Mother, bride and ace commandos

This could be termed women8217;s empowerment if not more. For Subhasini, 24, and the rest of the 151 from Tamil Nadu Police8217;s Women Co...

This could be termed women8217;s empowerment if not more. For Subhasini, 24, and the rest of the 151 from Tamil Nadu Police8217;s Women Commando Company have moved onto AK-47s from lathis.

From a village of Dindigul district, Subhasini married about 10 years ago and gave birth to her son, now four, before she joined the police force in 2000. The greatest challenge for her was that she was a mother, she said. She did convince her family and superiors to join the 12-week course.

After training at the Tamil Nadu Commando School at Marudham here, Subhasini stood overall third in competitions convincing sceptics in the force that women, even mothers, were capable of enduring the rigours of training.

8216;8216;It was a difficult decision. Yet, I have always dreamt of such adventure and challenge since I was young,8217;8217; she says, adding that she has met her husband and son just once after training began. Today, Subhasini takes pride in handling firearms and driving vehicles at high speeds apart from other skills she picked up at the commando school.

But she wasn8217;t the only one who overcame hurdles to join the commando academy. Some of those who had joined training with her dropped out half-way. But others like 28-year-old Muniammal from Madurai always knew they would pull through. Even as Muniammal was under training at Marudham, her wedding was finalised and was slated for March 30 this year. Muniammal took just four days8217; leave and returned married.

She has no regrets. She was in the ceremonial parade a couple of days ago, which was witnessed by CM J. Jayalalithaa.

If most women commandos found inspiration in themselves, 24-year-old R. Jayanthi took a cue from actress Vijayashanti8217;s heroics as a police officer in films. Then, the Biochemistry graduate chanced upon Kiran Bedi8217;s book on life in Tihar that added to her confidence.