I am from Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha. I heard that I was born on a hot, sultry afternoon in June, although I am not very fond of such weather! The doctors said my position was complicated and so were my chances of survival. But since then, life has been easy for me, and survival very smooth. I was a spoilt child, who was pampered by her grandparents and gently admonished by her parents. Soon, my sister came to my life too.We grew up listening to stories about fairies, ghosts and Hindu mythological legends, from my grandparents. This convinced me that, goodness always wins, no matter what odds it faces. It was only after I came out of the cocoon of my rosy eyed childhood, and faced the world, I realized that goodness in fact rarely has any takers. Manipulation works better sometimes.
My school life was somehow boring, although in retrospect I would say that I miss it sometimes. School life seems to me now, as if it all happened in some another life. I was shy and an introvert and followed all the rules. Teachers adored me. Perhaps being ‘too good’ made my school life a bore! But I realized that school is all about what Chomsky calls ‘manufacturing consent’ for values that society upholds.
Now as an adult, I speak the language of deviance, according to my acquaintances. It is very obvious, being a feminist, I often face a lot of ‘flak’ from ‘traditionalist’, ‘conservatives’ and from people who do not understand what it means.
The next five year after school, made me extrovert, although I did not learn anything, neither from friends nor from teachers. The major transformation of thoughts and evolution of ideas happened during my masters, on which I will elaborate later.
Now, a few words about my city, Bhubaneswar in every sense is ordinary. It is neither endowed with gifts of nature nor is dotted with exotic tourist locales. It’s also not a city on which you can write a book about. It is neither a citadel for rash politics, glamour nor has any tryst with 'shrewed' mafias. It continues to be a fine place to have an average career and good family evenings. The second thing, I realized that I do not want to be ‘average’ or ‘ordinary’. I am a person who craves for fame (yet aspires to remain simple on the personal side). I knew that I have to one day leave the city and fly off to those cities which gives you chance to rise up in your career, squeezes your knowledge, challenges you and success lets you win a large pie of the ‘good life’.
So, after graduation I moved to a better university than my city offers. I did my masters in the University of Hyderabad. It was the campus and the intellectual social scientists from whom I learnt a lot about the society, higher philosophies, dealing with myriad ideas, all of which helped me decipher a bit of life. My mentor taught me that it’s possible to be very professional and yet have an overtly humane side.
My friends taught me that you can have radically opposite viewpoints and still be friends. I learned the fourth important lesson, that the word ‘normal’ is an illusion. The quote ‘what is normal for the bee is chaos for the spider’ made a lot of sense. I started shedding my earlier inhibitions, this allowed a diverse group of individuals to enter my life, all of whom dropped their pearls of wisdom, into my rather naïve and fixed outlook.
Now, I am into journalism and I know this means a lot of hard work and struggle. I am more than willing to do it, since I know hard work and passion for the job is the guarantee for success. I feel that it is the path which is more interesting than the goal and I feel the excitement, as to what kinds of challenges this path will bring.
On the personal front, I will always face the challenge of keeping my foot firmly on the ground while letting myself grow wings that touches the skies.
My school life was somehow boring, although in retrospect I would say that I miss it sometimes. School life seems to me now, as if it all happened in some another life. I was shy and an introvert and followed all the rules. Teachers adored me. Perhaps being ‘too good’ made my school life a bore! But I realized that school is all about what Chomsky calls ‘manufacturing consent’ for values that society upholds.
Now as an adult, I speak the language of deviance, according to my acquaintances. It is very obvious, being a feminist, I often face a lot of ‘flak’ from ‘traditionalist’, ‘conservatives’ and from people who do not understand what it means.
The next five year after school, made me extrovert, although I did not learn anything, neither from friends nor from teachers. The major transformation of thoughts and evolution of ideas happened during my masters, on which I will elaborate later.
Now, a few words about my city, Bhubaneswar in every sense is ordinary. It is neither endowed with gifts of nature nor is dotted with exotic tourist locales. It’s also not a city on which you can write a book about. It is neither a citadel for rash politics, glamour nor has any tryst with 'shrewed' mafias. It continues to be a fine place to have an average career and good family evenings. The second thing, I realized that I do not want to be ‘average’ or ‘ordinary’. I am a person who craves for fame (yet aspires to remain simple on the personal side). I knew that I have to one day leave the city and fly off to those cities which gives you chance to rise up in your career, squeezes your knowledge, challenges you and success lets you win a large pie of the ‘good life’.
So, after graduation I moved to a better university than my city offers. I did my masters in the University of Hyderabad. It was the campus and the intellectual social scientists from whom I learnt a lot about the society, higher philosophies, dealing with myriad ideas, all of which helped me decipher a bit of life. My mentor taught me that it’s possible to be very professional and yet have an overtly humane side.
My friends taught me that you can have radically opposite viewpoints and still be friends. I learned the fourth important lesson, that the word ‘normal’ is an illusion. The quote ‘what is normal for the bee is chaos for the spider’ made a lot of sense. I started shedding my earlier inhibitions, this allowed a diverse group of individuals to enter my life, all of whom dropped their pearls of wisdom, into my rather naïve and fixed outlook.
Now, I am into journalism and I know this means a lot of hard work and struggle. I am more than willing to do it, since I know hard work and passion for the job is the guarantee for success. I feel that it is the path which is more interesting than the goal and I feel the excitement, as to what kinds of challenges this path will bring.
On the personal front, I will always face the challenge of keeping my foot firmly on the ground while letting myself grow wings that touches the skies.
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