Srinagar, Aug 28(KNS): All of us get down in the dumps sometimes .But then there are several stories which pull us from slump ,inspire us and make us smile. Let me specifically talk about woman. The challenge of pursuing studies or career after marriage for a woman continues to be front burner issue in our society.
There is a common wisdom in our society that women after marriage should not further pursue their studies or even if they want to pursue it they should not be serious. It should always take a back seat when it comes to family or other commitments.
However, 48- year old Maha Durakshan has broken the cliche and proved that a woman cannot only pursue her further studies and build up her career seriously, but can equally fulfill her family commitments even after marriage. Being mother of two grown up kids and working as Sr pharmacist at prestigious SKIMS Soura, Maha grabbed gold medal in Masters in pharmaceutical science (2014 batch) after Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at a special convocation of the University of Kashmir on Wednesday distributed gold medals (academic) to aspiring candidates in an award winning ceremony function.
In the first session convocation which was organised on July 27, out of the 8 gold medallists, 42 were girls while in the second session, which was organised on Wednesday, 240 girls received gold medals compared to 72 medals that went to boys.
Maha who gave tough competition to young students by securing first position in pharmacy is worth mentioning.
Maha said that the biggest challenge before her was to compete with young students . Maha said that while being in job she had to take 2-years off from office and join university as a student. "Initially ,I felt uncomfortable while being in the classroom with young minds ,but gradually with the support of my young classmates and faculty members I dealt with the situation bravely,” Maha said.
“My classmates were much more competent and being fresh passouts of B pharma it was not an easy nut to crack. There were lot many questions on my mind ,as what if I don’t do it right?What if I don’t succeed?” “What if I’m not as good as them? However, with the grace of Almighty and support of my well wishers I believed in myself and at the end cracked gold medal,” said Maha.
Notably, Maha Durakshan, currently working as Sr. Pharmacist at Sheri Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) has published several research papers in international journals . It’s worth mentioning that she recently got selected as chief pharmacist in AIIMS, Bhopal. But she had to surrender the lucrative opportunity owing to domestic compulsions and also because of her obsession to serve her own Kashmiri community.
Maha's story is quite inspiring specially for those who believe that there is a mediocre future for a woman once she gets married. (KNS).