Inspiring Indian Women: Kalpana Chawla, Anu Kumari and Geeta Phogat

In the series, “Inspiring Indian Women”, Adda247 is coming up with inspiring stories of amazing women who made names for themselves and fire the dreams of a zillion sanguine women. Since time immemorial, women have not only made the world proud by their remarkable achievements but have also inspired other women to chase their dreams until they come true. Their intense focus and dedication to their individual endeavours took them to the top of their games which help other women to believe that they all have the potential to achieve everything they want to. They changed the rules forever by going through all the trials and tribulations and eventually overcoming all the odds by cutting through all the impediments that came through their ways. Today, we will discuss the inspiring stories of Kalpana Chawla, Anu Kumari and Geeta Phogat.

Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla was born on March 17, 1962 in a middle-class family in Karnal district of Haryana (then Punjab). After completing her schooling from Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School, Karnal and B.Tech in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, she moved to the United States in 1982. There, she obtained a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas in 1984 and also a PhD in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado Boulder. She later joined NASA and became the first female of Indian origin to go to space. Kalpana died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. She was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, and several streets, universities and institutions have been named after her.

Anu Kumari 

Anu decided to quit her corporate job to prepare for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) when she was 31. Little did she know that she will be ranked as the 2nd topper of UPSC 2017 Exams back then. The facts that she was married and had a son to look after didn’t hold her back from achieving her goal to become an IAS Officer. While she received immense support from her parents, her parents-in-law who wanted her to take up a more comfortable career were cold initially. Later on, she managed to convince them and made them also believe in her dream. Anu, who made it to the AIR 2 feels overwhelmed at being seen a role model to other women who been going through difficult times in their lives. 

Geeta Phogat

Geeta Phogat was born in a Jat family to Mahavir Phogat and Daya Kaur in Balali village of Haryana’s Bhiwani district. She was raised in a conservative family and her mother herself gave more preference to a male child which is why she wanted to have a boy, not a girl. Instead of all of this, her father, Mahavir Singh Phogat who is a former wrestler, breaking all societal stereotypes, went on to train Geeta and Babita for wrestling who won gold medals in their respective categories in Commonwealth Games. Initial years of her training were very tough and demanding for Geeta and her sister Babita would wake them up at 3:30 AM to practice for 3 hours straight, go to school and return back to train for 2-3 hours again. Her hard work paid off when she won India’s first ever gold medal in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. She is also the first Indian female wrestler to have qualified for the Olympic Summer Games.