A woman of substance

Abha Sharma Rodrigues was in Hyderabad for the launch of her book ‘Fifteen Mantras for the Empowered Woman'

Abha Sharma Rodrigues with her book ‘Fifteen Mantras for the Empowered Woman’

Growing up surrounded by strong women and spirituality along with an innate curiosity led Abha Sharma Rodrigues to write Fifteen Mantras for the Empowered Woman .

On meeting Abha you are immediately drawn by her vivacity and animation. There is genuineness as she talks and interacts. She grew up in Rajasthan in her grandfather's house. He was an intensely spiritual man and was the chief physician for the Maharajas of Bikaner, Jodhpur and Udaipur. Every morning he would pray and chant for hours and this had an impact on Abha.

When she got married and started a business with her husband, her need to know what makes human beings perform and an inner search to better herself led her to read the works of and interact with such great minds as Anthony Robbins and Deepak Chopra. But she found a gap: these books dealt with western techniques and were from the male perspective, so she decided to bridge the gap.

Thus

Fifteen Mantras for the Empowered Woman was born. In her book Abha couples spirituality, in the form of chants, with western techniques. “My book deals with fifteen universal laws and around each law I string a group of words to create a mantra,” says Abha. “For example one such mantra is ‘I am me, I am unique'.” She covers everything from time, beauty and courage in her book.

The idea behind the mantras is if a woman recites them everyday she will internalise them and come to believe them. Abha adds layers to her book by weaving stories around each mantra and she also gives examples from the lives of strong, accomplished women such as Kiran Bedi, Princess Diana and Sonia Gandhi. Quotations from books, poems and movies are also interspersed throughout the book.

Abha says, “This book is important for women as they have a huge influence in society, workplace and family. Most women are not even aware of the internal strength they possess.” And as a woman and as one who has taken the journey towards empowering herself she feels this book will resonate with women. From the strong women in her life, be it her mother who is a doctor, her grandmother who taught herself to read and write or her husband's aunt Lennie, who was known as the Mother Teresa of Rajasthan, she learnt some aspect of a woman's mind and soul and all this has gone into her book. And she hopes to pass this knowledge on to others.

Her aim is to touch the lives of 100,000 women within the next five years. As a first step, she is undertaking a world tour. She has also tied up with women's organisations such as Prajwala in Hyderabad. In London, a special exhibition of her book has been organised to coincide with International Women's Month. Along with all her other commitments, Abha also has a book on women leadership and another one on empowered couples in the works.

Abha's book was launched in the city at Crosswords at Citi Centre and this was followed by an interaction with Dr. Geeta Reddy, Minister for Tourism and Sunita Krishnan , founder and director of Prajwala.