Nari Shakti Takes the Spotlight at Hinjewadi's Durga Puja 2026

Oitijhyo Sarbojonin Cultural Association launches "51 Nari Shakti" — a community-wide effort to document and celebrate 51 women from Hinjewadi Phase 2, Phase 3, Maan, Marunji and neighbouring areas.

This Durga Puja, Oitijhyo Sarbojonin Cultural Association is inviting the women of Hinjewadi Phase 2, Hinjewadi Phase 3, Maan, Marunji and the surrounding communities to step forward with stories that don't usually make it to a stage — but quietly shape families, workplaces and neighbourhoods every single day.

Some women lead from the front. Others lead from a kitchen table, juggling careers, homes, ageing parents and a hundred invisible responsibilities before the day has even properly begun. Some are rebuilding after a setback. Some are finding their voice later in life. Some have carried a family through an impossibly hard year and never once called it extraordinary.

As the Association puts it: "Do not just worship Shakti. Recognise her."

Why 51 Stories?

Durga is worshipped in many forms, and the organisers believe Shakti, too, refuses to be contained in a single image. It shows up in the entrepreneur who started over after failure, the mother who returned to work after years away, the teacher who shaped hundreds of young lives, and the homemaker whose quiet labour holds an entire household together.

It's there too in the young woman building a new life in an unfamiliar city, the daughter caring for ageing parents, the senior citizen starting something new late in life, and the girl still learning to trust her own voice.

51 Nari Shakti will document and celebrate 51 such women — each story different, together forming a portrait of modern womanhood in a neighbourhood built by people who arrived from different cities, cultures and circumstances to make Pune their home.

Strength Rarely Looks Dramatic

This campaign isn't only for award winners, founders or public personalities. Success is one form of strength — but far from the only one.

A woman may have changed careers at forty. Raised a child alone. Started a small business from her own home. Gone back to studying. Learned to drive after years of hesitation. Moved to Hinjewadi without knowing a single soul. She may have bounced back from a setback, stood up for another woman, made art in the middle of an ordinary life, or simply never given up.

The story doesn't need to be dramatic. It only needs to be honest.

From Being Visible to Being Heard

Women are everywhere during Durga Puja — organising cultural programmes, coordinating children, managing costumes, preparing bhog, welcoming guests, decorating the venue, keeping the whole celebration running. But visibility isn't the same as recognition.

At Oitijhyo Sarbojonin Cultural Association, Nari Shakti isn't meant to stay a decorative theme placed beside the idol. It's meant to show up in who speaks, who decides, who leads, and whose experiences actually get remembered.

The 51 stories will give women the space to speak in their own words — about ambition, sacrifice, reinvention, friendship, motherhood, identity, courage, or the hard choice to begin again. No two journeys will look alike, and that's exactly the point.

A Growing Neighbourhood Needs Shared Stories

Hinjewadi Phase 2 and Phase 3 are full of people who came here to begin something — a job, a marriage, a business, a family, a second chance. Behind apartment doors and office entrances are women carrying stories their own neighbours may never hear.

One might lead a corporate team by day and care for an elderly parent by night. Another might have left a thriving career to raise a child, and now be preparing to step back in. Someone might be building a business from her dining table. Someone else might be spending her very first Durga Puja away from home.

In a fast-growing locality, it's easy to live near people without ever really knowing them. 51 Nari Shakti is an attempt to change that — a celebration of women, and also a way of building genuine connection.

Whose Stories Are We Looking For?

There's no single definition of a Nari Shakti story. The Association hopes to hear from women across generations, professions and backgrounds, including:

• Working professionals and entrepreneurs
• Homemakers and caregivers
• Artists, teachers and community volunteers
• Students and first-generation graduates
• Senior citizens with decades of lived experience
• Women who changed careers or rebuilt their lives
• Women creating social impact
• Women whose everyday courage goes unnoticed

Some stories will be joyful. Some may be uncomfortable or quiet. And some may just inspire another woman to finally take the step she's been postponing for years.

More Than a Festival Campaign

The goal of 51 Nari Shakti isn't to collect photographs and write flattering introductions. It's to create a living record of the women shaping this community.

Their journeys will be shared through written profiles, short videos, social media features, stage conversations, and a special installation during Durga Puja. Visitors won't just encounter the image of the goddess — they'll encounter the voices of the women living around them: the neighbour who helped someone through a crisis, the colleague no one ever really asked about, the mother whose dreams didn't vanish when her responsibilities grew, or the girl about to become the first in her family to enter a new profession.

This is Shakti in its most human form.

Every community has powerful women. It's time we learned their names.

51 Is Only the Beginning

There are far more than 51 stories in this community. The number isn't a limit — it's a starting point. Fifty-one women will stand in for hundreds more whose stories remain untold.

Nari Shakti has no single profession, age, language, appearance or definition. It can be bold or gentle, public or deeply private. What matters is that it's real, and that it deserves to be recognised.

The word Oitijhyo means heritage — and heritage isn't only what we inherit from the past. It's also what we choose to build for the future. Through 51 Nari Shakti, the Association hopes to create a tradition where women aren't worshipped as goddesses for a few festival days and then forgotten. Instead, they're heard as individuals, respected as decision-makers, remembered as community builders, and recognised for the strength they carry all year round.

Share or Nominate a Story

A woman can share her own story. A family member, friend, colleague or neighbour can also nominate someone whose journey deserves to be recognised.

Tell us what she overcame, what she created, what she learned, what she refused to give up on — or what she would say to another woman standing exactly where she once stood.