Shama Parveen: A Muslim woman with resolve
PATNA:Fortune favours the brave, they say. This Muslim woman from Bihar’s Mokama is a classic example of the age-old adage.
She challenged the conventional image of a rural, Muslim girl and broke stereotypes to carve a distinct identity.
Meet Shama Parveen, 22, a kabaddi player from Dariyapur village, Mokama in Patna district who was part of the victorious Indian kabaddi team that defeated South Korea in the finals and to win gold at the Asian Kabaddi Championship, 2017 held recently at Gorgan, Iran.
Parveen is one of the few women from her community in Bihar, who dared to step out of the conservative society to pursue a sport with a missionary zeal. Today, she stands tall among scores of women of her genre who nurture a similar dream but fear society backlash and lack of support from family and friends.
Upon her return from Iran, Parveen, who otherwise was a girl next door, has emerged a hero with even the chief minister, Nitish Kumar singing paeans in her praise and acknowledging her as the new pin-up girl of the state.
“People who until recently looked down on me for wearing shorts and even declared me lunatic, now applause my hard work and determination,” Shama said, sharing her experiences of her long journey from the uneven, bumpy ground of her village to the turf in Iran.
Parveen says for sports persons like her in a state like Bihar, it’s not the lack of facilities and infra structure, but the social attitude towards women players that prove to be big hurdles and dampeners.
“Even worse is the condition of girls from a conservative society. In our community women are supposed to be covered from head to feet all the time,” she said, asserting that had her father been there with her in decisions like a rock solid pillar, she would never have been accomplish her dreams.
Her father, she said, was often criticized and condemned for allowing me put on shorts and practice in the ground, but he
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In a state like Bihar, it’s not lack of facilities and infra structure, but social attitude towards women players that prove to be big hurdles & dampeners SHAMA PARVEEN, national kabaddi player
remained undeterred.
Parveen’s advice to women on Women’s Day: Everyday should be yours and you should have the courage to live your dreams no matter how many hurdles you have to combat. “There is nothing that your cannot do,” she said.