Prakashi Tomar is one of the oldest sharpshooters in the world. 80-year-old Tomar is a name that makes Johri Village of Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district proud. She can be described as an 'iconoclast' who has discovered the way for women to live with dignity in the male dominating society. Known for her shooting skills 'Dadi Prakashi Tomar' aka 'Revolver Dadi' has won many medal and trophies in various state and national level frays.
Moreover, she opted for the career in the age when most of the people think to give up. But it was not quite easy as it looks. When she started going shooting range at the age of 65 people, mostly male, trolled her and passed comments like, 'go and join the army' and 'go for Kargil' etc, but these could not ruin her will power. Putting aside the criticism she had focused on the target, which catapulted her to the helm of popularity and set an example for the society, critics and her coming generations. Now, her daughter Seema Tomar is an International champion and people in the village pronounce her name with pride and honour.
Biography
Mother of eight, Prakashi, has 15 grandchildren. She hails from the Johri village of West-Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district and it was only a coincidence when she first successfully shot the target. It's all begun in the year 2000 when her daughter Seema Tomar, presently a well-known name in the world of shooting even on the international platform, joined Johri Rifle club to learn shooting. Though Seema had a desire about the shooting but was hesitated to go alone, then Prakashi decided to encourage Seema and enrouted her to Academy.
This was the beginning of 'Revolver Dadi'.
In the academy, Prakashi shocked everyone including club coach Farooq Pathan, when she shot the target very skillfully just to show Seema that how to hold the gun. It was the first incident when the coach noticed Prakashi's tactics and advised her to join the range. It was the commencement of a new era for her but the path was full of obstacles. As she was a housewife so going daily to the range for practice was not possible then coach gave her option to come once in a week and rest of the week she continued to practice at home.
Since then, she is continuously scripting her success story.
Moreover, among her daughter, Seema Tomar became the first Indian woman to clinch a victory or medal at Shooting World Cup organised in 2010, while Dadi Prakashi Tomar won 25 championships across the country and bagged the gold medal in Veteran Shooting Championship in Chennai.
Not only this, the people, who initially made a joke of Prakashi now send their daughters to learn techniques of shooting at her range.
Family
Prakashi Tomar married to Jai Singh and her daughter Seema Tomar is an international shooter, in fact, she is the first Indian woman to win a shotgun silver at the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup and now she has been commissioned in the Indian Army.
Prakashi’s granddaughter Ruby is deputed as an inspector in Punjab Police, while her second daughter Rekha was also a shooter but now she has given up. We can also say that Prakashi has passed this legacy to her third generation.
Achievements
During her career, she received many awards, medal and trophies, besides social honours and the Nari Shakti award conferred by then President of India Pranab Mukherjee tops the list. She was also facilitated with the 'Icon Lady' award by the ministry of Women and Children Development.
Besides, she had appeared as a guest on many TV shows like Bollywood star Amir Khan's 'Satyamev Jayate' and 'India's Got Talent'; Amir had also invited her for a private lunch. Now, many producers and directors are in touch with her and her family for a biopic on Dadi's life. If it happens then it would be an exemplary sports biopic.
