CHAPTER 1 | THE SCHOOL DAYS

She grew up in a well-to-do family in Bhubaneswar. Her father was a professor of English and mom was a super house wife. Being a teacher’s daughter, she carried that unsaid burden of doing well in school. Though she wasn’t that perturbed by that but still had that in the back of her mind. She was that good girl of the class whom all the teachers liked because of completing the homeworks on time and all the backbenchers hated her for the same. She was also good at sports, but this didn’t mean she was winning games. But she was there every time to participate and enjoy the game. Being the tallest girl in her class, she gave a good fight to her opponents in basketball. This was one game which she played to win. 

Growing up as a student in the 90s was never easy. Relentless pressure from parents to do well in exams, the uncles and the aunties of the neighbourhood made the situation even worse. “Woh Sharma ji ke bete ko maths mein zyada marks aaye hain. Aapki beti ne padhayi sahi se nahin ki thi kya?” Amidst all these she ensured she had a smile on her face which kept her parents at bay. She enjoyed cooking and serving guests who came to her house. In the meantime, she managed to get a seat in one of the state run colleges. This time her dad gave that freedom to choose her stream. And in spite of a good rank, she chose something out of the box- Civil Engineering. Decision left dad amused but she was happy. Probably she wanted to do something and read less. Four years passed by and to her surprise  she was recruited by a software company. Probably this was the fate of every engineering student back then. But she took this as an opportunity. And she was happy!

CHAPTER 2 | ROAMING AROUND THE WORLD

She completed her training at Ahmedabad and got posted in Mumbai. Life was taking a u-turn for her. She started to enjoy coding, learning new languages (Java, SQL, .NET), interacting with new friends and she could do many more things which wasn’t possible when she was staying with her parents. In short, “woh khush thi”.  She was definitely enjoying.

She started to do well in the assigned project and as a result of that got a chance early in her career to go to the States. And guess the city- it was New York. She packed her bags, got her visa done and was ready to fly. She couldn’t thank her stars from studying civil engineering to going to NY for a software company. Super excited, she landed and the whole world kind of changed for her. 

Life rolled on for her and she ended up getting married to someone from the same company but post approval from parents from both sides. The couple stayed together in NY for almost two years before her husband had to leave and come back to Mumbai. She was left with another 6 months of visa before she could fly down to India. 

One day while strolling around on the streets of NY, she met an old lady, probably in her 80s, at a bakery shop. Curious and she asked her if she owned the bakery. After knowing that the bakery was hers, she asked her why she is working till date. And subtly the old lady replied, “It’s because bakery is my passion.” She returned home, sat near the fire and started pondering. Was she passionate about what she was doing? Or was it just moral responsibilities that she was carrying out being the daughter of a professor.

CHAPTER 3 | THE DREAM 

She had her dinner and went to sleep. And then came that magic moment in her life. You have 90 minutes to prepare the dish that you want to from the raw items provided. Most of them are on your table and frozen items would be in the fridge. And your time starts now. She starts to look into the things. Then she rushes to the fridge to check what’s available. And then comes back to her place and decides to prepare an item which she thought would represent her state. She looks at the stop watch. 85 minutes to go. She starts her preparation. The clock ticked. A buzzer went by indicating the last 10 minutes. She was done with the food but garnishing was left with the final touch up. And there she was with the final dish- a well garnished one too. And it was time for the final judgement. An elimination here means she goes back home and couldn’t make it to the finals. The judges tasted and heaped on praises on the dish. She was ecstatic. She was confident of making it to the finals. She was competing in Master Chef India. But alas! She lost. 

The dream got shattered as she woke up rattling on her bed just to find that she was in NY and not in Mumbai participating in the show. She quickly washed her face, prepared for herself a hot cup of tea and then went on to the balcony to think over again at the dream. And then the words of the old lady again popped up. Now she was a bit confused over her life. The past 3 years had been so smooth that she never realised something like this could hit her. She started to question herself. Was she doing right by not following her passion? How long would be she happy with this work? What will society think if she quits her job today? Many such questions were rambling in her mind.

CHAPTER 4 | THE DREAM THAT CAME TRUE

This time she listened to her heart. She put down her papers, booked the next flight to Mumbai and she did all these without consulting anyone from the family. She gave her husband a very pleasant surprise as she reached 4 months earlier. Though her husband had loads of questions in mind, first decided to give her that space of her own. She didn’t talk for 2 days on anything why she left the job. 

One fine evening on the weekend, her husband prepared some mice snacks with a cup of tea as well. There was a bit of silence for 5 minutes and then she suddenly breaks down into tears and says, “I love cooking and not coding. I wanted to be a chef and I want to pursue that dream of mine.” Her husband took her in his arms and said in a comforting voice:

“Smile and let the world know that you’re much more mentally stronger than what you were yesterday.” 

This was the best day of her life. Acceptance starts at home and now she wouldn’t bother what anyone else thinks. 

There’s a saying that dreams do come true if you work harder. But I would say, dreams would come true only when you’re honest to yourself and have that dedication towards achieving that goal.