Making a difference

"It is a hard task to come up in a male-dominated society. I fought for my rights and was variously known as Phoolan Devi, Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi,” laughed Homai Daruwalla, chairperson and managing director of the Central Bank of India, acknowledging the Woman of the Year Award 2006 presented to her by the Zonta Club of Bombay III. Daruwalla prescribed excellence and humility as the "twins to success.”

Daruwalla was among the eight awardees selected by the Club "for making their mark not only in their fields of activity, but for making a difference to their professions and the national scene,” on the occasion of its 27th anniversary charter night. Principal of Cathedral and John Connon School Meera Isaacs, a national awardee as best principal and the evening’s chief guest, distributed the awards.

A chartered accountant at a time when very few women entered that field, Daruwalla said she had knocked at many a corporate door in pursuit of her ambition to get into a public limited company. Everywhere she got the standard response, "we prefer a male to a female.” Finally getting an opening in the other "bawaji bank,” Union Bank of India, she proved her mettle. Describing herself as a proud Parsi, Daruwalla said, "If you believe in principles, there is nothing to stop you from achieving success. Aim for the moon. Opportunity only knocks once. (Conditions may be) better, worse or ugly but grab them... Move ahead. Leaders are made, not born. Take your team with you. Bickering and (conditions) good, bad or ugly must be faced by you as leader, not by your team,” she advised.

Isaacs (center) presenting award to Pithawalla (left) and Contractor, and to Daruwalla (right) as Dalal looks on

The Encouragement Award 2006 was presented to visually impaired Vishakha More, a medical transcriptionist who has not let her failing eyesight prevent her from living an exciting life. A graduate in political science with a diploma in finance management, she has functioned as navigator for car rallies, served banks and is currently working for the Securities and Exchange Board of India, noted past president Freny Paghdiwala as she introduced the gutsy 35-year-old. Somewhere along the line she had the time and energy to scale a 13,000 ft Himalayan peak, as noted Club president Mahzaver Dalal.

Two Special Recognition Awards were presented by Zonta this year. Sudha Gokhale, a housewife from Poona, was recognized for her daring mission to visit the terrorists in Kashmir to appeal to their finer qualities and to empathize with the women of the families these terrorists victimized.

The other special awardee was Zontarian Beroze Vatcha, the director and honorary consultant of the Hellen Keller Institute (HKI) for the Deaf and Deaf Blind. The highly acclaimed film Black was made by Sanjay Leela Bhansali after he saw how these people communicated at the Institute. Referring to the high voltage depiction of the deafblind in the film and the understanding it has created for them in the general public, Vatcha said she told Bhansali, "What I have struggled for years to do, you have done at one stroke!” The role of HKI and Vatcha has been acknowledged in the film. Recipient of multiple awards both national and international, Vatcha says humbly, "I am nothing without my staff, committee members, well-wishers, donors…We have started comprehensive education… Our philosophy is that no one can do without education… Our motto is ‘We can because we think we can.’”

The Club level Amelia Earhart Fellowship Awards — originally meant only for aerospace engineering but is now open to other fields of science and engineering — was presented to Indu R. Pillai and Sarika Tyagi of the Indian Institute of Technology, Powai.

Rishita Panchal of Bombay’s S. N. D. T. University and Nameera Saleem of Shri Chaitanya Junior Kalasala, Hyderabad were presented Club Level Young Women in Public Affairs Awards 2006.

Recognizing their own, the Zontian of the Biennium 2004-06 Award was jointly earned by Arnavaz Pithawalla and Meher Contractor. Perin Mody was recognized for personal involvement; founder president Havovi Dotivala and Paghdiwala earned Zonta Pins for membership extension and development and Paghdiwala was further congratulated on becoming the area director for India and Sri Lanka. Vice president Perviz Mistry comper­ed the evening’s program while Mody proposed a vote of thanks.

A. S. M.