“New skills always excited me. Every time I saw another woman do something, I wanted to try it too! As a child, things weren’t easy at home. My father passed away when I was in high school, and I had to discontinue due to financial reasons. Money was enough to just scrape through. I would wait for guests as they would get something for my siblings and I. That was one of the reasons why I was always particular about being independent and self-sufficient. I wanted to have enough skills to earn a living for myself.

After my husband and I had our first child, I learnt tailoring. My friends told me I was good at it, so I opened a tailoring shop in my hometown, Nizamabad. It was a success. One day, I decided to learn to ride a bike and I joined a school for it! And eventually, a few weeks later, I learnt to drive a car! I didn’t care about time and hard work. I was happy. Once I helped a friend with driving and she suggested I open a driving school. It took me less than a week to buy a second hand car and set up the school. When my son was in class 8, I went back to school and completed my grade 10 and intermediate. All it took was for a well-wisher to give me a new idea – I would be ready for the challenge.

The biggest and unexpected turn came when I took swimming classes at the age of 34. One of my neighbours was a coach at a pool, which was close to the grounds where my son learnt to skate. Initially, I saw shy, mostly because of my age. But my coach encouraged me and I learnt to swim in 6 days! My husband never stopped me and has been my support system throughout when other relatives said I should be a ‘sanskaari woman’ and stay at home instead of wandering.
I went on to participate in many national and international competitions and went to countries like Kazakhstan, which I didn’t even know existed. It was an honour to represent my country. My life wouldn’t have turned out this way if I didn’t have the determination to break societal norms that are forced upon us – women. It’s not easy but it’s time we take a stand for ourselves and shatter every glass ceiling that comes our way. Nobody can stop us from being who we want to be!”

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