March 12, 2015

!Meet some of my friends, schoolmates, college mates, ex-col-leagues. I grew up with some of them. I graduated from university with some and I worked with some more. We are from different parts of India and we are now based in different parts of India and other countries."

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We (too) are India’s daughters !!

March 12, 2015

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!Lakshmi Natarajan, 38, Indian, animal lover, carer & guide at Zoo

Zürich, singer & concertgoer, sports aficionado & Liverpool FC fan, based in Zürich !!!

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!Swarupama Chaturvedi: 36 years, born and raised in India, living in Delhi, gold medalist in law, advocate in the Supreme Court of India, writer, public speaker, mother of one. Positivist who be-lieves every dream can be realized. twitter #swarupama#

!!

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! Aparna Jain: 45 years, consultant, leadership coach, author, occasional food reviewer, vocal feminist, based in Delhi. Ad-

dicted to twitter (aparna_jain) !!!! !!! �2

March 12, 2015

Rekha Dhanraj, 40, passionate about advertising / marketing, lo-gophile, Freudian, self proclaimed wine 'n cheese aficionado, an-thropology lover, mother of one, based in Salt Lake City. Strives to live by 'Begin with the end in mind’ !!!!! !!

Anitha Varadraju: 37 years, born, raised, graduated in India, re-siding in Texas, visual artist, mother of two. Striving to convert

empathy into action !!!! !!!

Sangeetha Visweswaran, 39, born and raised in India, Principal Engineering manager at Microsoft, based in Redmond, mother of two, hobby bicyclist. A crusader for women’s independence !!!!

!!Upasana Asrani, 39 years born and raised in India, psychology and

literature graduate, fashion retailer, freelance journalist, covering trends in fashion, people and haute destinations. Mother of a 6

year old, based in chennai. Love mysticism and it's great spiritual masters !!

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March 12, 2015

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Charu Suri, 38, journalist, traveler, mother and lover of the written and spoken word, based in NJ. Borders are meant for brotherhood, and not to be divisive !!!!!

!!!Suman Khanna Aggarwal, Gandhian scholar, founder of Shanti Sahyog, a Gandhian NGO that educates children from economically poor backgrounds, passionate about nonviolent conflict resolution !!!! !!!

Nanditha Sathish, Indian born and raised, resident of Cali-fornia, mother, animal lover, Financial Analyst, dreamer, world traveler, design aficionado and eternal optimist. !! !!!

Roshini Sheth, 38, born, raised and graduated in India, mother of a 9 year old daughter, proprietrix of an Architectural and Design firm. Building dreams... and designing better living

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March 12, 2015

!!!There are hundreds of such profiles in my immediate network - thousands and millions more all over India. The handful of women profiled above are representative of India’s daughters. !From architects to journalists, from financial analysts to lawyers, from CEOs to social ac-tivists, from engineers to creative heads of world famous agencies - we have them all here. I didn’t have to search far to find them. !We are all home grown! !We grew up in India. We studied in India’s schools and colleges. We were raised by Indian parents. We are all doing well for ourselves in our chosen areas of work - both in and outside India We are thriving in a language that is not our mother tongue We have pursued our dreams and ambitions with the help of responsible and supportive fathers, brothers, husbands and even sons! No, we are not rape victims. No, our fathers, brothers, husbands and sons are not rapists! !I think instead of picking faults with documentaries and films that stereotype Indian men and women, we should come forth and share images and profiles of Indian women that balance that negative perception - images and profiles that could broaden the minds of readers and documentary viewers to perceive India in its entirety. !Start with your own network. !Maybe you can even just tag 10 Indian women in your network (don’t forget to hashtag #indiasdaughters) for starters? !…..In the end, it is we who attach meaning to an expression! !Best wishes from me and my friends to you and yours. !#indiasdaughters

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March 12, 2015

Author: Uma Muthuraaman, freelance writer, traveler, mother, a die head fan of Calvin & Hobbes, a volunteer of social causes, an Indo-German enthusiast, (a barefoot executive/in-dependent) consultant - analytics and communication www.umauthuraaman.com !

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