New Delhi: Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, while launching 91-year-old Krishna Saksena's book, titled ‘Whispers in Time’, said women are judged their entire lives on the basis of what they give.
Saksena was the first woman to have completed her thesis and awarded a PhD in English from Lucknow University. She was Jauhari then. Her thesis was on ‘William Cowper: His poetry and personality.’ At the book launch on Sunday at India International Centre, there were many among the audience who were awestruck by Saksena’s zeal to continue to write at 91.
However, stating that writing had nothing to do with age, Irani said, “We are writing because we are writing. I say ‘we’ because most women will relate to what I am going to say. Women are judged their entire life on the basis of their relationships, on the basis of what they give. It is very rare for a woman to say I want to live my life for myself apart from my relationships.”
When Saksena complained that because of family commitments, she could not serve the country better, the parliamentarian had a few words of cheer for her. Irani said that by bringing up a good family, Saksena had done her bit.
“Battles are not fought at the frontiers all the time. We fight our battles in our daily circumstances as well,” she said, adding that woman give a lot of importance to relationships in their lives.
Irani was accompanied by author and columnist Kishwar Desai at the event. Desai is the Chair of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust that has recently set up the world’s first Partition Museum at the town Hall in Amritsar.
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