International Women's Day: Free helicopter ride to widows in Mumbai

Shivshakti Women's Association has been organising events in a unique way to mark the International Women's Day for past 18 years.

Mumbai: In a mark of respect to their resilience and untiring efforts in ensuring decent careers for their children in the absence of their husbands, a group of widows from Mumbai and surrounding areas will be treated to a free helicopter ride here on International Women's Day on Tuesday.

Shivshakti Women's Association, which has been organising events in a unique way to mark the International Women's Day for past 18 years, in association with India Media Links and Event Management, has chosen to honour widows hailing from simple and ordinary families who have raised their children against all odds.

Between 11 am and 2 pm today, the widows will be taken in turns for the helicopter ride covering all of Mumbai, said Panchasheel Shirsat, one of the organisers.

"This year we decided to honour widows who have toiled hard to raise their children making them doctors, engineers and other professionals. Till now we have received names of more than 21 such women from Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai," Shirsat said.

Among those who will be taken for the helicopter ride include Satyavatibai, Vatsalabai, Shardabai and Panchfulabai - from Mumbai and surrounding areas.

Later in the evening, these women will narrate their life experiences and how they raised their children in the face of adversity, at Bharatiya Vidyalaya near Sion Hospital.

The women will also be treated to a musical programme which will be graced by Mumbai Mayor Snehal Ambekar, Shiv Sena's Lok Sabha MP Rahul Shewale, former bureaucrat JP Dange, actor Tushar Kapoor and others.