RISING: 30 WOMEN WHO CHANGED INDIA Paperback – 10 March 2022

I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'RISING : 30 Women Who Changed India' by Kiran Manral.Of the 30 women, without any bias for the others I highlight five women about whom I thoroughly enjoyed reading. My personal favorites of the total.The first is SHIELA DIXIT : Madame Chief Minister.Kiran Manral writes about her in the opening lines:" She wasn't tall but commanded a room when she entered. Understated in her trademark traditional weaves Shiela Dixit never called attention to herself, but her measured words and tempered responses did".It was interesting to follow her political journey punctuated by loss of her husband, the assasination of Indira Gandhi, which led Rajiv Gandhi asking her to contest the UP elections. She went on to reign as the Chief Minister for three terms, lasting fifteen years.The second woman I enjoyed reading is MAHASWETA DEVI : Mother of The Disposessed.Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh her mother was a noted writer and social worker while her father was a well known poet and novelist.So it is little wonder she said : " Everyone in the family read and read and read". I had heard of her books ' Rudaali', ' Sangharsh' and 'Hazar Chaurashi Maa' being made into Bollywood movies. Her social activism especially with the tribals, won her many prestigious awards and she was nominated for Nobel Prize. Her personal life was tragic but she lived on till the age of 90. The two songs from the movie Sangharsh are evergreen hits: Mere paas aao, nazar to milao and Mere pairon main ghubghroo bandha de to phir maeri chal dekh le.The third woman I enjoyed reading about is AMRITA PRITAM : I Will Meet You AgainDoyen of Punjabi literature she was a woman who spelt empowerment. Like Maya Angelou, she poured her life into her books. Her abiding love for Sahir Ludhianwi was bordering on the divine for at his death she wrote in her diary : ' Aaj mera khuda mar gaya'.The Punjabi poem based on Partition, ' Ajj wakharan Waris Shah nu' immortalized her as a poet followed years later by the poem ' Main Tennu phir milangi' composed on her life companion Imroz.Kiran Manral writes of her :" In her writing and her life she leaves behind a legacy for women writers in India which urges them to defy social constructs and constraints, challenge them, and to live and write as she did - unfettered".The fourth winan I enjoyed reading about is BACHENDRI PAL : Climbing More Than Mountains.The woman, from a remote village in Uttarkashi, went on to climb the highest mountain in the world. This is a story of grit, determination and triumph. Despite being a MA and a B.ed, the love of mountains lured her to join her passion in the form of National Institute of Mountaineering.As part of her training she had to climb 600 metres everyday and carry 15 kgms on her back and jog 10 Kms with the same weight.Of her experience of scaling Mount Everest Bachendri wrote:" We the hill peopke have always worshipped the mountains. My overpowering emotion at this awe inspiring monent was therefore devotional".She sums up her life as:" For me, my journey to Everest symbolized women's empowerment. It was an awakening of my abilities. In the end the choice is yours : to stop or to keep pursuing".The fifth woman I enjoyed reading about is CHHAVI RAJWANT : The Village Sarpanch.She became the village sarpanch of Soda, in the Tonk district of Rajasthan.Granddaughter of Brigadier Raghubir Singh, who had been the sarpanch of the village for three tenures , she decided to follow in her grandfather's footsteps.Well spoken and modern, she kbew the village in and out, because of spending her vacations in the village when her grandfather was sarpanch. When the villagers aporoached her to contest the elections she chose to stand for elections. " I chose to stand for elections as I wanted to work for the betterment of the village, which for me is home".Kiran Manral writes:" During her stint as sarpanch of Soda she not only proved that women can take charge in male dominated and tradition driven roles and places, but inspired other women to stand up for their electoral rights, and be counted as change makers"The remaining 25 women of RISING, are also women of substance from actress Rekha to Madhuri Dixit, Sonal Mansingh to Ekta Kapoor, Kiran Bedi to Mary Kom and more.I have followed Kiran Manral since her debut book, ' The Reluctant Detective and have seen her immense growth and success as a writer. With my fondness for Non fiction, it would not be biased to say that RISING is one of her best works. Go for it today.

Rising is a collection of Inspirational stories of 30 great women. These women are from different backgrounds but there’s one similarity between them - they all have made India proud.From Lata Mangeshkar to Mahadevi Verma, from P.V Sidhu to Ekta Kapoor, you’ll get to read some amazing snippets from their lives and how they made big for themselves.I absolutely enjoyed reading the book. I’m actually in awe of each and every women present in the book. Their struggles made me realise how privileged we all are. Definitely recommended.

Super and powerful . Another big one by Kiran Manral . Must pick it upIt’s really something

Rising is a collection of anecdotal evidence that has been cherry-picked from the lives of some of the most sought-after women who have shaped the world. Each story talks about the struggle that played cupid in uniting the titular person with their hobby/passion. As the author mentions, it would have been extremely difficult to select the relevant information and fit it on the designated pages yet the outcome is so inspiring. Whether it is about Mary Kom, Shakuntala Devi, Madhuri Dixit or Maharani Gayatri Devi and Harita Kaur Deol, this book takes you through some of the most inspiring stories that aim at instilling the confidence to dream and to pursue what you like doing.A simple yet evocative narrative helps in bringing together the strengths and struggles of 30 inspiring women. Rising, as the name suggests, is worth reading because it gives a glimpse of how strong women are or can be. The only reason I didn't enjoy Rising is because there's no novelty in the idea. There are several books on the same theme.

There are some must-read books. And then there are the must-read-must-keep-must-gift books. Kiran Manral’s Rising 30 belongs in the latter category. This isn’t just a celebration of remarkable women we’ve known and loved all our lives. It’s a fascinating journey of getting to know women from all walks of life—sports, entertainment, politics, tech—and most importantly, some flying below the radar, and understanding what makes them so profoundly inspiring.Kiran’s meticulously chosen words make for a perfect elegant frame for the women and their phenomenal odysseys—never getting in the way, but informing us with her erudite language skills and her characteristic empathy. Read, gift, and cherish this keeper.

This book comprises of the biographies of 30 women who are luminaries of India. After reading this book one gets an excellent insight into what women have to go through in our country to shine in their chosen fields. From the word go it is a challenge. Very often family support is almost absent. Sometimes there is gender discrimination. This comes into play especially when women try to enter a field where they are not traditionally accepted. All these facts are brought out very well in the 30 biographies the author has written in the book. The author has chosen the women she has written about with care. She has also tried to represent different parts of the country fairly. I really enjoyed the book.