THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Ramesh Chander
The writer is A Retired Career Diplomat.
Priya Ambedkar is one of my fellow BootanMandians who has come a long way to justify her surname ‘Ambedkar’, if I put it in a simple phraseology- A Tale of Empowerment I wrote about her some years
ago in one of my blogs which may be excessed at: https://diplomatictitbits.blogspot.com/search?q=priya+ambedkar
Much water has flown in the Beas and the Sutlej in Doaba region of Punjab and the Thames in the UK – overseeing Priya to become a tale of empowerment of the women folk and also of the marginalized segments of the society.
Priya is the son (daughter) of the soil of Bootan Mandi in Jalandhar where she spent her formative years and her new home after marriage in the UK. I thought of writing about Priya, though I am not in touch with her except occasional interaction on social media, after watching a documentary on her – An Inspiring Journey of Priya directed by Amar Gholia hosted and posted in the social media. It is a professionally done documentary depicting her early days of struggle in marginalized social and economic circles, her untraditional interests and pursuits of girls of the social milieu to which she belonged, her joining the NCC and NSS at the HMV in Jalandhar and registering her interest in mountaineering as an adventure sport and later as an amateur mountaineer, are not a small feat. Principal of her college HMV, Dr. Ajay Sareen and her mentors and instructors in NCC, NSS and also in mountaineering strides have given a befitting narration of Priya’s acumen and achievements in the documentary.
It was gratifying to note that Priya has written a book on her life and mountaineering pursuits – The Uddan. The documentary has not touched the phase of her journey of life after her migration to the UK. I noted from some of her social media posts that after her marriage and shifting to the UK she had been scaling some mountains in Scotland and elsewhere.
While seeing the documentary, I went somewhat nostalgic on two counts – Doordarshan (DD) had made documentaries on my life and struggle two times and hosted it many a times over the years. It was a satisfying experience. I can well understand the elation of Priya and second my daughter Vaishali in her formative years in mid 1990s did the NCC honours at HMV as a senior cadet of the Air Wing of NCC like Priya. Priya being my fellow BootanMandian, I feel proud of her achievements and empowerment. I take this opportunity to congratulate her and her proud parents, Gurpreet and Ashok Kumar.
koshish bhī kar umiid bhī rakh rāsta bhī chun,
phir is ke ba.ad thoḌā muqaddar talāsh kar
