Chandigarh, October 5
Chanda Asani (51), from Mumbai was today awarded the Neerja Bhanot Pan Am 2008 award for her exemplary courage in overcoming odds.

Dr A.R. Kidwai, Governor of Haryana, conferred the prestigious award on Asani at an award ceremony held at St Stephens School, Sector 45. The Neerja Bhanot Award was instituted in the memory of senior flight purser Neerja Bhanot, who saved hundreds of lives while sacrificing her own, during a Pan Am plane hijack at Karachi Airport in September 1986. The award consists of Rs. 1,50,000, a citation and a trophy.

The Indian women who face social injustice like dowry, desertion, etc with courage and overcome it with guts and grit and also helps other women in social distress are nominated for this award. This year a specially constituted jury comprising Vijaya Pushkarna, Vivek Atray and R.K. Thaman decided to confer the award on Chanda Asani. H.K. Dua, Editor-In-Chief of The Tribune was also present on the occasion.

“Chanda Asani is a story of tremendous courage, compassion and audacity. She deserves the award as she has lived her life with the same boldness as Neeraja Bhanot had shown 22 years ago,” said A.R. Kidwai.

She was married at the young age of 15 but had to face the social stigma of a broken marriage. She passed MA in English literature and did programmes on women studies from the Research Centre for Women's Studies, SNDT Women’s University with Indian perspective and Institute of Women's Studies, Lahore.

“I feel that every woman has the courage to fight with the circumstances as well the society alike. But she has to recognise it correctly during the times of crises,” said Chanda Asani.

Chandigarh, October 5
Neerja Bahnot award 2008 was conferred on 51-year-old Chanda Asani today. Her story is a story of tremendous courage, compassion and commitment.

She was 15 when she was married. Her dream of a blissful and happy married life was shattered when she found out that her husband was unfaithful to her.

“My husband refused to provide for my two kids. He sold off all ornaments that my mother-in-law had given me,” Chanda said. Chanda took up odd jobs to sustain the family. “I did not want to go back to my father’s place as I had three unmarried sisters and was afraid that the social stigma of a broken marriage would hinder their marriage prospects too,” she said.

However, Chanda left her husband’s house, when she was just 23. She moved to her father-in-law’s place on his invitation in Adipur, Kutch, with her two sons but she was not able to live in peace there. “As soon as I left, my husband got married to another woman,” she added.

Determined to change her destiny, Chanda did MA in English Literature and did programmes on Women Studies from Research Centre for Women's Studies, SNDT Women's University with Indian perspective and Institute of Women's Studies Lahore with World overview. She even worked as a nanny in the US for a while, but came back to work among women in India.