SRL Diagnostics honoured the real heroes on Women’s Day
On a pleasant afternoon of Delhi, SRL Diagnostics on the occasion of International Women’s Day honoured and felicitated five exceptionally spirited women from the city who despite of all the odds on their ways have emerged as winners and became role models for others. The event witnessed inspiring personalities like- Sonia Choudhary, who is an acid attack survivor, Anjani Rajagopalan- a social philanthropist, Anna Marie Lopes- a domestic violence survivor, Omkari Devi- a cab driver and Rajni Bhagat- a cancer survivor and volunteer of Can Support.
(From left to right) Omkari Devi (Cab Driver), Rajni Bhagat (Cancer Survivor), Anna Marie Lopes (Domestic Violence Survivor), Sanjay Vashisht (CEO, SRL Diagnostics), Anjani Rajagopalan (social philanthropist) and Sonia Choudhary (Acid Attack survivor)
Each of the personalities shared their stories with the audience and spoke about how talking makes half of the things easier. Someone said well that all you need sometimes is a shoulder to cry on and a ear to listen to you. During the press conference, One World News had the opportunity to speak to these amazing ladies.
Usually when we talk about Delhi’s night life, we must have heard people saying that its unsafe however Omkari Devi, who runs a cab since a year says, “Till now even I thought that Delhi isn’t safe at night but then I have never experienced anything of such sorts. I am working as a taxi driver since a year now and haven’t experienced anything that supports that statement, so I don’t think we can generalise entire Delhi as being unsafe.”
SRL Diagnostics felicitated 5 sheroes of Delhi
Some incidents shrill your soul up and one of them is acid attacks but how can one tackle things after that and is it really a woman’s fault? Talking about the same Sonia Choudhary, an acid attack survivor who was attacked in 2004 and now runs a beauty salon in Ghaziabad said “It clearly voices the mentality of people who holds a victim responsible for being victimised and never questions the one who has committed the mistake. People should become more compassionate and show some empathy rather than pushing the victims more towards grief and sorrow.
Sanjay Vashisht felicitating Anna Marie
We are trying to work in this area and making people understand the need of not being ignorant but being supportive. And it is never about clothes or the way a woman behaves, no one amongst us wants to be attacked or raped nor we invite anyone but even petty issues can lead to such mishaps and I have been subjected to such a petty issue but I am trying my best to not let anyone else be in my place. I think people’s mentality has gone for a toss and it is this that needs to be changed immensely.”
Even now in India Domestic Violence is thought to be a personal affair but it is high time to realise that it is not, speaking over the same, Anna Marie Lopes said, “When it comes to domestic violence victims, I think 98 percent of women have always gone through character assassination which is where she is being told that she is wrong and has done something to deserve it or provoked her husband or someone else to invoke domestic violence on her etc. To me the situations weren’t different, I was blamed that I would have eloped with someone else, my character wasn’t good, I had bad dressing sense and that’s why i left my husband, however to tackle this what I did was two things- to share my story powerfully and keep sharing it until its heard and secondly, abuse is not justifiable irrespective.”
Sanjay Vashisht felicitating Rajni Bhagat
Another issue that the event focussed on was Cancer, Rajni Bhagat Arora who is a cancer survivor and an active volunteer of Can Support says, “I think it is important to come out and talk because the more we talk, the more we break the myths about cancer. Even now we have a lot of families coming in who say- we won’t touch them, won’t eat with them etc. and a lot of people think that cancer is a death certificate, even when I was suffering through cancer I would get calls from people narrating stories about people in their family who died of cancer or would joke about it saying I have taken the decision of leaving this world.
Also, here people often would be heard saying ‘Pichle janam ka karm hai’ so I think all that is needed is to speak out loud about it and I am thankful to cancer for it has given me the opportunity to break a lot of myths about it. Also, what is needed is to accept and fight for it and not to feel the only one in any situation whether it is cancer, rape or anything else.”
Sanjay Vashisht felicitating Omkari Devi
Sanjay Vashishta, CEO, SRL Diagnostics believes that women are the most wonderful creature and it is them who runs the world and has brought us here, however he feels sad that we still have a specific day to celebrate their existence, “I think the fact that we are still talking about it does points out that we are really lacking somewhere and why we should there be any day! I agree to Rajni Ma’am that we should train our kids to respect every gender and it would take some years to reach to the end results but the work has to be started right away. I think each person who misbehaves or disrespects women is psychologically ill and India is a country who talks about dharm and karm but the kind of crime happens here is the most so things need to change and would change and the path would be shown by such people we have with us today.”
The event not only inspired each and everyone present at the venue but also made them laugh about the petty issues that bothered them in their daily life. Sanjay Vashishta read out a report on importance of early diagnosis in women and alarming statistics of women’s health at a national and international level. The event filled the audience with courage to fight come what may and to take a stand against the evil. As a token of appreciation and respect SRL Diagnostics gave these ladies free cervical cancer screening and a lifetime offer of SRL’s premium health screening package.
