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this sounds archaic and outdated but it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