I went to an all girls’ school- Carmel Convent Sr. Sec. School, BHEL, Bhopal. I think that has had a huge impact on my personality. My favourite hobby in school would have been debating- I fairly believe that my being so outspoken has its roots in the way how we were motivated to express our thoughts and opinions. I am still in touch with my high school best friends. It was an amazing phase of life.
If money was no object, what would you do all day?
Read fiction books and watch thriller TV series all day- without a break. Back in engineering, I finished an entire season of Dexter in less than a day!
What advice would you give to a 5-year-younger you?
“It’s ok, calm down. I know it seems like that you will never be able to find out the tension in a rope or the angular momentum of a rotating disk, but it’s fine. Don’t be afraid of the mock tests’ results. You’ll do great. Stop over-thinking about the result, you will do great in life. In the end, if you are willing to do excel, you eventually do. This too shall pass.”
How do you think women are better equipped to deal with problems as compared to men?
I believe in the law of averages. Men have an upper hand in solving some problems and so do women in certain other problems. There are some problems which are gender neutral.
Many IIMs and other b-schools award extra points for being a woman. What is your take on that? Do you propagate the concept OR Have you faced any backlash for the same?
IIMs are on the lookout for diversity: both academic and gender-wise. Engineers have dominated the classrooms at IIMs for several decades now. Through these years, IIMs have produced managers who think on the same line and have a mechanistic approach to a lot of problems. I, being an engineer, can vouch for that. IIMs are willing to intake more female candidates as they an unbiased proportion of genders will facilitate inclusive learning.
The idea does seem different and interesting, but in a country like ours, where there’s crazy competition in any exam- I am not sure if the diversity points do justice to everyone. However, I wouldn’t give an unchanging opinion- this can be debated for a long time.
Name one incident that you encountered where someone told you, you couldn’t do something because you’re a woman.
I can recall just one instance. During the first year of engineering, we ( I and another female friend of mine) were told by a carpentry lab assistant that we wouldn’t be able to carve out a door joint and would end up hurting ourselves. I didn’t mind his opinion. Maybe, he grew up thinking that women are unequal to men and certain jobs are just meant for guys. Or maybe, he just thought that we are delicate and wouldn’t want to hammer and saw the wooden pieces.
If you are out on a date, do you prefer to pay yourself? If you insisted that you want to pay for yourself, how did the other person react?
It’s nice if both the parties decide to split the bill. It would be unfair to expect the guy to pay always.
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