Ambika Raj lost her husband when she was 19. He was an Air Force officer. At that time, she was a B.Com student and also had a three-month-old daughter to take care of. She had many pending papers to clear. She had to complete her graduation to be eligible for good placement on compassionate grounds. Her friends took care of her daughter Arya when she would attend her classes and others taught her the missing portions.
At present, she is an RJ at Akashvani Rainbow 107.5 and is all set to start her All-India solo ride expedition from Kochi.
The reason behind the cause
She will be doing this to pay a tribute to soldiers and their widows and motivate women like her to not let go of their dreams.
During the tumultuous time, she would learn computer skills in the evening and even bagged a job as an accountant. She even took a break to learn cost accounting and registered at the Cochin chapter of the Institute of Cost & Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) in 2008. She continued there for a year but then joined the Akashvani as a part-time Casual Assignee the same year as she had always been passionate about becoming an RJ, as per a report.
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She says she could raise her daughter in a better way because she kept working as an RJ which she loved. As a result, her daughter has also grown up to become a socially committed and hard-working person. She is working as a designer in Infosys, she said.
Ambika expects it to take about 50 days to complete the ride.
Nikita Dhoundiyal's story
Nikita Dhoundiyal lost her husband in the 2019 Pulwama attack but this did not break Nikita. Instead, she became stronger. Nikita Dhoundiyal decided to join the Indian army after her husband’s death. Six months after his martyrdom, she filled the Short Service Commission form, wrote her exam, and appeared for the interview. In May last year, she donned the uniform of the Indian Army as Lieutenant Nikita Dhoundiyal at a ceremony held at the Officers Training Academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.