Desire to pursue her dreams
every reality
is first just a dream but not every
dream
becomes a reality and today i want to
share
the journey of my dream a dream of
winning at the
center court of the wimbledon one of the
most prestigious tennis tournaments
as i set out on my path to become
india’s first singles grand slam
champion i realized that the journey of
my dream
was not as straightforward and not just
for me
but for about 48 of indians
the promise and hope of the dream is
dulled by a
mountain of negativity
yes negativity
but what kind of negativity could a 10
year old girl with a dream
possibly face
well the answer is in the question
i was a girl with a dream
what could be more audacious in a
country like
india young naive and dreamy
i was discouraged had i been the raja
beta
i would have been the pride of the
family i would have been called
ambitious
not naive the family may have been more
willing to take on risks and find ways
to help the raja beta
achieve this audacious dream
explaining a career in sport to indian
families is already hard enough
even without my gender playing a role in
the process
i was interrogated what are you going to
gain from this
what’s the point of this when you’re
eventually going to get married
but we live in the 21st century
this sounds archaic and outdated but it
isn’t these ideologies are so
deep-rooted
that they still pull back women from
becoming too independent
a girl who claims her autonomy or choice
without the permission of a patriarch is
still considered outrageous
disrespectful and arrogant
aren’t we allowing her more than we were
allowed in our days
how much more progressive do you want us
to be
i want to take you through my twist with
tennis to illuminate
what the journey was like for one girl
like many other girls
in india with a dream
i belong to a well-to-do yet
conservative marwati family
and with the early and unexpected death
of my father i was raised by a single
mother
under the looming shade of patriarchal
shadows
and so i had to always fight
fight to have the opportunity to play
sport at a competitive level
the day i won my first tournament
instead of celebrating my win
my uncles and grandmother exclaimed
you’ve become so tanned you’ll start
looking ugly who’s going to want to
marry a tan girl like this
their biggest concern was that i would
get tanned
and who would want to marry a dark girl
like really
i was told if i spent my time on
grooming myself
a better boy would choose me for
marriage wow
what a victory that would have been but
in this
they forgot to ask if this is what
victory meant to me
i was fortunate enough to have the
support of my mother and sister
who have always encouraged me to go
after my dreams
but going against the family’s choice
wasn’t easy
especially for a widow but we persevered
i would begin my day at 5 45 in the
morning with tennis training
i would then eat my breakfast in the car
and rush to school
after school i would again train for
about three hours and once i was home
i would complete my homework and get to
bed early for the next morning
i always in short that i paid as much
importance to my academics
as i did to my sport and the hard work
was paying off at the age of 14
i was ranked seventh in asia under 14
and top
20 in india under 18.
thank you owing to my performances i was
offered a tennis scholarship in
barcelona to play among some of the best
players in the world
i was thrilled my dream didn’t seem to
knife now did it
i finally had the opportunity to take my
career to the next level
it was unbelievable
even for my uncles who could not believe
that i wanted to go to barcelona for
sports
and so the objections amplified
further unfortunately for me
my uncles took over my father’s finances
after his death
we had no access to the wealthy funds
that could have paid for the travel and
stay for me to attend this program
they weren’t willing to provide the
minimal financial support that would be
required in addition to the scholarship
on the other hand my cousins who were
boys were sent abroad to learn to ski or
play football for recreation
they were praised encouraged and boasted
about
so proud of their lack of ambitions it
baffled me
without any support my mother decided to
take the bold decision of taking me to
barcelona
using all her savings from the years
in the spirit of rebellion we took
flight and headed on to the next stage
of my dream
training in barcelona was one of the
most enriching experiences for my career
my performances kept improving
however my rebellion had to amount to a
victory
and so every time i played a match i
played with the pressure that
only if i win will i be able to justify
my choices
and eventually this pressure built up
psychosomatic pain in my back
and one day when i lost the finals of a
tournament
i was shattered i couldn’t accept it
it it was tough for me realizing that i
had let the pressure
of judgment and prejudice override my
passion
but once i was able to realize this the
sports person me
was able to pick herself up and all that
i had learned from this incredible sport
over the years
came to my rescue the three
biggest takeaways for me were that every
point
is a new opportunity it is important to
learn from your mistakes
and improvise and success is not
only when you win a trophy it is in
every minute that you decide to not give
up
[Music]
so i pursued a degree in finance from
llc
yes the degree made me more manageable
so it was an acceptable decision
during my time at lse i took a keen
interest
in the lse microfinance society and
conducted research projects for them
and i also didn’t give up on my passion
for sports
[Music]
sorry sorry um and i didn’t give up on
my passion for sports
i played and won competitions for the
lsc tennis team
after my graduation i started working
with gsw sports
i primarily work on strategic direction
and csr partnerships for the inspire
institute of sport
that trains india’s most promising
athletes on a 100
scholarship i develop and implement
engagement programs and fundraising
strategies to involve some of the
country’s biggest corporates to help
india’s future olympians achieve their
dreams
and this is just the beginning of my
journey to help others
achieve their dreams today i live
without the pressure of others opinions
of my career
and i just want to leave you with one
thought i didn’t become
everything i set out to be i became
something
quite different but my journey to
getting here
included half dreams failed dreams
and accomplished dreams and like someone
once said
life is a journey with problems to solve
and lessons to learn
but most importantly experiences to
enjoy
thank you