The other day I picked up a book by Seema Goswami. Its called Woman On Top and it advises today's Indian woman on how to get ahead at her workplace, how to deal with her boss...even how to dress.

While reading it I remembered an incident hat has been at the back of my mind for a couple of months now. I was shooting for a story in Rajasthan and needed to talk to villagers. I went to a village near Jaipur and was introduced to the sarpanch there...

The sarpanch was a short young man, who drove a white maruti 800 and carried a cell phone. He was more than willing to take me around his village...

I wanted to speak to some ladies in the village about whether the brand new highway next to their homes made any difference to their lives.The sarpanch took me to several homes...where we were welcomed...many of these homes were new concrete buildings -made with the money the villagers had received by selling their land to the govt for constructing those roads. Locals were very happy with their new found money. Many were traveling down new roads to work as daily laborers in Jaipur and many were able to access better healthcare in the bigger towns...

Wherever we went people greeted the sarpanch with due respect - a "namaste sarpanch ji.. kaise hain?.

Finally , he suggested I drop in to his home also and speak with his wife.

I found that he was building a new double -storeyed house like many others. His beautiful wife came smiling out and answered all my questions.

I was happy...my story was done - a new road can change so many things.

Before I left I asked her for her name...that's when her husband told me...she was the ONE who was the sarpanch of the village now. He held the post till the last elections but then they made it a seat reserved for women.

He couldn't contest so his wife did.

Some stories remain the same.

Woman on TOP?

Some way to go...