On the 16th of January, 2019, the much awaited book for the children of today 'The Dot that Went for a Walk' was launched at the Royal Opera House in South Bombay.

The book talks about the journeys of the top 51 Women Achievers of India. It features stories of Mother Teresa, Sarojini Naidu, Deepika Padukone, M S Subbulakshmi, Indra Nooyi, Auradha Pal and many more. It is written by Lakshmi Nambiar, Reema Gupta and Sarada Akkineni.

The event featured five stars among the 51 of the book. Amongst them were Anuradha Pal, the first Woman Tabla Player of India who’s internationally appreciated as the ‘First Professional Female Tabla virtuoso in the World’ (by Encyclopaedia Britannica & Limca Book of Records), accompanied by the most renowned actor of Bollywood Deepika Padukone; India’s first Woman Commando Trainer Seema Rao, Stand-Up Comedian Aditi Mittal and Architect Brinda Somaya.

The event took off with a Media interaction session. Thereafter, the audience got aglimpse of Aditi Mittal's journey in the book. She said, "My journey in this (Comedy) industry wasn't easy; there was always a fear that 'twas dominated my males. On being asked, how did she overcome the fear of standing on a stage in front of the audience, she said, The favorite thing about being on the stage is that the audience wants to see you. The audience is your aidee first. And eventually your nervousness will be gone."

Deepika Padukone recalled how difficult it was for her to choose between Badminton and Acting. But sooner she realized that Acting is what she’s been willing to do for the rest of her life as a profession whereas Badminton was her passion.

Anuradha Pal talked about what hardships did she come across in mastering a masculine musical instrument (as what the society profounded.) It was difficult to make the society believe that a woman could also play Tabla equally well. She always worshipped her gurus Ustad Alla Rakha and Zakir Hussain. She was always supported by family and when her father passed away, three days after that her mother came to her concert to motivate and support her.

Brinda Somaya, an architect talked about how she was teaching in a school in the US and once heard two professors talking about India and she decided then and there only to fly back to India to her homeland.

First Indian Woman Trainer Commander Seema Rao talked about how badly she was bullied in her childhood and how women were disrespected and looked down upon.

This was followed by a Panel Discussion where the five women were asked to share any one incidence of their lives where they faced gender bias. Deepika shared an incidence where she rejected a Bollywood movie because of the difference in the pay scale between her role and the male protagonist’s role, though her role was a step up than the male protagonist, but still she was being underpaid and she decided to step back. Anuradha Pal expressed how mixed she felt in a concert in Kota at the age of 15, when people were mocking her thinking what could she do with the table, and in retaliation to the response, she played her heart out making people see the unbelievable.

After the panel discussion, the five women unanimously unwrapped the book and officially launched it giving their best wishes to the writers and wishing success to the whole team.

The launch event concluded with the special Tabla Jugalbandi by Anuradha Pal where different social relations were portrayed in the form of a conversation taking place between the two tablas.

After the launch while having refreshments, Simran Hadi from the audience remarked “An amazing launch of inspiring stories of Indian women achievers! And the performance of Pandita Anuradha Pal displayed the Indian girl power that left the audience bewitched!”

By Yashit V. Shukla