30th Devi Awards: Shining with poise and passion

In its 30th edition, the Devi Awards was a gala show of power, talent and achievement, recognising and celebrating women from across the spectrum

(From left to right, first row) Meeta Pandit, Editor Santwana Bhattacharya, Debjani Ghosh, Poonam Gupta, Manjari Chaturvedi, N Kalaiselvi, Poonam Sharma, Jyoti Bhatia, Chhaya Sharma; (from left to right, second row) Dr Aqsa Shaikh, Gurmeet Sangha Rai, Jyoti Anand, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Kalli Purie, Dr Rashmi Saluja, TNIE Group Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla, Santishree Dhulipudi, Meena Bindra

They came, they were seen, and they were celebrated.

The New Indian Express awarded 17 women for their accomplishments ranging from science to dance, business to media, and education to social activism. In a ceremony marked by erudition and inspiration, Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammed Khan, gave away the trophies, even as a star-studded audience watched in rapt attention.

Khan set the ball rolling by talking about powerful women from myth and history, while Rashmi Saluja, Executive Chairperson, Religare, invoked Saraswati, Lakshmi and Durga, and their role in her career.

Executive Editor in Chief and Vice Chairperson of India Today Group Kalli Purie talked of the exciting possibilities that AI offers journalism, while NITI Aayog Distinguished Fellow Dejbani Ghosh spoke about India’s role in frontier tech. Shalini Passi spoke on her new found stardom and thanked the Shalnians, her followers on social media, for their love.

Kathak dancer Manjari Chaturvedi made a powerful statement against the in-built prejudices about tawaifs while singer Meeta Pandit’s voice resonated across the hall with its power and passion.

From the need for a new vocabulary of heritage conservation for India, put forward by conversation architect Gurmeet Sangha Rai, to JNU Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit’s dislike of the anti-national label forced on to her alma mater, the Devis were their most authentic selves, fierce and fabulous.

Among those in the audience were former Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, former Chief Justice UU Lalit, former Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana, former Delhi minister and sitting MLA Somnath Bharti, Olympians Yogeshwar Dutt and Simran Sharma, several ambassadors, and noted lawyers.

It was a night to remember for the women who shone with their poise and passion, beauty and brains, for subverting cliches and upholding aspiration. Whether it was community medicine professor from Jamia Hamdard Dr Aqsa Shaikh or economist Poonam Gupta of NCAER, the women stood for themselves and for countless others who had gone before them and will come after them.

From Meena Bindra, Chairperson of BIBA, who built a fashion empire with a loan of Rs 8,000 to Chhaya Sharma, IPS, who solved the heartbreaking Nirbhaya case in record time, from N Kalaiselvi, the first woman DG of CSIR, to Jyoti Anand, founder, Anand Organisation for Social Development, from Upasana Taku, co-founder MobiKwik, to architect Jyoti Bhatia and educationist Poonam Sharma, The New Indian Express Devi awards recorgnised pioneers and pathfinders.