I am the daughter born in a poor, middle-class family of four - my appaji, mom, sister, and I. We became three, when I lost my father during my childhood. I was in 7th standard then. My father was the only breadwinner of the family and my mother was not a well-educated woman.

When she raised her voice for her children’s education, society blamed her.

No one supported her. Instead, everyone started giving their own suggestions, like, “send your children off to government Kannada medium school and then get them married off.” But my mother stood up to this same society, with no one by her side, but her two girls. She took up tailoring projects and worked in insurance. I started helping her to support her. Throughout my high school and college days, we lived with calculation. I had started giving tuition classes too.

Like others, I don’t have fancy memories to pull out from the kitty of my college days. I only had five sets of clothes, a pair of slippers for the rainy season, and one bag for the entire period of five years.

My days passed uneventfully. In my first year of PU, I joined a classical dance class, and was pursuing it along with my BSc. When I completed my exams then, there were family members who were left speechless and stunned. Even then, nobody supported me for higher studies, so I decided to search for a job. I went to Bangalore and joined a pharma company there. I pursued my MSc in Chemistry through correspondence and got promoted at work.

Now, I don’t need or want anybody’s support. I am single-handedly taking care of my mother and my sister’s education. I want to tell our society to stop neglecting the girl child, because we are certainly born to fight.

My pillar of strength is my mother. She has been my only constant – my person, guide, caretaker, role model and friend. She is my everything. Yes, we have problems too but there are people who are still fighting to rise above in this society, and we are no longer a part of them.

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