The journey of a girl from the hinter land of a village to her dream of higher studies, without the help of technology but with the assistance of people around and her passion to achieve something and create an identity of her own.

It is a story. A story, not of the Bollywood or of the teen-age fantasy; but one of a quest; a quest to find and rather precisely to create self; a story of transformation, a story of the desire to conquer the earth and triumph over all odds, acquisition of knowledge to fill each little morsel of the brain though clearly known about its impossibility. A life of hope, a journey towards excellence crossing the bar of demure, it is a life of dreams to be lived, a story that says the saga of cherishing as well as relishing!

A small village girl, unaware of the world outside just used to look at the sky, the stars and ask numerous questions that came to her mind. Some laugh at her questions some get irritated but her father always tried to answer. She sat in the premises of her home with other siblings and listened to the stories of the Hindu-mythology, a trend that rural India follows like urban kids follow Nancy-Drew mysteries and Harry Porter series of J.K Rowling.

Well, that was never the end; or to be precise “end” is something that doesn’t exist, it’s just a point on the locus of your never ending curve of aspiration. The journey began there. She was very fond of stories. A cousin, who was staying at her place for his studies used to tell her a story each night. She would listen and then think of the characters and try to solve the rest of the puzzle herself as to why the characters did what they did.

The journey to be somewhere started, a place was the aspiration that could give her respect, because she was frustrated with the daily saga of the differentiations between a boy and a girl, though not much at home yet quite a lot wherever she went.

Her teachers started to gossip about her for she was playing at the age of 12, which is not seen as a good sign for “girls”.

News of things happening everywhere made her startled. She used to analyse and think how to sort things out; but never got a clue. A system can’t run without people and when you involve people you have to include their fallacies. She will narrate things to her mother and she will listen like a little kid, she will try to analyse thoughts of her daughter and that is what they talked!

Days went on and she finally got someone to show her the way ahead. Her teacher, who taught her maths and science (The only important subjects for Indian students) in her 10^th class, was very optimistic about her. Seeing her interest he even guided her with English (The only subject that can be added to mathematics and science) and used to boost her confidence. He perhaps knew that she studies for herself and will never stop, not until she keeps on aspiring and aspirations are a way of life for her. He knew that she only needed confidence. He used to say her only one thing, “See, whoever you think is an achiever has two eyes and two ears, one face, one nose and the same as you, a human! So, think, if he/she can do it then you can also do it.”

That was enough for the girl. The foundation was laid. Now when a person thinks and opines on things and is keen to learn, he/she seeks to analyse; that analysis in turn makes one too very pensive to express feelings in spoken words.

She started to write, to express, to blurt out her thoughts and opinions about the country and the things that kept the country boiling.

Sometimes God helps one in many ways. In her undergrad college she got good lecturers, quite approachable and keen to learn; too uncommon though yet it became possible. One of the lecturers used to sit with her and google astronomy, they used to read about stars and earth and what not in the universe, more about the most happening thing of course, black holes. Another lecturer was there who used to correct her articles and suggest her ways to improve. She did all the toil and people were doing work along with her for her development; theirs happened or not, not sure of that.

Selected for job, but even worse, she got the appointment delayed. It never came in the first year and she stayed at her village. The purity of the air and naivety of the soil made her breathe with hope.

She wanted to prove everyone that a girl can be equally an asset as a boy to her parents and she did.

She did take care of her parents, not to prove but out of love; but eventually she proved to her own satisfaction. She proved her ability to dream and to fulfil them. She wrote and wrote, tore her heart to let her bleed in the piece of paper in ink. They all shone and smelled of the recent ink and that satisfied the fire within her, the fire of zeal and the water to flow in calmness containing those flames and yet not bringing a storm!

Days passed by, and she knew that she had to do something more. A bachelor degree was never accepted by her as the end of her student career; she toiled to pursue a management degree. And now in the beautiful campus of IIM-L, not bad; huh!! Whether this will be the end of her formal education or not, the stars will tell you in future… but for her daily education out of the text book, IIM-L gives her wings to explore the best of ambience in its beauty and serenity, a daily feed to her curiosity.

From the unconnected land, where science and technology fails to connect voices, she stood with hope, with hope of being in a position that is prestigious, inspired by the sky and the nature. The silent numb creatures gave her enough energy to go ahead and conquer the world on her own. Well, one never knows where the end is and where the beginning but just one thing can be said, hope is life and life is hope! End doesn’t come until one stops breathing!