For Captain Vandana Srivastava, words like flood, earthquake, disaster and crisis are stimuli for a quick response. The recent floods in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka kept her busy with emergency meetings, disaster assessments and response planning. But if you mention them, she may just smile and say only a few words. She does not speak much about her work. Today, she visits foreign countries to deliver talks on disaster management and streamlines operations. On the mention of managing family and work, she says, “My five years with the Army made me ready for any and every contingency at 24x7x365.” She is very upfront as to why she quit the services and said, “By that time, I had given my best and I did not want to continue just for the sake of holding on to a job and become a burden. Even here at Red Cross, things are good for me.” She did not stop at it and spoke about the demands of women being inducted in combat. She said, “For being an Army combatant, one needs to be married to the profession. Otherwise one does not do justice to either the profession or to her own self. But I think even if two out of 100 women are ready to take up combat roles, they should be given a chance.” She thinks training and discipline in life are the keys to success.
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