It was a joyous homecoming for six intrepid women sailors who circumnavigated the globe in INSV Tarini. They spent 194 days at sea, made five port halts and covered 21,600 nautical miles, battling 9-10 metre waves higher than their ship and winds howling at 60 knots in stormy weather. Their account of sleepless nights as half the crew hand-steered the vessel two-thirds of the day while crossing the hazardous waters of Cape Horn portrays the spirit with which they took on the challenge. Even training for over two years in various sciences like astronomy, navigation and map-reading may not have prepared them for the ordeals at sea. The sailors, some from hilly states like Himachal and Uttarakhand, others from Telangana and Andhra, would have found the reception on land from the Indian diaspora overwhelming after tough days at sea.
Such stories of adventure should inspire women in a changing world, with many glass ceilings broken, and others on the way. There’s even a feminist at Buckingham Palace now, that just shows how far womanhood has progressed in modern times. Women are flying fighter jets and are prepared for combat duty in the Army as they achieve unimaginable things to demonstrate that gender is no handicap. True gender equality in terms of pay and perks may still be some distance away, but there are opportunities for women in India today their mothers and grandmothers could not have imagined even a couple of decades earlier. And it’s not concessions and reservations that Indian women need so much as equal opportunity.
