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