Arpita Chanda is counsellor and educator. Harshada Nagar is doing a doctorate in physics. Devika Daftardar is a well-known Marathi actress. They have also just returned from the United Kingdom along with 13 other women members of the Lila Poonawalla Foundation, thanks to a scholarship from the foundation.

The foundation has been active since 1996 and has been providing financial support for higher education to women.

Now, it also nurtures girls by conducting mentoring programmes.

Devika has acted in films like Ek Cup Chaha, Devrai, Nital, Badha and Nirop, which won director Sachin Kundalkar a National Award. She got the Lila Scholarship in 2003 and did a masters degree at the Lalit Kala Department of Pune University.

Arpita is working at Vidya Valley as an educator and as a lecturer at SNDT University. She did her masters in child psychology, for which she received the scholarship in 2005, while Harshada is pursuing her PhD at the Pune University.

Devika, Arpita, Harshada and the 13 others Lila fellows had undergone a leadership programme at the Asha Centre in Gloucestershire. The three-week training included Alexander technique presentation strategies, Lucca leadership and voice modulation.

They also became proficient in eurythmy, a harmonius dance-like movement to verse and such like in just three weeks.

Manjusha Gupte, a  trustee of the foundation, said they interacted with mentally-challenged individuals who were independent at the Grange village. At the Leap Equine Therapeutic Centre, they saw the healing power of horses as companions.

The exploratory trips to Oxford, Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon and London exposed them to UK’s rich history.

Devika, Harshada and Gupte also earned the title of peace ambassadors. Now, they wish to give back to society and will work with old-age homes, destitute children and so on.