Sunita Aralikar, a well-known social activist for female infanticide and an award-winning Indian author will be in Sri Lanka on October 22 to launch a book, Duvili Mala, a Sinhala translation of ‘A Petal from the Dust Flowering Again’ – the autobiography of Sunita. The book in Sinhala has been written by a well-known Sri Lankan writer, Anula de Silva. The launch will be held at the Public Library Colombo on October 22 at 3 pm.
Hailing from a remote village in the Latur hamlet of Maharashtra, where girl children are often looked upon as burdens, Sunita has overcome many life-threatening obstacles in her life’s journey. Sunita was barely 16 days old when her illiterate father buried her alive a day after her mother died in a remote village near Latur, Maharashtra.
Fortunately, her maternal grandfather rescued her, digging her up from the grave. Despite living in abject poverty, her maternal grandparents raised her, sent her to school and encouraged her to follow her dreams. When she was 14 years, her father attempted to kill her a second time. This shocking event made Sunita resolve to fight the social evil of female infanticide. With great financial limitations, she completed High School and found a job as a trainee nurse in a hospital in Latur.
Soon after, she was married to Dilip, a social worker, who supported her decision to work for women empowerment completely. With steely determination, Sunita has fought social prejudices and poverty head on in rural Maharashtra. She uses her own life story to inspire illiterate and poor families so they took pride in their girls, encourage young girls who are school drop-outs to go back to complete their education and to lobby with local governments to support her cause. Sunita has, through her writing and fearless activism encouraged more women to come forward and fight violence against women. Today, she is an epitome of womanpower. Sunita has ensured a good education for her sons, both in highly recognised professions including medicine.