with the Rani of Jhansi, of softer childhood memory of Shantiniketan, of a harsher unforgiving portrait of a breast giver, of those who are the margins as the re died in Kuruskshetra... Mahasweta is a rebrand. Her words purge you. Plumb you to depths of despair and from those inner silences you have to scoop out hope. From 1956 to now, the pen is getting sharper. Each writing is an incubator of dissenting ideas. Be it the political dissent of Agnigarbho or the historical dissent of Titu Meer. Mahasweta was born on January 14, 1926 and she is incapable of dying. Because true re does not die. They icker, reignite, reignite, icker

Language is a weapon, its not for shaving your armpits.

And whispers: That art is a weapon, not a clever use of concealed metaphors.

Mahasweta Devi


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Beyond the woman entrepreneur

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ou may not know her as a civic activist, who was one of the rst to hail the Bangalore Agenda Task Force, which has been constituted to make Bangalore one of the top three cities of Asia. You may also not know her as an author and art collector who has published a coee table book called Ale and Arty which is all about brewing beer and is interspersed with paintings by some of Indias best known artists. You know her as Indias richest woman CEO of Biocon India Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. A shy, academically inclined youngster, Kiran completed her Zoology honours from Bangalore University. A chance meeting with the founder of Biocon Biochemicals, an Irish Biotech company, who wanted to start a venture in India, resulted in the formation of Biocon India. This was the year 1978, when banks and nancial institutions had no concept of Biotechnology as a growing sector. Add to this, the fact that the entrepreneur was a woman and try to imagine the challenges faced by BIOCON at that time. Today, the company is the largest bio-pharmaceutical rm of India and the condence of investors can be proved by a 30 times oversubscribed Initial Public Oering (IPO) in 2004. The list of awards and accolades is endless, most notable amongst them being a Lifetime achievement Award by The Indian Chamber Of Commerce and the Padma Bhushan in 2005. A visionary, a go-getter and most importantly, a responsible citizen.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

Let's face it, women in business get noticed much more than men!


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In Search of the Whispering Brown Eyes...

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he recounts Modigliani, Vincent Van Gogh, Amrita Shergill and the expressionist school of art in her list of major inuences her work has travelled far and wide, well beyond Indias borders and is stored in many of the worlds major art galleries her use of oil, masonite, watercolors, glass and her preference for murals, has woven together an awe-inspiring body of work a sensuous, languorous, blend of line, depth, visual splendor, form and soul Anjolie Ela Menon is arguably Indias leading contemporary woman artist. Having worked at length outside India, studying the traditions of Byzantine and Romanesque art, Anjolies work always possesses a deep melancholic tone, a hushed sense of pathos and silence, yet radiating hope and beauty. As Anjolies art continues to blossom nding new utterances ( the brown eyes of her men and women open to reveal a riot of blue and green) and newer shapes and ideas, she will keep re-dening or extending the notion of the modern Indian aesthetic a style that seeps in so many avours and yet somewhere hides an Indian soul probably much like her.

I hardly draw. I think I color and paint lines in reverse. Color is everything. It is with color that one sings; with color that one plummets to the depths of sorrow and pain.

Anjolie Ela Menon


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Down to Earthhe Indian knight of sustainable development and green thought, Iron Sunita Narain is one of the strongest voices in Indian environmental activism. Environmentalists have a lot to complain about in India and Sunita Narain does her fair share. She can be caustic and populist but there's no doubting that she draws attention to issues that need it.

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The Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which she heads, monitors air pollution levels around India and studies the eects of climate. But it is her criticism of international soft drink makers that has won Narain most attention. Over the past few years the CSE has regularly alleged that soft drinks sold in India contain high level of pesticides: a charge both Coke and Pepsi reject. But a little publicity goes a long way: Narains pesticide charges spurred some Indian states to ban the sales of Coke and Pepsi last year. Now, she's taking on river polluters.

Sunita Narain

You can't take pesticides out of apples, but you can clean up colas."


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Spin Queenaving spent years in Africa, Ibiza, Turkey, Israel, London and India, Ma Faiza brings to the table the most cutting-edge concepts in sound, vision and experience. Faiza has developed a new sound, which encompasses the roots of Indian to an orchestral context, in attempt to translate the essence of Indian music into the 21st century expression of electronica.

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Music for me is all about cultural eccentricities.

The innocence of this spin doctor has a magical quality and deeply touches the heart of the listener, transcending any articialness that is found too often in electronic music, and allowing an experience of pure emotion and sensuality. Her attitude and towering stature has over the years, shown the world of highrollers and revelers that an Indian woman is not someone who spends an underachieved quaint family life with a regressive outlook.

Ma Faiza


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The queen of pawnshe youngest woman to have become a grandmaster (not merely woman grandmaster), the current world number two deserves far more media and public attention than shes ever got. Koneru Humpy is the second highest ranked player in Womens Chess history but even that distinction didnt exclude her from facing the ugly side of bureaucracy in Indian sports administration.

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Humpy has been the recipient of the Arjuna, Padma Shri and RajaLakshmi Awards but one hardly sees her in the public fore not because she chooses a reclusive life but for irresponsible journalism and advertising convenience. With several records, awards and achievements in the bag, the silent queen of India continues to make the nation proud in the world of chess inspite of being treated as a pawn on the pop-culture consciousness board of India.

Koneru Humpy

I would prefer to play in mens chess only."


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Friend of the riveraising activism from mere tokenism to the level of lifetime dedication, intimate everyday involvement and relentless struggle, Medha Patkar has given her sweat and blood to her cause. Synonymous to the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Medha has stood in waist deep waters for 12 hours at a stretch, fasted for many many days, walked long solidarity marches, fought longer legal battles to emerge as the symbol of struggle for sustainable development.

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Her voice is not just a voice against a big dam, its a strong voice of reason that brings to the fore the complex socio-political economics behind such projects, rooted in the fundamental aws of globalization and neo-imperialism.

Water is nobodys business, water is no business.

And this friend of the river is indeed a friend in need, who will denitely protect her river till death!

Medha Patkar


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An Actress of SubstanceTo many, some of the most iconic moments in cinema in the last thirty years are the scenes from Ankur or Arth, Masoom or Sparsh or Fire scenes of incredible dramatic intensity, pregnant with angst, pain, longing, emotion or pathos, carved to perfection by a performer/actor arguably unparalleled in Indian cinema Shabana Azmi. Born to a family, seeped in the arts and letters and committed to the cause of the revolution, Shabana Azmi has built a glorious career for herself her role in the parallel cinema movement of the 70s and 80s is legendary, her abilities to become a character and add a tangible sense of empathy, passion and incandescence to the part, is the stu that classics are made of and her involvement with causes, her fearless, steadfast, bold belief in activism, not just for the heck of it, but with a purpose Shabana Azmi is the quintessential woman of substance. No list of Indias rst women would ever be complete without Shabana, as much for her spectacular acting credentials as also for the person that she is and what she means to the notion of Indian womanhood in so many ways she denes, the image of the independent, spirited woman, uninching in her exploration of identity.

Shabana Azmi

"I am a daughter, a wife, a mother, a woman, an actress, an Indian and a Muslim - each of those identities is important to me."


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The collective strengthince almost three decades, Saheli Womens Resource Center, an autonomous organization based in New Delhi has been championing for womens rights. As a crisis center as well as a campaign group, Saheli is run solely on basis of personal donations of supporters.

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Saheli exemplies possibilities around womens solidarity movements. From raising awareness about domestic violence issues to female reproductive health rights, from highlighting sexual minority struggles to demanding equal economic opportunities, Saheli has remained at the center of feminist activism in India. Saheli remains a non-hierarchical and progressive womens collective that has raised serious concerns over systematic violations of womens rights. It has steadfastly opposed communalization of Indian society, and subsequently prevailing dual oppressions of women. Saheli has succeeded in forcing National Commission for Women to withdraw its regressive analysis of women subjugation emanating from foreign invasions. It also notably highlighted communal stereotypes and anti-Muslim biases existing at highest forms of administration following the Gujarat carnage.

Saheli Womens Resource Centre


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The Historian defying historicity

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s one of the worlds foremost experts on ancient Indian history, Romila Thapar refused to glorify it as a series of political and dynastic events. At a time when nationalistic euphoria engulfed India, Thapar focused on working class history, one that emphasized collective human labor. Rejecting academic orthodoxy, Thapar committed momentary dislocations from historicity in order to present to us the most comprehensive, authoritative and progressive history of India. Thapars deconstruction of Buddhism as a force of social protest amidst caste-ridden Hindu society has been as pioneering as her complicating of dominant narratives around the attack on Somanatha temple. Thapar has exposed Hindu Indias tendency to depict Muslims as uniformly evil and oppressive, a stance justied around the mythical raids of Ghaznis Mahmud. Refusing to remain neutral or be silenced, Thapar has continually criticized social elites, and vehemently opposed communalization of history textbooks by Hindu fundamentalists. Naturally enough she has persistently earned reactionary protests - especially among the Indian diaspora - one of which was targeted at her, following her appointment at Washington DC as the rst holder of the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South. Not only has she remained unrued at such distractions, she has also set an example by refusing to accept state patronage as an academician in her declining of the Padma Bhushan award.

Romila Thapar

History as a discipline transcends boundaries because every subject has a history. And colonial administrators working in India were dead right when they said that if you know the history of a subject then you can control it!


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Against the waveAn academician, a wife, a feminist, a writer, and a woman - various social locations of Sarojini Sahoo refuse to be trapped by pedantic literary theories or feminism waves. Flatly refusing to be considered as the other, Sahoos understanding of woman follows a personal narrative, one in which she grew up akin to a son for her parents, until her rst menstrual bleeding. After that I was taught that I am a girl, a woman, and I am dierent from others and a censorship was imposed on my movement, my speech, my dress. Identication with such imposed bans on women in Indian society did not silence Sarojini. They transformed her into an emancipatory female writer from Orissa who would court controversies because of her views on sexuality - something she found natural, and critics found outspoken. In her writings, Sarojini denounces the potentially conicting gender divisions reinforced by second wave feminists. In her quest for gender-neutral society, she recognizes women inherently possessing physical, behavioral, emotional, and psychological uniqueness that must be armed and celebrated as wonderful and complementary to those of the men.

As a feminist I think I am more a writer, and as a writer I think I am more a feminist.

Sarojini Sahoo


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Iron Womanhe relevance of Irom Sharmilas fast against the Armed forces Special Power Act, that began as a response to the Malom massacre on November 2, 2000 (when security forces killed 10 innocent civilians, 12 kms away from the heart of Imphal) lies in bringing about a change in the culture of violence in north-east.

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Sharmilas fast is an open act of political dissent against an entire culture of trying to shove a viewpoint through the barrel of the gun. Both by the establishment and also by the separatists. Caught between this culture of misplaced assertion and historically frightening mode of dominance, Sharmila had no resort but to go back to the most proven and the most misused (in a convenient way) Gandhian tactic of fast-unto-death. So, let us not reduce Sharmila to this typical textbook example of courage under adversity type of nonsense, but realize that the churnings that she has triggered o are far deeper. A Gandhian churning of slow burn where the deeper cause of unrest is more important than hammering out a violent and temporary solution. A decade is knocking by and Sharmila with the hint of a white cotton wrapped around the nose still walks the real talk.

"It is my bounden duty."

Irom Sharmila


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Soul strung bluesThere havent been too many woman singer/guitarist/songwriters in the past from India and Tipriti or Tips of rock band Soulmate makes the cut with ying colours. She has a sense of sweet seduction in her black voice and honesty in her style of documentative songwriting. Her personal hushed power has turned an electric blues quartet from Shillong into the number one blues rock outt in the country. Tips along with her band created history by being the rst and only blues band ever to represent India at the 23rd International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, in February 2007; they were seminalists with over 150 bands from across the globe. She represents that Indian woman who is hardly ever shown as Indian; one who goes to church, sings in a gospel choir as a child and is mostly stubbed out by the two bigger religious communities of our nation.

The blues is my teacher The blues is my friend The blues never hurts me It just heals me in the end

Tipriti Kharbhangar


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Proud Mary keep on burnin!

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angte Chungneijang Merykom, a mother of two, came back from a two-year sabbatical to clinch her fourth World Amateur boxing gold in 2008, a feat that prompted the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur to describe her as Magnicent Mary and she was still not even considered for the Khel Ratna award. The otherwise fun-loving pugilist is a trie sad that pre-championship promises made by corporate houses were not kept.

When it comes to placement, the best Mary got oered was that of a head constable. With due respect to police constabulary, considering her achievements, heres another case of oering too little to a world champion. Some expectations still remain dreams and dreams die fast in her slippery world of amateur boxing. Her living conditions are far from comfortable. But the devout Christian draws solace from Habakkuk 3:17, 19, Although the g tree shall not blossomThe elds yield no meatI will rejoice in the Lordthe Lord is my strength.

Mary Kom

I have won the World Championship four times on the trot. Dhoni gets a Khel Ratna for winning just one 20-20 World Cup; I fail to understand why Im being ignored then.


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Beauty IncorporatedThe imagery of the Indian beauty is now a global phenomenon supermodels, actors, starlets, reality show participants and beauticians have taken the image of the doe-eyed, dusky, alternative beauty to new and unparalleled heights but years ago, when Indias Beauty Inc. was still a baby looking for ways to move out of its cradle, Shahnaz Hussain laid the foundations of a cosmetic and beauty-care empire, an entire gallery of products, treatments and services that won appreciation and absolute loyalty from women across the world; her clients included a veritable whos who of international icons, stars and media personalities her creams, potions and tonics, were supposed to be as good as any other international designer brand only with the added edge of Indian exotica herbal bases, enhanced by the goodness of Ayurveda. Although today Shahnaz may not be as magnicent a name as she once used to be (what with the constant invasion of almost every international brand in India), Hussain continues to command a respect and place within the industry thats completely matchless her personal style, attitude and get-up is also the stu of legend she remains one of Indias pioneering women entrepreneurs, who managed to forge an identity, a global niche and footprint for herself that cannot be forgotten.

If it bears my name, it catches on

Shahnaz Hussain


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The ego has landed.ome slam her as corrupt to the core, a megalomaniac politician, while others hail her as the Dalit icon. The response to Mayawati is always extreme on either end of the spectrum. As the Chief Minister of the most populous state of the country, Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati is the most important face of caste based politics in India. Introduced to the world of politics by Kanshi Ram, Mayawati has come a long way four wins at the polls, an almost iron grip on her state, a short-lived but feared attempt at the national crown and of course, her fort a host of ugly statues, ready to enshrine her memory forever.

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If Manmohan Singh represents the urban, genteel and erudite political class, Mayawati is the raw, visceral, uneducated but massy face of the Hindi hinterland. In the last assembly elections of Uttar Pradesh in 2007 she expanded her traditional votebase of the historically oppressed Dalits and made inroads into the Brahmin and Muslim vote bank as well virtually reducing the national parties to a nonentity. She brooks no dissent and trenchantly rules her Party but there is no denying that she is the most popular face of Dalit aspiration. It maybe a clich, but the fact remains that you may hate her or love her but you cannot ignore her.

Mayawati

To spite these opposition parties and to strengthen me further, my party men have gathered twice the amount of donations acquired every year on my birthday.


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The Goddess of small thingsith a history of being the stereotypical regressive domestic cook and nanny who worships her husband and in-laws and caters to their every whim, the Indian housewife has not quite broken those shackles yet but has denitely created a stronger, more liberated individual. Even though certain saas-bahu TV shows are trying their level best in contributing towards further regression, the average Sunita and Farha are slowly nding a voice and place in a growing India Inc. Much like the role of the housewife of the 50s baby-boomer generation in building American and British societies, the modern Indian housewife is making an indispensable contribution to a brighter Indian future. The same housewife drives a car, is a working professional while being the traditional Grihini, all with clockwork professional eciency, putting together the jigsaw edges of the complex Indian family. And yes, she requires no mild euphemistic tag of homemaker to make her feel better!

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A portrait by Raja Ravi Verma

One is not born a woman but becomes one. - Simone de Beauvoir

The Indian housewife


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Banking Upon WomenIn 1984, when banks and nancial institutes recruited only toppers from colleges, Mr K V Kamath, and Mr S S Nadkarni who were the chairman and Managing Director of ICICI bank at that time, interviewed the top rank student from Jamnalal Bajaj Institue of Management Studies (JBIMS) Chanda Advani. After 25 years of stellar performance, the same Mr K V Kamath, handed over to her the reins of ICICI Bank as MD and CEO of the bank. Over the years, Chanda Kocchar has been awarded many titles, most prominent amongst them being placed 20th on Forbes list of 100 most powerful women in the world in 2009. Work is her passion as well as her relaxation. Says Mrs Kocchar So far as the nancial sector is concerned, I feel women are always better with managing nance. ICICI Bank is an excellent example of equal opportunities as it employs over 10000 women. Once dubbed The Petticoat Brigade by the chauvinistic banking fraternity of Mumbai, these highly competitive women at ICICI have led the bank from a bureaucratic development into an aggressive market leader. Under Ms Kocchars able leadership, the Hum Hai Na assurance of ICICI bank continues to give millions of customers condence in the institution.

Chanda Kochhar

If you want equal opportunity, you have to perform equally.


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She walks in beauty...ince 1994 ( the year she won her Miss World crown) Aishwarya has always enjoyed the cream of the limelight her career in popular Hindi cinema, her enormous fan base, the massive endorsement deals, the headline making relationships, the wooing of the West and the grand marriage to the scion of Bollywoods rst family its been an exceptional ride so far.

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While one may hold reservations against the value or genuine substance behind her achievements, it would probably be too easy to write her o, as just a beautiful girl her part in contemporary history is undeniable Aishwarya arrived at the scene at a time, when India was rapidly changing, throwing away the graying cloth of the past for newer, shinier garbs. While the rest of her career may be a questionable curve of highs and lows, good breaks and bad decisions, Aishwarya remains a phenomenal popcultural icon a woman who did what it took to graft her position as the preeminent Bollywood beauty and supercelebrity for this generation.

I always knew I would be successful. So there was no element of surprise.

Aishwarya Rai Bachhan


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Making The Cut

The Many Lists Behind The Final 25 by Chiradeep BasumallickIts been a dicult month at the oce: trials, trauma, tribulations, occasional bursts of energy and sense and nally the uncertainty of choice if youre reading this page youve probably seen the Kindle MINDSET WOMEN 25 and youre a little curious as to why we put in another article at the back; we thought we should let you know what happened while we made this issue and give you a peek into the general insanity of managing a monthly magazine. Four weeks ago, on a dreary Monday afternoon, peppered by coee and cigarettes, we thought up a dream-list of Indias nest women. At rst cut, the list was a large, healthy body of 50 exceptional personalities. But obviously, space, as always was a constraint-almost never enough, for all that we had to say. So this is where the ghts of opinions broke out, but happily in the end everybody won the editor found her thin red alternative line, the guys on the team found adequate representation and the list, moved from scribbles, endless word docs and general unnished-ness to a complete, tidy, toned down shape of 25 we took away the ab, screened the cha and gave you the cream; or did we? No list is ever a done thing there are names I know Ill remember months later, somewhere in the early hours and Ill feel there were things we should have done to make this a little better so for the record here are some of the names, we wanted to include, some people who, in all honesty deserve mention in any list you can dream up of extraordinary Indians, who will continue to matter, no matter what Kindle does or doesnt do: Kiran Bedi = Jumpa Lahiri = Krishna Sobti = Kiran Desai = Mamta Banerjee = Tejaswini Niranjana = Chandra Mohanty = Vandana Shiva = Aparna Sen = Sania Mirza = Saina Nehawal = Falu = Saakshi Centre For Violence Against Women & manymore. So try and store this collectors book somewhere special in your room we couldnt do all that we hoped but I think we found a voice in the issue a voice of protest and strength, a voice that says, it doesnt matter who I am or what is my gender, I will and I can become anything I choose to - after all the only mindset that matters is the one that changes, evolves and questions, ever so gently, with a smile and a bit of silence.


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8:25 PM

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