(Patna) “I retired as a teacher in 2010. I worked for 34 years, during which I taught Political Science to high school students. Initially, there were only four students – two in Arts and two in Science. When I retired, high school was a much bigger place.  
Both my parents were doctors. They were also freedom fighters in the Indian National Army led by Subhash Chandra Bose. I had studied in an orthodox convent school, which was like finishing schools. One time after I had gotten married, a school principal from one of the reputed convent schools in Patna mentioned to me that I would be a good teacher. I told her that my family was conservative, so I wouldn’t be allowed to work. She told me “don’t waste yourself, go and talk to your family”. I spoke to my husband and he said that there was no harm in trying and if I liked the job then I could continue teaching. Since he was so supportive, I went to teach in that school the very next day, and I stayed on for the next 34 years. 
Teaching and learning methods should be simplified to such an extent that each and every student can understand. I told my students not to cram and emphasized learning and understanding in the most basic form. Every child is gifted, and phrases like “weak students” should not be used. Some students are good at academics and some in sports or singing. Some of the girls used to tell me that they are not good at anything. Then I assigned them the responsibility to save electricity in the classroom and ensured that the class applauded their efforts. In addition, if the class representatives needed to take any matter before the Principal, these girls would go along with them and voice their opinions. Once their confidence was built up, they picked up on their studies as well. I wanted my students to be confident, and to have a holistic personality.
When I joined the school along with a few others, it was with a genuine interest in teaching. We were all driven to work hard. When the teachers met in the staff room or outside, our main area of conversation was what we could do for our students. Occasionally, when somebody joked to break the monotony, we used to break into laughter. But we mainly discussed issues and challenges that were related to education. We didn’t waste our time. We were in a less materialistic age. 
Even now, I am happy to help my students. I make myself available at any time if they want to prepare for job interviews or even if they are feeling low and just want to chat. When somebody is moving abroad for further studies or for work, I put them in touch with my students already living in that city. I am so lucky that whenever I ask my students for any help, they never refuse. My school is still a special place where students and teachers have a special rapport.”

(Bhopal) “I am a journalist. I have been working for almost 22 years and I have worked with a leading national daily for 15 years. I love writing, especially stories. I still work the old school way- I take notes and then I go home or to the office and write my stories. I want to travel around Madhya Pradesh to uncover and write stories that tell ground realities, which can change some lives. I have always been interested in social and rural polity.
I am from Nagpur and came to Bhopal in 2003. I did M.Sc. Tech in Applied Geology and I was a University topper. Everyone expected that I would take up Geology as my career and was even offered an immediate teaching assignment. But I accidentally became a journalist. A friend had mentioned that there was a job opening for a journalist and had suggested that I should apply for it since I was good at writing. Till then I had no idea what journalism was all about, what my schedule would be, and how my lifestyle would change. When I started working, I moved around all day in buses and auto and had hectic schedules. I would come back home at 10 pm after leaving home early in the morning.
Professionally, I didn’t have to struggle a lot. I might have been lucky. I always kept my focus on work. I have always been a field reporter from day one. Earlier, there were very few women reporters. But I developed an attitude where I was very comfortable with my surroundings. As I became more experienced, I had the freedom to choose my stories. Apart from writing on health, women and child rights, education, heritage and social concern issues, I have covered elections, assembly sessions and crime stories.
The only thing in life is to stand by your principles; then life becomes very easy. Your mantra can be pursuing anything that makes you happy and confident. I gave up my cushy job as Deputy Editor because I felt it was going against my journalistic principles. I would have earned a lot of money but I would not have been able to do the kind of work that I was interested in. The other important thing in life is not to hurt anyone.
When I was starting my career, my parents were very supportive. However, they were also apprehensive about how I would manage if it got late at work. A few years later I decided to move out and started living on my own because my schedule was disturbing the entire family. My father (he is no more now) didn’t used to keep well. But he would stay up for me until late at night and eat only when I come back. I realised this was not going to work for me. So when I was given a job opportunity to stay in Nagpur or move to Raipur, I chose Raipur. I am still single and live alone but now my schedule doesn’t disturb anyone. I get to do what I want and devote my entire time to my career. Slowly, my parents also realised that I am doing well and I love my work.
Initially, my parents and a lot of other people were persistent that I should get married at the right time. But somehow I was very clear from a very young age that I didn’t want to get married. I love doing things on my own. People often tell me there is still a chance that I can still get married. I laugh and tell them I am happy the way I am. I guess single people have to hear this till their old age. I am a very open and jovial kind of a person. I keep laughing and cracking jokes. That is my persona. Some juniors at work come and tell me that they look up to me and that they also don’t want to get married. I tell them not to make anybody else their ideal because everyone’s situation in life is different. What is good for me might not be good for them.
I feel happy to be a woman in India. Women are doing well in India. Of course, there are still several challenges. I know because I have been writing about them. But I think one should also try to portray the positive stories.”

(Bhopal) “I have three sons. My husband died in 2005. My youngest son is unable to move one of his legs. When he was born, he was healthy. Doctors say a lot of money is needed for his treatment. Where will I get money for his treatment? I don’t want anything except his good health. But only one of my sons is earning, which is not enough for the treatment. All the money he earns goes into household expenses.”
(Bhopal) “I am a clinical psychologist. In 1984, there were only two national institutes that offered a course in clinical psychology in India with only 12 seats in each institute. It was not difficult for me to get admission in the course. Being the daughter of a doctor, understanding and serving human beings grew in me as a passion.
Despite being immensely useful in the changing modern world, clinical psychology in India did not have many job opportunities. The mental health facilities and medical set up hardly had any vacancies. It was a surprise and a challenge for both my husband (also a clinical psychologist) as well as for me. The medical fraternity and administrators were ill informed about mental health issues. Awareness was abysmal. People used to misinterpret psychological problems as being “mad” and the treatment as “shock treatment”.
I started writing weekly articles in both English and Hindi newspapers and devoted myself to raising awareness in the society. Through mass media, people started recognizing me as a writer rather than a professional. But it helped me to establish myself and my clinic and enabled me to help the people who needed such services. With the help of my husband, I started an NGO for persons with mental disability. It provided functional vocational and education guidance to them. But gradually we were able to develop more services and now we have training centers, where we train teachers to teach persons with disability. We started with partial government aid and now we are almost self-sustained. Our NGO was granted National Award for its services. Once the first organization became successful, my husband and I started a second private institute, which serves as rehabilitation centre and long-stay home for people with chronic mental illnesses.  

I started my journey alone. I worked hard to establish a clinic and an NGO. Gradually, we built two successful organizations with a number of employees and patients under care.In the past 30 years I have seen more than 20000 cases and I have learnt from each case. Each case narrates a different story, and when we see things from their angle, it teaches us about various dimensions of life and, of course, how to deal with challenges.” 
(Bhopal) “I am a final year law student and I plan to work on women’s rights issues. Soon I am going to start working with a litigation lawyer. I have interned at a corporate firm and realized it wasn’t for me. Also, while I was interning at a non-profit organization, I met a number of victims of domestic violence who were trying to find their way back to a normal life. Their stories inspired me a lot.
I feel very passionately about women’s rights issues. There were a lot of reasons that pushed me into this field. When I was born, my grandparents were very unhappy because my parents already had a daughter. My grandparents tried to force my parents to have a third child but my parents were happy to have us and didn’t go for a third child.
Then there were smaller instances like my relatives asking me to wear salwar suits as I was growing up. In college, there was a weird stigma attached to girls seen talking to boys or being friendly with boys. Also, when I would tell people that I go for swimming, then they would ask me if boys and girls swam together and if I wore a swimming costume. I didn’t know how to respond to that.

I came from an army background and I was brought up in a completely different environment. Some of these things were like a cultural shock to me. When I was really young, I didn’t understand the situation; with time it dawned on me the whole world is like that.”