Anju Modi

When Anju Modi launched her fashion label in 1990 with no official training, there was nothing to lose. She had simple dreams like giving her son a good life and, maybe, sending him abroad for higher education. But that was the only motivation she needed to leave the comfort of her home and step out into the big bad working world. Clearly, it was enough. Fifteen years hence, Modi is a couturier of repute. As co-founder of the Fashion Design Council of India, she has played a huge role in preserving age-old Indian textiles such as chanderi, bandhini and kota and Varanasi's zari work. "Women are a creative force, that's in our DNA. My 2012 collection titled ‘Devi' symbolised the inherent power of a goddess that lies within each woman," says Modi. In 2013, the designer made her debut in Bollywood by creating the colourful, craft-rich outfits for the film Ramleela. Internationally, the designer has been a part of the Hyères Fashion Festival 2006 in Paris, Miami Fashion Week 2006 and India Calling at the Hollywood Bowl 2009. She has stores in the UK and US, Hong Kong, Spain and the Middle East, besides India. "Society conditions women to think of themselves as too deprived or too delicate. But once the real battles of life commence, gender roles are left behind. One has to fight as an individual," Modi says, and recollects a time when her parents would let her and her sisters and cousins go out and have their own adventures. "For our parents, it was enough that we told them where we were going and what we were up to." Modi feels girls should be given the responsibility of dealing with their own lives. "Self-confidence doesn't come on its own. Parents play a huge role in making devis out of their daughters," notes Modi.

Jayasri Burman

A woman is benign, a woman is fierce, she is the source of strength, harmony and energy in nature," says contemporary artist Jayasri Burman. "In most of my paintings, at the central point is a woman. That's because I believe women are creators and preservers of life, of health and prosperity." Burman also believes in creating positive energy through her art, and often turns to nature for that. Her paintings reinterpret the lush green of grass as easily as the stagnant pools that bring out the flaming colours of basant (spring) or the hybridised imagery of a woman who is bird-like in her grace and form. Born into an artistic family in Kolkata, she studied at Kala Bhavan in Shantiniketan and at Visual College of Arts in Kolkata before going to Paris to study print-making. Today, as one of India's most talented artists, she creates works that are shown across the world. Her paintings have been part of several important exhibitions such as the International Triennale, Germany (1987) and Indian Contemporary in Hong Kong (2001). She has also shown at the India Art Summit 2011 and Art Fair 2012 (New Delhi), as well as Art Stage Singapore and Toronto Art Fair in 2012. Her solo exhibition, titled Gazing into Myth, was presented by Sumukha Art Gallery in Hong Kong in 2014. If once Burman's work had a tranquil, sanguine feel to it, now her vehicle of expression is a dance of colour. Big or small, her paintings and sculptures establish an intimate space, like a secret garden, and invite the viewer to step in. Her woman is sometimes a coronated ceremonial bird, and at others, a Mother Goddess or a creature of the woods. "While working on my painting Shristi, I understood women, and myself, as a plant that blooms beautifully and stays rooted and strong," she feels.

Meena Sampat

Neeti Palta

Considering women deal with so much nonsense on a daily basis, I would imagine them to have a better sense of humour," says Neeti Palta. And yet she is one of the rare women comedians in India. Still, her special position allows her to bring to India's stand-up scene something it sorely lacks–a female perspective. "I am here to bring out the idiosyncrasies and daily irritants in an Indian woman's life," says Palta, "while poking fun at men." Her act is a refreshing break from the male-dominated comedy scene, which typically portrays women as nagging girlfriends, wives and mothers. Palta has been a stand-up comic for five years now and finds it funny when people ask her why humour doesn't come naturally to women. "Women face society's bizarre hypocrisies much more than men. So, they are more likely to question and poke fun at them," she adds. Like many in the creative field, Palta started out in advertising, as Creative Director at JWT. She's also been head-writer for Sesame Street's Indian production Gali Gali Sim Sim and written the screenplay for the Hindi film O Teri, which was produced by director Atul Agnihotri.
In her comic avatar, Palta feels she leads a regular comic's life, sharing a slice of her wit, her madness, and even her dark side on stage. She was voted Best Stand Up Comic at the Oz Fest and was India's first stand-up to perform at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in 2013. She'd like to see more women get into comedy, she says. "You can make everyone happy, if you are happy. All us comedians have been scared at some time. But once you fight the negativity and self-doubt within you, the outward journey begins and, on that journey, it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman."

Rebecca Mammen John

No one can accuse Rebecca Mammen John of choosing the easy path. Her parents wanted her to join the IAS. She became a criminal lawyer instead. People warned her about the risks involved in getting into that branch of law, but John didn't feel any of them were strong enough to hold her back. Criminal defence, in John's opinion, is the last barrier between constitutional correctness and anarchy. "We deal with human emotions on a daily basis. When one deals with people who are in severe pain, you begin to understand that there might be a hundred different reasons why they do different acts," she explains. Sometimes, the system comes across as brutal, working at the cost of cultural and social sensitivity. "But I am not scared of making interventions for the sake of society at large," says the criminal lawyer, who has been involved in several high-profile cases like the Arushi double murder and the 2G telecom spectrum scam. Just four years into her chosen field, she fought the late stockbroker Harshad Mehta's criminal cases in Delhi.
Today, people ask her how she can plead for someone she thinks is guilty? And why Kasab was entitled to a lawyer? "Our legal system is symbolic of how fair our democracy is. When people with no hope or money still come to court for every hearing, one can sense their belief in the system. It is that belief in a just, equal system that we need to maintain," she says. "Constitutional positions should be upheld. As citizens, we need to keep faith that the system will deliver. The rule of law must be respected; there is nothing greater than that in a democracy." In her opinion, legal rights are not about decisions that sound right to the masses or appeal to media frenzy, they are greater than the sum of their parts, "greater than you and me put together, they are about the system".

Savita Punde