“If anybody has to do any propaganda for women, I would be the first to sign up for it,” says Sonam Kapoor, when talking about the issues of women’s education, safety and cervical cancer taken up by DNA’s I Can Women’s Half Marathon. “Women’s safety in Mumbai is way better than anywhere else in India. Forget Delhi, even New York is not safe for women,” she says.

When it came to talking of cervical cancer, the actor instantly questioned the women around her. “Have you taken the shots?” she asked, adding “I have.” Sonam then went on stress the importance of taking the right measures to prevent cancer.

“I have cancer in my family, so I have been a huge supporter to spread awareness aboutit. I lost an aunt to it, two of my aunts are suffering from breast cancer. I learned at a conference that emotional stress is one of the most important causes of cancer. Apparently everyone has cancer cells in the body. What you eat, the pollution puts environmental stress on your body, but for women, it’s emotional stress as they bottle up everything.

Especially those women in high stress jobs, or if they’ve gone through divorce, or they’ve been unable to have a child, etc. I would advise that if need be, pay for a shrink instead of buying a new bag, but get it all out,” she elaborates.

Sonam is for education for all, especially girl education as she feels that illiteracy is the root cause of all problems. “Educate everybody. See if you are educated you will ultimately make sure your kids, irrespective of girls or boys, are educated. Everything’s sorted when you make people literate,” she says.