Appreciating Wonder women on 'Women's Day'

Heard of ‘Deandra Jalisa Shakira Dottin’………..  the 22 year old women hailing from Barbados.  She made history be becoming the first woman to score an International T20 hundred.   Cricket is men’s game ! – T20 has taken the centrestage and there are players like Chris Gayle, K Pollard, Sehwag, Mc Cullum – all known for big hitting………….

Today, 8th of March is  International Women’s day and all newspaper headlines scream the message. Meetings and festivities would be organized in workplaces and everywhere hailing the women. In India, some women have reached the pinnacle of glory whilst millions are shackled to a life of poverty and deprivation – most of the construction labourers are women. Be is workplace, your home or any other surrounding, a lot can be done by men respecting women and providing the appropriate space ~ that itself will be a tribute. 

photo courtesy : cricinfo.com

Chris Gayle may be the most feared and most valuable batsman in the shortest version of Cricket – but Deandra Dottin is more special.  In May 2010, against South Africa she made a blistering 112 off mere 45 balls in the ICC WC T20 at Warner park.  The most incredible feature of Dottin's innings was that she came in to bat in the tenth over, and yet managed to reach three figures off just 38 balls; her second fifty came off just 13. The record for the fastest century in men's cricket was in 50 balls - Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum are joint-best; then Richard Levy took  5 balls out of that to make one in 45  - but Dottin was even more ruthless. She smashed nine sixes and seven fours in her knock – more than what men could so far achieve !!!!

In Tamil’s glorious past, women garnered more attention and respect. They have held pride of place in Puranas and in Sangam literature. Sangam literature extols women for they had to play different roles in the family such as a dutiful wife, responsible mother and an ideal hostess to guests. Women’s education was also insisted during the Sangam Age.   Here is a poem which glorifies courage in battlefield.

It speaks of a valiant mother who was distraught when told by people that her son retracted from the battle field and was killed but upon nearing the battlefield and knowing that he fought and died valiantly in the battlefield and did not run away saving his life, the mother felt happy……. Yes happy at the time of death for it was one of valour.  This is a song in Purananooru, written by a Poetess known as ‘Kakkai Padiniyar’ also known as Nachellaiyar.

Purananuru is part of ‘Eṭṭuttokai’ in Sangam collection and widely believed to have been made hundreds of years before the Christian era.   Purananuru contains 400 poems of varying lengths in the Akaval meter. They are not attributed to a single poet and in fact more than score of poetess have role in them. Purananuru is a source of information on the political and social history of pre-historic Tamil Nadu.  Avvaiyar and Kakkaipadiniyaar are among the contributors to this. 

Miles away and centuries later comes Susie Wolf.  Unique for she is the only female behind the wheel in Formula One.  It is reported that she will appear in a BBC documentary this spring about her life as the only woman in F1. Susie, 30, is tipped to become the first ever woman racing driver and the film, The Fastest Woman In The World, follows her life and career in the male-dominated sport. Susie, is a developmental driver for the Williams F1 team, began go-karting when she was eight and now lives in Switzerland with her husband, Austrian racing driver Toto Wolff.

Other names to have driven for Williams in the past include Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Jenson Button.   Susie said: 'I don't race to prove how good women can be against men. I race because it’s my passion and I hope this documentary will give an insight into a very competitive world, in which I’ve been racing since I was a young girl.'  The good looking  Susie is currently the only female driver in the sport, and is a developmental driver for Williams.  

There was another earlier ~ Spaniard Maria de Villota who unfortunately  lost her right eye in a testing crash in July 2012. Susie is out to prove the negative publicity  surrounding Maria's accident that her accident was a freak one-off and it doesn't generalise women in motorsport.

The fact of life is that you need not be any of them to be appreciated……..  women are special for they have to juggle many roles and yet come out successful – most of the women display compassion, smile and friendliness and ensure the happiness of those around.

Today’s post is dedicated to ‘all women known to me’ – ‘wishing you all happiness and all good things in life’ and may all of you be treated fairly in all places and not discriminated anywhere in every walk of  life. Happy Woman’s day wishes.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

8^th Mar 2013.