SHE DARED: A celebration of Indian women athletes
True Stories of excellence – Jamie Alter reviews She Dared: Women in Indian Sports by Abhishek Dubey and Sanjeeb Mukherjea
Inspired by the achievements of India’s female sports success stories, a newly released book titled She Dared: Women in Indian Sports, co-authored by television journalists Abhishek Dubey and Sanjeeb Mukherjea, offers more than a glimpse into the success of 15 prominent Indian sportswomen.
Dubey, currently channel adviser for Prasar Bharti having previously led teams at NDTV and IBN7, and Mukherjea, a broadcaster-journalist associated with the Star Sports network, have delved into the lives of PT Usha, Ashwini Nachappa, Karnam Malleswari, Anju Bobby George, MC Mary Kom, Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Ashwini Ponnappa, Sakshi Malik, Deepa Malik, Santhi Soundarajan, Dutee Chand, Dipa Karmakar and Deepika Kumari, smoothly presenting well-embellished mini-biographies of each.
From the offset, the book is apologetic about the absence of many illustrious Indian female sportspersons and athletes who do not have chapters on their success, and it would be harsh to apportion blame to the writers for leaving out a roster of path-breaking names. The scope of She Dared is large, and there must surely have been different calls taken at a personal and editorial level.
Indeed, the likes of track and field star and Arjuna awardee Reeth Abraham, who won three gold medals and a silver at the international level, deserve space in such books. As do badminton path-breaker Ami Ghia, the first female Indian shuttler to win a Commonwealth Games medal, Indu Puri, one of the first stalwarts of Indian table tennis, Indu Puri, and Indian cricket icon Jhulan Goswami, to name but a few.
Nambiar’s efforts to find his pupil rice and a water heater in Czechoslovakia in 1985 - “a country of bread and beef eaters,” in Usha’s words - so that she could eat what she was accustomed to while preparing for the World Railways Meet, as well as Usha’s honest admission that she is her own hero because of the odds she has battled, are strands that bind the reader to the subject.
But the athletes profiled in this book, are indeed, luminous. She Dared opens with a look at some notable female athletes from the southern state of Kerala, which truly has been a feeder system of sturdy sporting talent. Specifically, the success of Manathoor Devasai Valsamma, the second Indian woman to claim an Asian Games gold; middle-distance runner Shiny Abraham, who participated in three Olympic games; Usha, who at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics missed winning bronze by 1/100th of a second, in what is the closest-ever miss for an Indian athlete in any competition; and Mercy Kuttan, the first Indian woman to jump further than 6 metres.
From this opening chapter, She Dared features interviews with Usha, the ‘queen of Indian track and field’, Nachappa, Malleswari, Anju Bobby, Mary Kom, Mirza, Saina, Sindhu, Ponnappa, Sakshi, Deepa, Santhi, Dutee, Dipa and Deepika.
It is a well-researched book, and much of the quotes, borrowed from newspaper and television interviews and already published biographies, certainly mesh seamlessly into the narrative.
The chapters on Usha and Nachappa are particularly in-depth and set the tone. The book highlights Usha’s struggles and breakthrough to the national scene at the age of 14, as well as the role of her parents and coach OM Nambiar in shaping her character. Nambiar’s efforts to find his pupil rice and a water heater in Czechoslovakia in 1985 - “a country of bread and beef eaters,” in Usha’s words - so that she could eat what she was accustomed to while preparing for the World Railways Meet, as well as Usha’s honest admission that she is her own hero because of the odds she has battled, are strands that bind the reader to the subject.
The story of Nachappa, who earned the moniker of India’s Flo Jo in a nod to the great Florence Griffith Joyner, is profiled with articulation, and to read about the multi-faceted athlete’s sojourn outside track and field – she acted in five masala films, was involved in education, as well as social activism – makes for interesting reading.
We also learn more about Sakshi Malik, who in Rio de Janeiro ended India’s wait for its first medal of the 2016 Olympics by beating Kyrgyzstan’s Aisuluu Tynybekova after trailing 0-5 with just a minute and a half left on the clock. The first female wrestler from India to win an Olympic medal, Sakshi’s success in 2016 is testament to the perseverance of Mahavir Singh Phogat, who used his family as the agent of change in one of India’s most conservative states, Haryana, where women have long been treated as second-class citizens, where ‘honour killings’ and sex-selective abortions are rife.
Despite her comfortable upbringing, Sakshi’s drive to become the best she can be was founded on an innate desire to overcome the odds and push herself physically. Visiting Sakshi’s hometown and the akhara where she started training at the ages of 12, She Dares narrates her rise from a precious teenager to an icon for Indian women athletes.
Not long after Sakshi ended India's painful wait for a medal at the Olympics by clinching a bronze medal in the women's 58kg freestyle category, it was the turn of Deepa Malik to make the country proud. Already India’s most decorated female paraplegic athlete, Deepa won a silver medal in the shot put F-53 event at the Rio Paralympics, thus becoming the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic medal.
Photo: Rupa Publications
Being confined to a wheelchair has not stopped Deepa from scaling unsurmountable odds, and in this book, one learns from the woman herself—a “tomboy and bully” in her own words—about what keeps her ticking. A self-obsessed adrenalin junkie who was convinced at the age of 20 to get married for a Kawasaki Bajaj 100cc motorbike, Deepa has swum across the Yamuna River against the current, covered a distance of over 3,000 kilometres from Chennai to Delhi on a customised motorbike and scaled nine high altitude motorable passes in Ladakh in nine days. This chapter, aptly titled ‘Born Again’, is one of the most uplifting of the entire book.
Another interesting aspect of She Dared is the chapter dedicated to Ashwini Ponnappa, one of India’s most skilled badminton players, but one who has been overshadowed by Saina and Sindhu. Feisty by nature, Ashwini speaks candidly about balancing academics with badminton and her rapport with her doubles partner, Jwala Gutta.
Though not canvassed as widely as some of the other women in the book, to learn a bit more about gymnast Karmakar, who at the 2016 Rio Olympics finished fourth in the vault final with a score of 15.006 and missed winning bronze by 0.150 points, is also satisfying.
Interspersed with clippings from newspaper and television interviews as well as titbits from already published autobiographies and biographies, She Dared offers a concise, if at times hurried, recollection of its subjects’ achievements and contributions to Indian sport as if serving as a reminder to the current generation that there is much to appreciate and learn from.
If you’re an avid reader, then She Dared is a welcome addition for quality reading on your bookshelf.
Title: She Dared: Women in Indian Sports; Authors: Abhishek Dubey, Sanjeeb Mukherjea;
Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 285; Price: Rs 295
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Jamie Alter is a sports writer and journalist in the digital world, having covered cricket around the world including three World Cups. After nearly five years working for ESPNcricinfo, Jamie served as Sports Editor of the Times of India Digital, Cricbuzz, Cricketnext and most recently as Group Sports Editor (Digital) at Zee Media. He also also authored two cricket-related books and dabbled in acting. You can find him on Twitter: @alter_jamie.
