From babies to bedrooms, husband to house works women can easily manage their works quite efficiently. But some of them grow to do different and be different. They set up examples for other ones and become the leader.
The amazing Seema Rao is one such of woman and this is her story.
Coming from a patriotic family the firing flames were always in her heart. Seema Rao is the daughter of Prof. RamakantSinari who was a freedom fighter who participated in the liberation of Goa from the Portuguese.She grew up listening to the heroics of her father and always wanted to serve the country. She got up education in medicine and had an MBBS degree. Mrs.Rao also has an MBA in crisis management.
She met Major Rao(her future husband) at the age of 16 where she felt her dreams can be true. Major Rao had been practicing Martial arts since the age of 12 and it was he who introduced this art to Seema.
She continued to learn martial arts with Major Rao and later married him. After marriage, the couple continued to learn and excel in martial arts, shooting, and weapon defense. The charming couple then started to think about their art and do something constructive for the country through their art. After much thoughts, both went to the service chiefs of Army, BSF, Navy, and NSG. The chiefs were impressed with the couple’s dedication and decided to try out their training programme. That became a turning point for the lady and they never looked back.
It has been long 20 years for her to train the commandos of Indian Armed forces .
But the journey was not smooth. The couple had to face bankruptcy while the training and even had to live in the slums. But they didn’t charge a penny for the work they are doing. Because of the training schedule , traveling to hostile places and harsh weather became her daily routine. She even can’t attend her father’s funeral also. Because of her Rigorous training schedule, it was next to impossible to carry the pregnancy for Mrs. Seema. She took a decision that would be the toughest one for any lady. Mrs. Seema Rao consciously decided not to have her own child and instead adopted a girl. After a serious injury while training she faced a fatal injury –Amnesia and refused to gather her sense. She could only recognize her husband at that time.Mrs.Seema also suffered multiple injuries that include a vertebral fracture and a severe head injury. She was also shot at by insurgents but her determination to serve her nation never wavered.
Mrs. Seema Rao with her husband has trained to almost every elite unit of the Indian Armed Forces that includes NSG Black Cats, GARUD, Para commandos, MARCOS, BSF, the Army Corps Battle schools, and their commando wing. She has also trained officers of the National Police Academy, the Army Officers Training Academy, and the Police Quick Response Teams of almost every major city in India.
In 2009, after training the GARUD commandos, Seema was invited by the Air Force Chief for the official IAF Para Jump course. Here, she earned her IAF Para Wings, another rare achievement.
Seema has excelled her skills in Close Quarter Battle (CQB). CQB is an art of combat fighting which includes physical prowess, combat skills. It involves techniques like reflex shooting with rifles, quick shooting with pistols, and bare-handed combat. It also entails the precise use of knives, bayonets, and other appropriate combat weapons. Room combat and confined space combat such as anti-hijack operations also come under the purview of CQB. She Co-invented a new method of shooting, called The Rao System of Reflex Fire, for close-quarters combat, along with her husband Deepak Rao. The Rao couple has also established the Unarmed Commando Combat Academy (UCCA), an elite military martial arts academy, to help train the Indian forces and also to publish training books for the Forces. Mrs.Rao is one of the few instructors who are authorized to teach the very fine martial art technique- JeetKune Do. With UCCA they have published seven books on CQB techniques which have limited editions only for the Indian Armed Forces. Their book Encyclopedia of Close Combat Ops is the world’s first encyclopedia on CQB training and it has found a proud place in the FBI library and the INTERPOL library.
Seema was awarded the first Sri ShanmukhanandaShauryaRatna award by Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeeta Sabha on India’s 72nd Independence Day. Mrs.Rao is a black belt in Taekwondo and KravMaga, and an 8th degree black belt in military martial arts. She is a combat shooting instructor, an Army mountaineering institute HMI medalist. Mrs.Rao was ranked Sixth in the 2019 Forbes India W-Trailblazer list. Mrs. Seema Rao was also a recipient of NariPurashkar from the President of India in 2019.
This 47 –year bold and courageous woman is a true example for the rest of the women who think that they are not capable of anything. In fact, women can do everything that men do, just by giving them the training.
Jai Hind .
