What is the mantra of your life?
Well, one thing that I relate to and try to live by is this quote by Bulleh Shah, which is a personal favourite, “Jo na jaane haq ki taaqat, rab na deve usko himmat”.. It means that if you don’t know the power of your own rights, the lord is not going to give you anything. We are always looking up to god, asking for his help, but if we don’t know the power of what we are capable of, then we will never achieve anything.
You definitely don’t fit the bill of the average Indian woman as typecast by the society. How does it feel to look different and be proud of it?
May be everybody looks different and you are just the normal one, have you ever thought of that?
Women are constantly being told what to do in life. How do you live your life without worrying about how to fulfill everyone’s expectations?
To be honest, I surround myself with people who are very like-minded and the others, well their opinions, don’t matter anyway. What their expectations are, I really don’t care. There are very few people who I care about and listen to and they know who I am. They don’t expect me to change at all. I think the goal is to be comfortable with yourself and surround yourself with people who love you for who you are and not try to make you somebody else. As for the other people who judge you, they don’t matter anyways.
Being your own boss, what has it taught you?
Humility! You cannot lead a team or even be a part of it without humility. I am my own boss at work and I am my own boss in my life too and the one thing that has taught me is to be humble. Knowing that humility is the only way forward and will take you where you want to be. Ego is not. I feel that living #LikeaBoss is where you have to bow your head everyday and surrender everyday and accept whatever comes your way.
What is your take on #RepublicOfMe ?
To be very honest I have never lived like anyone else, only myself, so I can’t even imagine my life any other way. All my life, I have lived life on my terms. Even the fact that someone else can have the right to tell me how to live, makes me angry. It’s my right to live the way I want and I choose to exercise this right on a daily basis.
How do you think women can assert their rights in India?
By knowing that it is their own right, to live life they way want to. We don’t need to be given any rights; we women don’t need to ask for any rights. We were born with our rights and it is ours to take.
A life defining moment which changed you for good and made you who you are?
I think that would be when I was 13 years old. I have always had short hair, but at that age, I had cut it really short and almost looked bald from faraway. This is Bandra in mid-80s that I am talking about. I used to wear the shortest of skirts and ride bikes, along with having a lot of male friends. That was the time when society termed me as a ‘raand’ or a whore. It affected me a little bit, then it made me realise that they are calling me names because I don’t fit into their definition of a typical Indian girl. So I decided to never do any of that. It was actually society which changed me for good. I decided to never do anything that a typical Indian woman is expected to do. I remember my father walking with his head bowed because people used to come to him and tell him that his daughter is a whore.
As we celebrate 65 years of being a republic nation. What do you think the women of our country badly need?
I would probably say women in India need respect today. Rights and all are secondary, but before that we need respect. We need to be respected as citizens of this country and treated equally with men.
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