Let us bring the change

[Applause]

hi

everybody i’m yoga be honey i’m an actor

by profession

and a die hard food when i was a little

girl

i would daydream about being on

television and at night everything about

having my own restaurant

perfect right so when i was in school

i would participate in all the functions

children’s day teachers day competitions

you name it

i would be right there on the stage

front line

full star material

i was born in a typical family that to a

girl

let me give you some information about

my family

so i come from a typical rajasthani

family i’m sure you must have seen those

films

and daily soaps exactly same thing

so it’s the nine of us in our family my

mom

my dad my daddy and the rest six of us

we are the siblings yes

six siblings five sisters

one brother i’m sure you’ve got it by

now

like every time a baby girl is born in

our family

the relatives would call and they say

it’s okay next time frank kardana like

yes that so while i was growing up

i realized that my brother

was the privileged son of the family and

us the daughters he was just car keys

it wasn’t that we were not sent to

school or we were not given education

of course that was given but the

ultimate goal of our lives

was to become the bahu of another house

and to get married to another privileged

son

all my sisters are married and they are

happy

but i didn’t want that for myself i want

to do something different

i don’t know what i had no idea

but i knew that i don’t want to become a

responsibility

i did computer science honest because my

brother and my father asked me to

they thought it’d be perfect for me i

would do a nine-to-five job and

yeah that’d be great but it wasn’t

so there came my first opportunity all

right

um there was this show called fam

foodies and it was a show

uh based on goa whoever wins this show

gets a food truck or one of her own

and i gave an audition and i got a call

back

when i got a call back i was jumping i

was

jumping on my bed on the floor

everywhere because i was so happy

because i realized this was it

this is what i had been waiting for

because i didn’t know what to do and

this is it

i love food and i want to have my own

restaurant and

it will take me to television remember

the little girl who had those dreams

yes this was the perfect opportunity for

me and

i was ready to you know take on it but

then came the reality my family

you know how a normal family would react

to it

if you tell them that your kid is going

to be on television

they would jump on it but

my family was more concerned

what i would wear on that show because i

was going to go to goa

and she would wear dresses

what would my mama think what would my

master thing what would my pooh thing

was the priority

and not my dream i wasn’t going to go on

a dating show

i was not doing any of those shows i was

doing a cooking show which was legit

it was going to come on living foods

now these zest but

i was shook and i stood for myself

and i said no you have to understand

that

doesn’t matter your daughter is going to

be on that show

that matters and after a lot of drama

they finally agreed and i went to that

show

i didn’t win the show but it was a great

experience

and i came back and i started to get a

lot of calls

for tbc’s and

i got them and my family was happy to

see me on the television and the

transition

was nice because i’d already be on been

on tv so

they didn’t have any problem because

they were like okay it’s happening and

she’s happy and we are seeing him seeing

her on television

it’s great but

uh after a few months it was time for my

brother to get married

and while

there were rashta’s coming and

everything was happening

at that time i’d done a tv commercial

where i had won a bikini

not a two-piece bikini a one-piece

bikini a one-piece

swimsuit with a sarong

so the large valley they saw that

tv commercial and they called up

my family and they said um

it was a lot to take on and

immediately the question was if your

career choice

and if your choices are such a big

problem

for your brother’s marriage then how

would you get married

and i was in shock that even after

i’ve come so long i’ve changed my paths

i’ve changed my dreams

the ultimate goal of my family

is to get me married is finally who

would

she get married to will anybody accept

her

but i was not going to give up i was

i was so close to my dreams i was liv i

was actually living my dream

i would not give up and

i told my family because you know they

said

that in our society

nobody has done this ever

i told my mother let’s

us be the first family let’s

us change it let us let us change it

right

if nobody has ever done it let me do it

maybe

somebody some family will see us

changing and

they will change and that will change

another family and that will change

another 10 family

another 10 families and that will change

the society

let us bring the change let us dream

and yes they changed

now today when my mother sees me

romancing another guy on tv she is not

worried about

what the society will say she wants me

to have the same romantic life

in real also my father when he went to

jewelry shopping for my brother’s

wedding

he was showing off my jewelry art and my

brother

him and i have discussions about my nose

job

so yes this is my success totally

this is what i have done i have

modernized my family

so today when a baby

i can’t change that but at least

that baby girl will have you with a

behind to look up to

thank you