Fortune Favours The Brave- Moushumi Patnaik

“I was studying in an I.C.S.E school and was very good in academics till 8th grade. Then, some disturbances happened that affected my performance. Maths was not my cup of tea so my 10th board results were unsatisfactory. I had always wanted to pursue Humanities, but my parents made me take up Science in my senior secondary years. Due to unsatisfactory marks in 10th exam, I pursued Science in Prabhujee English Medium school.

I required private tuitions, however, unavoidable circumstances put me into group tuitions and I found it really difficult to cope up with the pace of other students. Somehow, I passed 11th grade, but I flunked Maths in 12th board exam. The results came as a complete shock to my parents and my father stopped talking to me. He almost believed that my life was over and giving compartment exam was of no use.

But, I insisted on providing me with a private tuition and with a month’s preparation, I scored 65 in compartment exam. After that, I got selected in Christ University for a triple major in Arts, KIIT University for Designing and B.Tech, and in NIFT. As I couldn’t get a seat in NIFT-Bhubaneswar and other locations were quite costly for me, I made up my mind to do Designing in KIIT. 

I got rank 26 in Designing entrance, KIIT and under 500 rank for B.Tech in KIIT. My parents wanted me to take up engineering. My father and I were on our way to deposit the fees and were arguing the whole time. He was hesitant but was almost on the verge of doing my admission in Designing, when an employee from the documentation department brainwashed him to put me into B.Tech. That was the first time I retorted and my father was stunned.

I got into Designing and my father stopped talking to me for six months straight until one day when he saw my results and portfolio file where I had secured exceptionally good marks. He had tears of happiness in his eyes and came to me and hugged me. I’m in my final year now and doing multiple internships. I also own an art page and a small business. I purchased my phone from the Rs.30,000 profit that I made in my business.” – Moushumi Patnaik.