cleared my 10th exams I belong to a
middle class family if you segregate the
middle classes then maybe the lower
middle class family and my dad used to
work in state bank of india they’re very
famous for multiple transfers so he was
posted in a village with with around one
lakh population my school had no fan no
lights but I was okay with it I was
never a student who was interested in
studies anyway so the question is in
Indian context when you clear your 10th
11th 12th of the years that is going to
decide your future I’m sure every one of
you have gone through that and like any
typical parent it’s like if you are a
good and if you are not able to study
properly will get you married so I was
okay with everything as long as I don’t
have to study hurt after a few days my
dad told me that ok we will try to get
you into a good school which is almost
60 kilometers away only if you cleared
the entrance exam my marks weren’t great
either I think I scored some seventy
five percent in my tenth so I was like I
was very sure that i am not going to get
it still I went there and as I was sure
body I didn’t get it so my dad came
woman is like you are not going to do
anything you go and take admission to a
BA become class a study for 23 years and
then we’ll find a boy for you I was like
not bad it’s ok let me study so I
started off I think one day I went to
this BSC class and then I realized that
it’s so much theory anyway I couldn’t
mug I screwed up my tents what do we
have to learn so many things so I told
my dad that fine i want to see what are
what are the opportunities apart from
that college he told they do whatever
you want i am not going to support
because you can’t
anyway so I went to that school from
where they told my dad that I cannot get
an entrance so I went there and I spoke
to the principal that on what basis you
decided that I should not be in your
school he told that no no basis only
marks and I was like okay what is the
cutoff is like at least 85 and I am
already having hundred students having
85 + when I told him one thing that do
you guarantee if someone has got 85 + in
there or 10th a better life he was
silent for a while he was a gentleman
from Tamil Nadu enter they have any a
good literacy rate and he is like what
do you mean I’m like do you think that
the students who are in 85 or girls are
not going to get married without doing
anything in life without choosing a
career of their own like do you promise
me that it’s like no but that is the way
we decide how to take students we need
to have some sort of bar and I’m like
fine if you think that these all
students are going to do great and
because I don’t have that cut off i am
not going to do anything then it’s fine
i have nothing to say then he’s like no
wait a while but what else we want to
say I’m if I feel that it’s not the
marks that always decide what someone is
going to do in life and he’s like what
you want to do in life I’m like I don’t
have the answer yet but I’m sure those
whom you admitted or doesn’t have the
answer either then he’s like ok do one
thing you come with your parents
tomorrow and I will think about it I was
like you already spoke to my parents and
he is not interested in pursuing further
so what else do you want me to do he’s
like okay fine then you’d wait for a
phone call from the school if we decide
to keep you then we will invite you
fortunately I got that and I thought
that coming from a village to a better
school will change my life which was
entirely wrong things moved of course
but a little it’s not that everything
has changed I had to study hard and the
same thing prevailed
your marks your entrance and your future
so obviously all the students except me
you got 85 plus we’re rushing for iit
entrance if not IIT then nitey if not an
ID then building something few of them
decided to go for medicine and I still
remember we were five of them who
decided to keep a bio and maths both so
my parents told that because we are not
sure of you you better keep both at
least you’ll hit something so I was like
fine I’ll take bio and maths both
together and I finished my class 12th
after that the deal the decision point
came when penny have kept your biology
and you have kept in mathematics which
field you are going to do you have two
entrance exam to give it means you have
to prepare twice for both the entrance
exam so like usual pal my parents told
that see if you become engineer you
might go to us you might leave us
forever and never come back to India
will never see us you better take
medicine the best part is we’ll sit at
home you can take care of your family
and you can still earn so that was the
logic behind how you choose your career
for me I was like I was never into
mugging things in crude word for me it
has to be something practical but though
my math smock wasn’t great enough I
could get through nit or PMT so PMT is
more glorious than an ID so my pack
anastasie we told him you were meant to
be a doctor so I went ahead with
medicine and I got my entrance exam
cleared got a medical college in
bangalore and then something changed in
fact everything changed what I realized
was it’s not the talents that divides
people into what they are going to do in
life of course it matters but it also
matters what the level of exposure is
for example when I came to Bangalore
everybody except for me he was from a
metro if not a metro then a place
kanpur which is like way better than the
village in the remotest of northeast of
india but ordering bangladesh so i was
out of place people used to treat me as
oh my god I mean she knows nothing they
used to go for movies and I’m like 70
rupees for PVR this is way too much and
then slowly I started to think that what
is the difference between me and the
other people I never realized what is
called brand I mean they go for moles
because they want to do branded shopping
for me shopping was all like what you
get in the market it took me a while to
understand what is brand and there are
many other things like that so I was
like I mean you know what did I do wrong
or maybe different that differentiates
me today with my peers and then slowly I
started to talk with them to understand
from where I mean well what did this
study they all had glorified marks they
coming from early public school or
Catholic schools so I realized that the
same question paper that we faced that I
faced I had a cbse board so the same
question paper that I faced and my
friends face the preparation was night
and day I for me it was only cbse books
that had almost nothing like I’m okay to
say that n crd books have nothing and
they had all sort of preparation
materials then slowly one day I thought
that I will see how this preparation
materials look like and that day onwards
I started to regret that maybe I could
have done better but then I had no other
choice I was never exposed to such
materials and even realize that such
things even exist so I went to a shop to
see what exactly preparation materials
and then I saw that a ncert book having
200 pages and the preparation material
for by algae having 1,500 pages it’s
it’s just different so I came back home
and I’m like okay fine now that I’m in a
bangalore in a cosmopolitan almost
metropolitan city I should do well I
studied
a night like crazy people used to call
me bookworm there and things were very
different the first year I got first
place in my dad is like oh my god is
that you oh and I’m like yeah my dad is
like are you sure I didn’t cheat right
no no we had video cams in the classroom
so there is no chance and they still
couldn’t believe in even I was one
separate I’m like if I am able to solve
this today why I couldn’t do that
previously but slowly I spoke to a few
people who are in that field and I
realized that there was a lot to do with
the preparation it was not only about
that someone is not talented and then
you make them think the way for the rest
of his or her life but like any other
medical school student who had no time
for herself I kept on studying for five
years and after i graduated in my
internship one day i found a man coming
to me i mean he was educated man working
with the yahoo in bangalore and he came
and he is like i have severe pain on the
left side of my stomach and I feel the
the left liver is not working I was like
I didn’t get it first I was like what
did you say hey I think my left liver is
not working I was like okay don’t have
left liver and he is like no no I mean I
mean there are two of them one is not
working and then I realized what is
wrong in India in India it’s not the
marks it’s not the job it’s not the tag
that you carry a song being an itn or an
MNC person with you that makes you
successful it’s a knowledge which is
entirely different from all the brands
that you gather the rest for your life
so he came to when I told him about what
his body is all about I told him how
many liver he has and he’s like oh my
god I didn’t know that and then I slowly
started looking for those people who
might ignore previously maybe so then I
found many such people who come up with
similar kind of things and I realized
that
the knowledge is quite less I mean you
teach someone the theoretical part is
fine maybe they become good engineers or
doctors but the general knowledge among
the common population is very very
different so I thought that I want to
understand what India is all about
naturally like in my in my previous
years I never had office you needed to
read a lot of general knowledge books
are no etc so I thought that I instead
of taking internship in a medical school
I will take internship in a political
place so i started my internship in
parliament of india took rural postings
to understand how the seventy percent of
india which is rural looks like as soon
as i went there i thought that i need to
earn something for myself throughout the
internship so i took a job in NZ 01 to a
field into a rural school and i saw a
girl sitting on the Corinthian crying
they went to her and she is and asked
her that why are you crying she’s like
I’m hungry for last two days and I’m
like why she’s like because my mom feels
that men should eat they’re going to
expand the family girls don’t need to
eat that much she gives all good things
to my brother and the leftover things I
I get to eat and then I wash utensils I
do everything I need to come to school
and he gets to play so I don’t know how
to continue but i really want to read so
I went and being an intern from the
Parliament of India you keep a lot of
like you have a lot of power so like
with a bold face I went to the principal
to say that I need to talk to her
parents I got her parents the next day
and they started blasting me what do you
think I mean you have a rich dad and he
will be running with 100 men what do you
want she is our daughter and I don’t
want her to send outside so we made them
understand but they are not ready to
understand so at last we had to leave
but this is not one case that is there
in India we have almost seventy percent
of Indian population
if I even take five person per family
having one or two or three girls then
you can imagine how many girls are
suffering from this this is one side of
the story that hit me but the internship
went on for two years so i get to see
many difference in week one major thing
that why i wanted to explore was what it
takes someone to get into iit or nit and
someone to get into a very normal school
do a job with two lakh salary and go
nowhere in life to explore that i
thought that i will go to different
schools different government schools
where the rural population go for the
education surprisingly the teachers
don’t even come to school there were
many NGOs that work sometimes most of
the times in fact doesn’t work that way
so I thought that you know I mean if I
coming from a village to a metropolitan
has like has changed my life to a
certain extent just imagine as a person
smarter than me living in rural area get
that exposure what will happen to that
person the whole cycle of poverty and
illiteracy will break for the problem
was when you want to do something in
India and being a girl you have to face
many things if you want to do something
of your own that’s the best thing
because you don’t have to question to a
lot of people but at the same time when
you start something by yourself there
are not of forces that will restrict you
from doing that it will start from your
own family that oh my god what about
your career a job Indians are very much
used to having a job that gives you
monthly salary which is fixed and you
don’t have to worry for anything else
doing something which is off bit I mean
you are a doctor anyone to do something
else or maybe an engineer you going to
start up your company unless and until
you get ready funding or your daddy’s
rich it becomes a little tough to make
sure that yogi will be safe so I decided
that
I will take up a job and we’ll try to do
something but taking up a medicine
career in medicine that I was never
interested in was not something I wanted
to do so I again went to my parents and
they are like we thought that you became
a little normal but you were as crazy as
you were before now you want to leave
your medicine after doing that and I’m
like yeah because I want to pose you
something that I love doing for 24 hours
a day if needed so that all that fine
met anyway we are not in a position to
pay for your expenses live living in a
metro maybe you can sort something of
your own so lucky at that time I got one
role in medical college in netherlands
so I instantly took off I mean you’re
suddenly from rupees to euros good kick
in the beginning so I instantly took off
and that actually helped me and again
that phenomena made me realize that how
brand name is important in India so
before that I applied for her husband
firm in the final rounds one of my
partner asked me that everything is fine
but what do I do I mean what do I go and
tell my client that I have a doctor
without an mba in india with us I
realized that they have much important
to brandi’s it’s not that you understand
health care industry very well it’s
about what is a tag which is in front of
you obviously didn’t work out and that
the time I realized that ok fine if I
don’t have an MBA i have to say i need
something flashy and that netherlands
job was quite good at that time to serve
that purpose i went there and exactly it
happens this consulting firms suddenly
in a span of two months they felt that i
am good for consulting I didn’t know
that what did I learn in the last two
months but they felt because now you
have an international degree and a
flashy career so I thought that is good
to get some any toes take your life
ahead and do whatever you want so I
readily took a job in Netherlands but
that time I realize that working for a
while is ok but I wanted to understand
how maybe I wanted to change that thing
in India where a brand name or maybe a
lack of exposure divides those talent
into two entirely different segments I
came back to india and started
is nonprofit organization where I wanted
to track those students who are smart
but they are not able to get adequate
exposure now to do that the major
challenges fair from where to start I
mean if you look at the list of NGOs
it’s like you can’t even finish reading
them or a month so I was thinking that
which was that sector that we can grab
where all would I find those students
because if it happens in rural area that
they don’t want to send their girls or
they don’t want to say so and their boys
far away from a village then it will
still prevail now nothing will change in
two or three years so we thought that
with the least cost we can sustain I
mean we can build a model that that is
self sustainable because if you are
building something like an organization
we it for profit company or
not-for-profit company you need
resources I couldn’t go to all the
places to teach students I need
resources who can do that and then I
realized that if I get a college and if
I get some volunteers from that college
to teach the students that would be
great when it comes to deciding what
should I teach after my experience I
chose engineering because that is the
fastest way to get a stable career at
least better than medicine for my date
in medicine you need to study for 10 or
15 years before you start it so so after
I decided that I tried with the two
schools they were not ready because so
they feel that the villagers won’t come
so I decided to go for a pilot with one
of these I ities and it actually had
like it helped we decided to keep five
students and we could send two of them
to int it was a major success for us we
thought that no it’s not that financial
condition or your exposure did decides
where you go like if you are able to
provide the students with proper
preparation if like if you give them it
exposure they would be able to do much
better in life and then slowly we
started with different organ add
different colleges we tried to take the
attention of the volunteers from this
College itself to reduce our costs and
then we slowly Duff but the major
learning from there that I want to share
with you all is that the mental
roadblock that we all suffer from if not
all that majority of us suffer from it
it all starts from Indian household
mentality you study to earn yes it’s
true to have a financial security is
important to have a financial security
but in in that race of having a
financial security we tend to do
something that maybe at times we don’t
like so what happens in that race if you
don’t like something then your work
seems to be like a burden if you are not
interested it will start looking at the
watch and oh my god it’s 5pm I can leave
another one are but if you think that
way that you are passionate for
something and you want to do that in
spite of 100 people seeing that you
won’t be able to do I would suggest that
the young people like you should
definitely try it once and it’s not that
you keep everything at stake at your age
at the age in which you are in it’s
pretty it’s pretty good because if the
passion the path of passion that you
choose doesn’t work you can anyway go
back to your original track but if it
works then it becomes a good success for
girls specially when it comes to girls
in India it still prevails that oh my
god you’re 25 when you are not looking
for guys it’s still there i mean it’s a
hardcore truth by the age you become I
mean either time you become 25 26 even
your parents feel that okay fine you are
busy with their clients but it’s
important to see other things also it’s
okay i mean i am not saying that you
should not do all this thing this is ok
to do but having a career of what you
want and it is trying for that is
definitely worthy you