New Delhi:
56-year-old Dr Martha Farrell was among the four Indians killed in an attack on a guest house in Kabul on Wednesday. She lived and sacrificed her life for gender equality not only in India but across the borders too.
This was not her first trip to Afghanistan, as an expert on women's empowerment Dr Farrell ran educational training workshops for Afghan officials. Security threats delayed the project numerous times but finally she left for Kabul on May 9 and was to return yesterday. She did return home a day early but not a homecoming her friends and family expected.
On one of her previous trips she casually told her colleague and friend Manoj Rai that they always take a UN helicopter from Bamiyan to Kabul but never a Defence plane - she jokingly added maybe in another lifetime. On Friday, her body returned to Delhi in a wooden casket on a special Indian Air Force aircraft.
Afghanistan wasn't the safest place in the world but that didn't deter Dr Martha, she was passionate about issues of gender equality, says Colonel Gupta, Director PRIA. Dr Farrell was one of the directors at Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), an organisation her husband Dr Rajesh Tandon founded in 1982 and even with her sudden departure, Dr Tandon says PRIA will continue to deepen the work Dr Farrell did. In her last mail to her colleagues on Thursday, she wished them luck to keep up the good work.
Speaking to Dr Martha just before she was killed by the Taliban at the Park Palace Hotel, Dr Tandon recalls her fearless nature and how excited she was to be returning home. They spoke for 10 minutes in the evening while she was in the dining hall area of the hotel and told Dr Tandon the training was a hit among Afghan officials.
Dr Farrell's co-worker and friend Karti choked recalling her last words to her before leaving office: "See you soon dear."
Born in an Anglo-Indian family, one of the eight siblings, Dr Farrell's 98-year-old mother sits in her room remembering her strong personality who stood up against any wrong.