Actor Khushboo on Friday said she had swum against the tide and faced tough odds in life.
In a rather candid speech to a packed audience of women law enforcers from across the country at the National Seminar on Women Police Empowerment here, the actor-turned-politician said that her father’s traumatic decision to “choose another woman” over her mother had forced her to relocate to Chennai from Mumbai.
She was just 16 and had her mother and three siblings to look after. Life offered few choices to a dispossessed family.
Career option Film industry was a career option. There she would try her luck as an artist; just to take care of her loved ones.
Ms. Khushboo said her mother was her anchor and pillar of strength.
From her, she learned never to compromise her dignity and self respect, whatever the cost.
She was proud that she never needed to turn to her father for anything after he walked out of her life.
Ms. Khushboo said women respected men who treated them as equals. She said that, like all mothers, she was also scared for her daughters when they went out into the world. “Is she talking to the right person,” she always wondered in angst.
A salute Ms. Khushboo said she would prefer her daughters to pursue a career in law enforcement or the armed forces.
“Out in that sun, on the road and in the dirt, uniformed men and women serve the world much more than people like me can ever hope to do. You are the true heroines. I salute you,” she said.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy; DGP, Modernisation, M.N. Krishnamoorthy; ADGP K. Padmakumar; and IG Manoj Abraham were present.
