My father works in a transferable central government job, so we have moved cities almost every five years. Since his work has been only in Tier 3 cities, we as kids always knew we would have to stay away from home for further studies.
I wanted to pursue engineering, so I joined IIT-JEE coaching in Hyderabad where I stayed in a hostel, sharing a dormitory with 15 other girls, in a different state with different culture and food habits! It was one of the most testing as well as learning time of my life so far, molding me into the person I am today. I believe I have always been an independent person, taking decisions and calculated risks for myself, but here, I was really on my own. Along with studies, I met new people, made new friends, became more open and accepting to other cultures and their food habits, and overall a more open and experimental person.
It was a tough time when the results were declared and I missed getting into the prestigious engineering institutes by few marks. I then took admission into one of the premier engineering colleges in Maharashtra and shifted to Pune. The engineering college life had a different set of challenges. I opted for mechanical engineering, and as a girl, it was frowned upon at the time. Along with academics, I was interested in Robotics and was part of the Robocon team of the college.
In my first year of engineering, the team was very new. We couldn't perform well and though we had the support of our dean, the students shut it down. In my second year, I, with two of my other teammates, reviewed our last year's performance, where we had gone wrong, and where we could improve. The following year, we formed a new, fresh team and I lead a team of 23 girls. One of our aims was to get students excited about Robocon in our college so that the excitement and passion for Robocon never die down. And today, it has been more than five years from when we started again. And I feel proud to see them performing great at the competition and having the same enthusiasm that we had. What I learned is that you should never give up on something that you believe will succeed in. And patience and perseverance play the biggest role in succeeding at anything.
Challenges are a part of life and as said, change is the only constant. With more such experiences that I have had the opportunity of living, I continue to learn and grow!