A career fraught with controversies, none of which were her doing, but none of that has ever come in the way of Dutee Chand living her life on her own terms.
India’s fastest female sprinter is now setting yet another example as she drove down to her village, Chaka Gopalpur in the Jajpur district of Odisha, to distribute essential supplies.
And in the bags, she added one essential that not many have paid attention to - sanitary pads for women.
“Sanitary pads are very important for the health and hygiene of women. But in villages, it is not available at the moment and women won’t talk about the shortage. Also, they can’t afford it now because no household has income and whatever money they have, they use it for food,” Dutee told The Indian Express.
While the 24-year-old distributed the household supplies in the village square, she said she went to each house and distributed sanitary pads to the women, in case they were shy to take them in public.
“I wasn’t sure if women would be comfortable coming out to take sanitary pad packets. So, I went to each home,” Dutee added.
Dutee drove down to her village in a Mahindra SUV that had been gifted to her by Anand Mahindra in 2016. In a post on Twitter, she tagged the Mahindra chief, letting him know his gift was being utilised to help the needy in Odisha. He, in return, Tweeted back writing, ‘I can’t think of any better use of a set of wheels. God bless you Dutee.’
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)