Shanti Bhavan A Spark That Ignited My Potential

[Applause]

[Music]

hi everyone my name is vijay lakshmi

with vegan and this is my story

i was born in a small village in tamil

nadu

but my family like many other families

decided to move to bangalore for a

chance at

living better we were a small but happy

family despite the poverty and hardships

we

faced every day living in a completely

different place

at least things appeared to me that way

as a young child

however it did not last long my mother

committed suicide when i was just three

years old leaving behind her husband and

my six-month-old sister

at my age i was unaware of the

complexities of her existence and what

she had gone through and how it shaped

her life

in a society where physical labor is

vital to have food on the table is

equated with having male offspring

though we were two daughters my dad

loved us deeply despite what society had

to say

my dad had a bad drinking habit however

and could not afford to look after us

both

so he did one of the greatest things our

family could have imagined which changed

my life forever

i guess it’s true when they say when you

lose something important you often gain

something else in return

while my entire family grieved the loss

of my mother

we found out about a school that took in

children from families who could not

afford an education

or good food or clothing for that matter

just to give them a shot at a better

future

this is how i joined my school shanti

baban before i knew what was happening

i moved into school and my grandmother

promised to look after my younger sister

it has now been six years since i’ve

graduated from

i still remember thinking that i was

going to be leaving home when i

graduated because

it was the one true family that happened

to me 18 years before

i never really went home during vacation

because no one in my family wanted to

look after us

girls my younger sister joined another

boarding school and i only saw her once

every year during summer vacation after

my aunt took pity on us and decided to

have us over breaks

my dad was around but he never really

got over my mom’s death and

died in the year 2017 due to bad health

through all of this i managed to

graduate school be accepted

into one be accepted into st joseph’s

college of commerce and

graduate with a bachelor’s degree in

business administration in the year

my aunt had financial problems of her

own so to ease the situation

i took up home tutoring for kids and

paid for my living while in college i

realized that i really loved working

with children

so i applied for a special summer

internship program that allowed me to

spend a summer working with children

after graduating from college i went

back to my home

and helped for six months until i landed

a job at mercedes-benz research and

development

i went back home meaning i went back to

my school shampoo bubble

i worked as a management human resource

business training

at mercedes-benz it’s been two years and

i’ve learned

so much i can see things have become

easier for my sister and i i live in

bangalore where my sister is studying to

become a nurse

as big hospital here i support her and

give money to my aunt as well for all

the years

she spent looking after us shanti bhavan

has taught me to be independent

take responsibility be accountable and

give back to others

this is only part of my journey i have a

long way to go still

i plan to work for another few years

until my sister is out of university and

can support herself

after that i aspire to get a master’s

degree either in communication or

psychology

i’m still thinking about and learning

what i really want to do for the rest of

my life

being exposed to an unparalleled

education from shanti bhavin and a top

tier college

yet facing and knowing about the

challenging situations that people face

in impoverished communities

gives me a perspective that not many

people have and will forever

affect the choices that i make i don’t

know how the

next few years are going to look for me

but i’m certain i possess the potential

to do great things

there’s so much more to learn and do and

i would love to be a part of someone

else’s story as well

when i’m able to give back to another

person

as much as what’s been given to me i

believe my journey has just begun

and there’s so many more things that are

yet to come

thank you

[Music]