Resilience- Inside and Out

“I pride myself as a risk taker and have always taken my own decisions. I think that way, only you are responsible for your life. As a kid in Standard V, when I got admission into a sports school, I took the tough decision of leaving home because I wanted to do something differently. In hindsight, that decision played a significant role in shaping up my personality. When I was there on my own, I understood that one has to put in that extra effort and get out of the comfort zone in order to be successful.

Over time I realized that we spend a big chunk of our lives studying the curriculums set by other people. I wanted to get out of that and think out of the box. A career in research was one option where I could set my own terms and have the freedom of choice and therefore higher education was an obvious path for me. I contemplated quite a lot about my future during Master’s and eventually started applying for PhD positions.

I was at home when I got the news of selection in IIT Mandi. I was ecstatic, but my mother was a bit concerned. After losing my father during my Bachelor’s, it was just me, my mother and my younger sister. It was difficult for her to let me go. Also, all my cousins were getting married and I wanted to study. But she always had faith in me and after convincing her that I was confident about my decision and could face the challenges out there, she came…