Life Is A New Chapter Ever Day​

It is a privilege to know Dr. Deepika Dhir, who is a personification of decency ,decorum and discipline and by our reckoning is a distinguished, multifaceted personality. As young girl, blessed with an unmatchable stamina she had been an outstanding sportswoman, having especially excelled in the field of Badminton and touched top glories and honours, not only with her game but also a real epitome of sportsmanship, grit and humanism. Deepika has been an ace Badminton player. As member of the Indian Badminton Squad, the agility, endurance and stamina seemed like a rhythmic dance in the Badminton court which will leave spectators surprised. She never compromised on anything less than the top on any activity she laid her hands on.

But life is not walking on the Billiards Table. It takes sharp unpredictable turns. So is the
story of Deepika who withstood the test of very difficult circumstances. She believed in the great dictum—“When the going is tough, tough get going”. This is what she had been
destined to do all these years right from the age of eleven. The untimely death of her sixteen year old brother put the family in tight straps and with her hardworking parents falling sick, she left no stone unturned to support the family of two very young talented sisters, even though she had lived a happy, luxurious little childhood. After sometime, she lost her father too. It was quite a blow for the young girl. Her whole life went topsy turvy. She worked in all those difficult terrains forty years ago what the girls were never supposed to even think about.

Her small bicycle was her companion. Her greatest well -wishers in the form of her teachers were the ones to support her and give a pat which kept her going. Seeing her working so hard, they would encourage her and bless her to reach her destination.

Inspite of all the odds, setbacks and turmoils in her personal life ,she has proved to be an
erudite scholar. Many of her poems and articles have been published in The Sunday Tribune. Her poems Dare Not; Autumn Song; Known To God; Hidden Wings; Salute Thee Soldier drew a very emotional response from the loving readers and received many personal letters of Appreciation. She has been a very sensitive soul. Her heart cried seeing the condition of women and she wrote articles in the column Focus On Women: Reel Life Women; Boys Will Be Boys; Sex Education Through TV; It’s An Art; Grades Of Intelligence. A touching short story “A Registered Letter”is a story of a woman who defied her husband for giving good education to her son, helped her husband in running the sweet shop along with her household jobs so that her son could study well and he went up to do Masters in Physics but she was not treated properly by her married son. “Insensate Mistresses”-another article about the servants being ill-treated by the owners– drew a very encouraging response from the readers. She got a second position in the college in M.A in English (Panjab University).
She had begun to present Yuv Vani Program from AIR Jalandhar. She also presented many talks on AIR on different subjects. God was kind, she took to teaching in a College
immediately after completing her Masters. She did her M.Phil from the Punjabi University, Patiala,with ‘O’ grade in her Thesis on Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. She did the tuition work side by side to meet the expenses. But for the support of her teachers her life would have been nowhere. She owes her success to her teachers—who supported her and mentored her at every crucial step of life.

Along with her being an associate professor in the subject of English, she had been working for curbing Female Foeticide. Her NGO Taruvar#Kalyani Foundation is working in this direction so that a sense of sanity prevails in the society. Boys should be taught to behave like civilized human beings. They need to be brought up well by the parents especially the mothers have the responsibility of imparting values to the boys in the right proportion and tame them ethically. As our Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi ji very aptly said, “Ask boys where were they?” Dr. Deepika Dhir strongly feels that good education is the answer to many ailments plaguing our society. For that she has adopted poor girls for funding their education.
Education is a very important tool to “Empower Girls”……she learnt from her illiterate
mother who clung to the belief :Vidya Dhanam, Sarav Dhanam, Pradhanam which means
Education is your biggest asset. No one can steal this. A mother who had borne so many
difficulties for giving good education to not only her own son but to her daughter- in- law
also, who went up to do Ph.D from B.Sc part II onwards after marriage along with her three daughters who are Gold Medalists in their subjects and well settled in their lives with the Grace of God.

God had blessed Deepika with another gift –a melodious, mellifluous voice. Her devotional singing and Punjabi folk singing will take your soul on a journey on trance. She has a rare talent in the field of Music whereby she has the capacity to hold her audiences spell-bound and wondering. Dr. Deepika Dhir has adopted the medium of writing and singing songs to bring awareness in the society. Her songs have been telecast on DD National/DD Jalandhar and AIR.Her song on Beti Bachao—Beti Parhao campaign——Kujh Kurian Kukha vich mardian( some girls die in the womb—Some outside the womb ) and Dhee Di Fariyaad also telecast on Doordarshan. She has also devoted herself to the furtherance of the cause of Punjabi folk music to restore to its legitimate glory of the bygone era by rendering unforgettable performances in India and abroad. Deepika has cut 5 CD s of different genres of songs released by HMV and Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

Her songs have been approved by the Punjab Women Commission along with National
Commission For Women, Delhi. Her songs have been part of her intensified Campaign called Triple A –Awareness, Awakening and Acting in the critical areas i.e Female Foeticide, Rapes and Sexual Harassment and Eve-Teasing .

Swachch Abhiyaan has been as it is part of life which she without failure propagates and
practices at home and her environment around and does not hesitate to check even the strangers for littering on the roads and spitting in the street. A song on Swachch Abhiyaan
has also been written and sung by her,along with her daughter.

PEG is another very important Campaign taken up by her NGO ,to fight against the Drug
Abuse afflicting the youth of our country especially the state of Punjab. She has written poems with the title PEG Abhiyaan in Punjabi.The word PEG has a pun.One peg in Punjabi is ‘Sharaab’ wala peg with which people get drunk and another one by Deepika is imploring the Dhaba Owners to get a peg fixed for hanging the Ladies Bag behind the door in the washrooms while travelling on the highway.Most of the petrol pumps, Hotels, Restaurants have no peg to hang the bag in the washroom. Her NGO has formed a group of women working under self help scheme by teaching them and giving them training in various activities which they can easily carry on from their homes and earn.

Deepika has rendered her services to the Army Units and AWWA with the support of wife of the Army Chief and other senior ladies. She organized cultural evenings and anchored their programmes in difficult areas and appealed to understand the difficulties of the men in uniform and also understand the struggle which the wives have to undergo when the husbands go on exercises and the field posting for years. The wife has to sacrifice her career and take care of the family single handedly. Deepika is very emotional towards men in uniform. Her poem “The Nation Salutes Thee” pays a true tribute to the men in uniform who protect the nation with their own lives on sleeves.

She has displayed an outstanding administrative skill ,leadership quality and courage under very crucial circumstances. She tremendously displayed the quality of working selflessly for the welfare of others keeping her own ambitions and comforts behind. She walks extra mile for helping the needy especially, women and children. She has also displayed valour in divorcing the person who was demanding dowry from her parents. She had to fight at every stage in bringing up her daughter and giving good education to her.

Dr. Deepika Dhir, an educationist,an Anchor,Sports Commentator, Sportsperson, Singer,a
writer and above all a very sensitive soul and a very fine human being—has been an
exemplary person throughout. Inspite of the depressing incidents, inspite of all the odds and hardships ,she has bounced back . At times she had been on the verge of committing a suicide but she has given a tough fight to life. The harshness of life made her much more determined and a strong person and now she is devoted to the cause of Girl Child education along with other campaigns.

Deepika is endowed with an undying spirit and has many dreams and promises to fulfil. The way life unfolded it was becoming difficult for her due to circumstantial compulsions –to continue in sports—she stood up academically and excelled in that and then pursued her passion for Music and excelled and has been working tirelessely for her family and
society. People look up to her as role model—the kind of daughter, sister and friend and
mother she has been. We pray that she continues to go up in life and act as a beacon light to the women of this country. She is continuing her pursuits in an untiring manner and I have no doubt she will achieve still greater laurels in times to come.