In India, women has been compared to goddess Laxmi, the goddess of wealth. She is believed to bring prosperity to everyone who worships her. A woman has to play the role of a daughter, a wife and a mother at different stages of her life. She has endless responsibilities and duties towards her family and yet she always carry a serene smile on her face, act calm and composed, behave with dignity and poise. Maybe this is the reason women are compared to a goddess, because of the endless hurdles she has to pass through all her life and maintain her grace. In this male dominated society, women have always been a subject of criticism and ignorance. Yet, every time, women have emerged with great courage and worked towards their own development and excellence.
Life is not a smooth journey, as we grow up we see that the life we read in story books are totally different from the life we led in real. It is full of pressure and challenges and in this journey we have to face disappointments often. I always wanted to become a journalist, ever since I wouldn’t spell the word “journalist” properly! I would sit beside my father and imitate the journalists reporting on TV with a toy microphone my aunt gifted me on my 6th birthday. As I grew up, my love for the profession also grew and I was confident that this would be the perfect career choice for me. I loved biology and I always scored well in the subject so my parents suggested me that I should focus on becoming a teacher but my aim was very clear to me. I knew if I do not follow my heart, I’ll regret forever.
I told my parents”I want to become a journalist! Why won’t I? I am confident, I have a positive attitude, I love traveling and exploring, I love to learn new things and I always wanted to get a job that won’t be monotonous for me, rather it would be exciting and fun.” I was adamant about my decision. My parents were not ready to accept it because no one from the family has ever chosen a career other than becoming a doctor, a teacher or an engineer. ” But what about becoming a teacher?” asked my dad. I said ” I can be teacher any day, all I need is to start teaching somebody” They knew I won’t move an inch from my decision, I took admission to a journalism college. My dad didn’t spoke to me for a year. It was painful but it also gave me the strength to work hard and prove myself to my family, especially to my dad. Things started falling in place once my parents saw me excelling in the field and inching towards success. As time passed, my parents realized that I have taken a wise career decision and they have been supportive ever since. Now when I look back to the day when I had to choose whether I wanted to be a teacher or a journalist, I feel that I took a right decision. I followed my heart, went against all the odds, broke the family norm and came out victorious. I’m very near to my destination and I’ll be joining as a journalist in a newspaper in few weeks. The best part is when my father compliments ” You wanted to become a journalist, you are very close to become one, what you didn’t realize is that you have been a great teacher too or else how could I manage to use the tab you gifted me on my birthday or how could your mother ever use the computer, surf the internet, learn new recipes and cook tasty dishes for you when you come home?!” This is my story of becoming a journalist AND a teacher.
Gillette Venus and BlogAdda have come up with this great initiative to break out of the shackles of OR and embrace the AND within you. Yes you can be an engineer AND a baker AND a social worker. Your life as a woman is composed of many such ANDs, and it’s time you celebrate the sum of everything you want to be AND can be.
“This post is a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus“.
