Women take the wheels for spreading awareness
Naina Arora
This was the first time that 10 lady officers from the Indian Air Force participated in a motorsports event,” says Squadron Leader Pratima Verma, of the Indian Air Force, whose team ranked second in the team trophy category at the recent Women’s Car Rally, organised by Sports & Youth Affairs Committee at PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The event had about 150 women participants driving 700 km from Delhi to Jaipur on March 30 and 31, including an 80-yearold couple, Bhim Sain and Parvina Bhim Sain, who were the oldest participants.
The ceremonial flag off on March 29 was attended by the First Lady of Army, Madhulika Rawat, wife of Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, along with Kathak guru Padma Shri Guru Shovana Narayan and Paralympian Deepa Malik.
An ecstatic Verma, after winning the second spot, said, “We are challenging the misplaced notion that women can’t drive,” she adds.
Based on the theme ‘Wheeling the women to power’, the event celebrated women from all walks of life, and aimed at boosting women’s participation in motor sports as well as spreading awareness about women’s safety, infant mortality, along with several others campaigns (Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao initiative; breast cancer awareness).
Gurgaon-based homemaker Naina Abrol, whose team ranked fourth, says, “One must have good skills for controlling the wheel on rough road, sand dunes, and, at times, off-roads.”
Major K Renuka from Team Army Adventure, with members from Assam, Meghalaya, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh, that ranked first on the scoreboard, says, “This was our first time in a women’s car rally, and the experience was very good.”
The two-day journey concluded with a prize distribution ceremony in Jaipur with Princess Diya Kumari as the chief guest, along with co-chairpersons, Sports & Youth Affairs Committee, Arshad Nizam Shawl and Priya Hingorani.
THE WOMEN’S CAR RALLY WAS AIMED AT CREATING AWARENESS ABOUT ISSUES SUCH AS WOMEN’S SAFETY AND BREAST CANCER