Soch Se Bhi Aage: Kamini Kusum’s Powerful Anthology of Women Who Cross Boundaries

There is nothing ornamental about Kamini Kusum’s Soch Se Bhi Aage. Spread across a little more than 180 pages, the book is a straightforward collection of stories, twenty of them, about women who decided that circumstance, society, even history, would not have the final word. The names are familiar—Droupadi Murmu, Ahilyabai Holkar, P. V. Sindhu, Kiran Bedi, Sushmita Sen, Leela Seth, Mitali Raj, Phoolan Devi and others, but what ties them together is not fame. It is the shared courage to stand outside what was expected and then to stay there, long enough for others to follow.

The tone of Kusum’s writing is simple, almost deliberately so. She does not crowd the page with analysis or commentary, nor does she indulge in the sentimental flourishes that books of this kind often slip into. Instead, she allows each story to unfold in its own rhythm, guided by fact, sharpened by detail. That restraint is what gives the book its force. When Sindhu’s discipline is described, it is not done to romanticise toil but to show the exacting repetition it demands. When Murmu’s rise is chronicled, it is presented less as destiny fulfilled and more as a testament to perseverance against odds that were stacked higher than most could imagine.

It is also significant that Kusum has chosen to tell these stories in Hindi. Dare to Shine, the English edition, carried these voices to a wide readership, but Soch Se Bhi Aage pushes them further into homes and classrooms that might otherwise be left out. Something is grounding about reading these stories in the cadences of Hindi as it strips away distance and brings them closer. For a young reader in a small town, for a woman searching for a mirror in literature, accessibility matters as much as content, and Kusum understands that.

The book, published by Srishti Publishers & Distributors, does not claim to be exhaustive. Twenty lives can never represent the entirety of Indian womanhood, nor does it attempt to. What it offers instead is a cross-section, a reminder that change is never the monopoly of one profession, class, or geography. The figures here come from politics, sport, social reform. Their struggles are not uniform, but their persistence is.

As a reading experience, Soch Se Bhi Aage is not one to be rushed. Each chapter stands on its own, and it is best approached that way. One story in the morning, another in the evening; the pauses between them are as important as the text itself. Because what the book really does is invite reflection. Reflection on the cost of courage, on the architecture of resilience, on how history is reshaped not just by the visible acts of power but by the quieter insistence of refusing to give up.

Kamini Kusum does not insert herself into the narrative, nor does she offer neat conclusions. That is perhaps the book’s most important quality. It does not lecture, it does not sermonise, it simply presents. And in that simplicity lies its strength. The title is apt—Soch Se Bhi Aage, beyond thought, because these stories remind us that change does not happen in the imagination alone. It happens when someone moves, often at cost, always with intent.

For readers of Style Essentials, this is not just a book recommendation. It is a reminder of why stories matter, why language matters, why representation matters. To read these twenty portraits is to sit with twenty women who, in their different ways, decided that enough was enough. And in doing so, they carved space for others to imagine a life that is soch se bhi aage.

Book Details

Title: Soch Se Bhi Aage – 20 Mahila Parivartankarta ki Prernadayak Kahaniyan

Author: Kamini Kusum

Publisher: Srishti Publishers & Distributors

Format: Paperback, 180+ pages