Reputed social worker and one of the leading lights of the Sindhi community, Nirmala Gajwani, passed away. She was 87. Born in Rohri Sindh (now in Pakistan) on December 28 1928, she married Dr. Hassanand Gajwani at 16 and, due to the partition of India and Pakistan, was forced to flee as a refugee with her 10-month old infant son in 1947. The first few years in India were difficult but some stashed gold ornaments allowed the family to survive till her husband found a job as a government medical officer in a remote, desolate town of Bachau in Kutch.

As a wife of the village doctor, she got drafted to participate in a program to distribute milk and health services to the rural poor. This turned out to become her “life’s calling.” She established social welfare centers in many villages, got promoted to become the chairman for the district and, within a few years, got drafted as the first woman MLA from the district in Gujarat Assembly, where she also served as an assistant speaker of the house.