Take The Leap - Ritu Jhalani

"I got married in 2017 and I was happy. My Dad was not keeping well and hence, he wanted me to get married. For his sake, I said yes, thinking that maybe it's the time to get settled, and life would be beautiful, as we Indian women are always told that life will be amazing after marriage. I quit my job and shifted away from home with the hope that better days lie ahead.

But, life had something else to offer. I was abused because of my looks and my outlook towards life. My in-laws also charged me because according to them. my father didn't give enough gold to the groom. Deciding to put an end to this treatment, I left my in-laws and my husband. I left a toxic relationship. My husband never hit me, but neither did he speak up for me.

Hearing about my decision, I was asked to shut up and simply adjust. But, it's my life and I was the one suffering. So, my conscience doesn't let me consider their viewpoint.

Six months after divorce, I was not in a good head space, but thanks to my parents, who despite all criticism stood with me and helped me recover. I looked for a new job and started working again.

I got divorced in 2019 and I see myself evolving everyday. I started working out and that helped to feel a lot better. I wrote my story on various platforms and people with similar stories contacted with me and I comforted them.

In 2017, after my marriage, I had started my journey as an entrepreneur, and ‘Indian Weaves’ was born. In these 5 years, I have gained a lot of customers throughout the world, and recently I have sent my Sambalpuri fabrics to a Bollywood designer, who will be using them in a web-series, that is to be streamed on Amazon. I have also spoken in 'Women In Business' Seminar in Balasore.

Moving forward in life, I will be getting married again soon, and will be settling down in life with a wonderful person and a wonderful family. I speak about my experience because I don't want anyone to go through depression as I did. Depression left me hopeless and took all my joy away. Even if something is out of our control, the least we can do is be a good listener to someone! I am so glad that I gave my mental health attention and I'm also helping people out there. Let's normalize taking necessary steps for our mental health, shall we?" - Ritu Jhalani.

A Difficult Walk - Ronak Ram

TW : Domestic Violence, Sexual Abuse and Bullying

"I remember to the bones the first time when I learned about myself of the vulnerability to abuse and bullies. Growing up in my home wasn’t very homely. The first time I shivered was in the first grade. I was just leaving for school when I saw my Father beating Mom. These are among all the blemished memories that I have in me.

I was that fat boy in class. I wish people who shame others learn that words have the ability to exploit. The ones who I used to call friends, put me as the last option to fit in their team. Maybe I stopped showing how it wrecks my heart to be mocked at, to be touched at my chest or to be laughed at the shop because I was looking for a plus sized pair of jeans for me and the shirt still didn’t fit well to my overgrown stomach. “Why don’t you wear a bra?” was the exact line from a cousin.

I was taught by this man in his thirties since the third. My love for biological science used to be at its peak. This brought him to a state where in order to teach me about my genitals, he would take my pants off and play his grimy hands on it. I was 12 years old when he jerked me for the first time. After about a year there came a point, I realized whatever is happening isn’t right. With a handful of courage, I told Mom about everything and he was fired.

In the 9^thstd, a packet of condom was found in my school bag(although that’s a different story of I being framed and pulled into this for standing against a group of alcoholic abusers). But who would even believe that? I was a grown up child and I knew what a condom is, that exactly means I brought the one to be used, or to sell maybe? ‘Condom Baba', the entire school would chant.

 

I was suspended for a month. After I was called back to school, in anger, the piece of craft I made was torn apart. I was pushed down the stairs and stepped on my wrist leaving me with a fractured ankle and wrist. Two years I was the one sitting alone, feeling like an untouchable. I gave up writing since then. College continued with the same mockery and bullying. 

There has always been a lump in my throat of all the words I couldn’t say and thus, I decided to resuscitate writing once again. On Instagram I’ve got to learn more from being here, found some good mates who have shown their love.

There are so many days a pain lingers through my chest and within all the restless nights, the only blanket I hide myself into the darkness with is – words. That’s all I have right now." - Ronak Ram.

Odisha's Hip-Hop! - The Android Crew

“Four of us founded the crew back in 2015, and all of us were based out of Puri. We are not a dance group, but a crew, in which all of us have our own individuality, dance style and recognition. We started as a completely underground hip-hop crew, training together with raw knowledge, without any limelight. During the establishment of the crew, Android phones played a crucial role in getting together a lot of underprivileged dancers into the chain, and hence the name ‘The Android Crew’.

 

Initially, we lost a lot of competitions that we participated in, but in CET, Bhubaneswar, we won our first underground street dance battle. We travelled to Bangalore to participate in a big hip-hop jam, called ‘Freeze’, and got along with a lot of other dancers. Though we were losing a lot of such competitions, we kept on training, and kept on travelling to various places.

 

In 2017, the global street dancing competition, ‘Keep On Dancing’ qualifiers happened in India, and only 15 dancers were to be selected to represent India on the global stage. 4 of us from the crew went, trained day and night, won the event in Delhi, and got sponsored to South Korea. Though we lost in the quarter-finals, it was a moment of pride and happiness to host the name of Odisha on the International stage! We also represented Odisha on ‘Breezer Vivid Shuffle’, but lost to Team Delhi in the semi-finals.

 

Due to lack of opportunities in Odisha, we hosted our own events, and invited the best artists from all around India. We brought in people like Prosenjit Kundu and Sambo, who are pioneers of hip-hop in India. We, along with several other dancers, learnt a lot from them through the workshops that we conducted.

We have established our own dance studio, ‘The Grooveyard Dance Studio’, which is the best in Odisha. We still host events, we take the street dance styles to schools and colleges, and we try our best to create opportunities for new dancers to take on the Indian and global stage.” – The Android Crew

Come What May! - Debajita Apta Dangua

"In 1997, I got married at the age of 19. My husband worked in IAF and thus, began my journey of touring all the nooks and corners of India. Our first destination was Baroda. It was my first time outside Odisha and indeed, a learning experience. I interacted with a number of people, adopted their culture, took up cooking, weaving and make-up.

In 2000, my daughter was born. By this time, I had developed an affinity towards baking and knew that this was my calling. I practiced my skills, while taking care of my daughter. Later, I was asked to teach baking in the Air Force Wives Welfare Association.

We returned to BBSR after a while. I didn't want to sit idle. One of my friends noticed my ability and willingness. She had already asked her son to print out posters. We went to a nearby parlor and requested them to put up the poster. Seeing that, a number of women came to learn baking from me.

Later, I had to shift to another place of BBSR. When I came here, the number of students I had then, reduced. I was discouraged, but unwilling to give up. A group of bachelors in our society asked me to supply them with meals. Gradually, even some hostels asked me to supply food. 

However, due to Fani, all the students returned back to their homes and my food supply business came to an end. Again discouraged, but again, unwilling to give up. I revived my baking business. Since I am a home baker, people preferred to buy from me, given the hygiene factor during Covid.

I have also been blessed enough to showcase my skills on television for OTV, DD National, etc. I also participated in MasterChef India 2019, but unfortunately could not make it to the end. My husband and children are my pillars. Support and motivation came abundantly.

I am a proud wife, mother and baker. Since 1997, I have been working at my own level, never stopping or stooping before any adversity." - Debajita Apta Dangua.

The Joy Of Sharing - Sinorita Dash

"Besides being a businesswoman, I am a food blogger. I started my page three years back; it was driven by my passion and love for cooking.

I stayed away from my home since a very early age for my higher studies. To avoid hostel food on some days, I started cooking and experimenting recipes with the limited ingredients available in the campus. My love for trying new food items kept growing.

When I started working, everything became monotonous. It was just work, work and work! Later, I quit my job and attending to blogging made me happy.

After witnessing the joy that food brings, I decided to take it to every person, who is in need. I have been visiting different orphanages and old age homes, where I spend time, distribute food and essentials. Their smiles are like milestones for me.

Being happy should not be our only goal, but helping others to be happy should also be on our bucket list. I may seem like a Bahu from a Hindi TV Show, but trust me, it's worth it." - Sinorita Dash

Turning Bitter Into Sweet - Jyotirmayee Patra

"My Grandma always wished that I become a doctor. This idea seemed absurd to me until I lost her in a road accident. This left a huge dent in my life and I decided to fulfill her wish. I hardly exited the four-walls of my rooms as if I were a prisoner by choice. After years of hard work, I finally made a cut, but it wasn't big enough and I landed up in Veterinary Science. My family was happy, but not me. 

I joined OUAT and the very first day was a nightmare for me and I felt so lost. My performance came plummeting down from an extraordinary student to an average student. One evening, my cousin visited me and ofcourse he had heard about my 'stellar' performance. I felt so ashamed that the moment I saw him, I couldn't stop sobbing.

"What's wrong?", he asked. With deep regret, I replied that I wanted to become a doctor who treats humans not animals. 'Isn't an animal a patient too?', he retorted. He continued, "Just because they can't speak doesn't mean they are not to be treated. They are gonna be your patients and it’s your duty to treat them." 

This conversation was the only thing I needed all this while. I decided to learn things practically from a local veterinary dispensary and I was back on track. My performance improved and so did my social life. I started making new friends, explored new places with them. I realized am a huge foodie. My sister encouraged me and collaborated with me and that's how our page was born. With my family's support, we decided to help people who do small food business. The page has been receiving huge love and support. To sum it all up, when life gives you lemons don't make lemonade, be unique and make MARGARITAS!" - Jyotirmayee Patra.

Making Odisha Known! - Namrata Sahu

“Working as an IT engineer in Hyderabad was pretty monotonous and boring, and I did not have much to do apart from work in my 9 - 9 job. Being an extrovert, I love to socialize, and do stuff like hosting, and food blogging, but I could barely do any of that stuff there. Even after the job, it felt like something was missing in my life.

I noticed that a lot of people outside Odisha were extremely unaware about the State, and some did not even know that it is a State, not a district. During the pandemic, when I started working from home, I decided to start food blogging, so that other people may get to know about how wonderful this State is. I started from basic street food, like ‘Bara-Ghuguni’, ‘Gupchup’, ‘Soya-Pakudi and Ghuguni-Tarkari’. I could never find these incredible food items anywhere else, and I wanted people to know how good all these things taste!

 

That marked the beginning of my journey, and within 4 months I got around 5k followers, which was totally unexpected. Doing something else apart from my job feels refreshing, and at the same time, I make people know about the beauty of Odisha. I get a lot of appreciation, and collaboration offers from different brands, and that makes me even more confident, and makes me want to do more.

 

Before the lockdown, I used to socialize with my colleagues in office, but now, thanks to blogging, I get to meet a lot of bloggers and influencers, with whom I get along well. Meeting new people, making new friends, food blogging, all these together make my day good. Life has become more exciting, and even if I go to any other place for work, I will always try my best to represent Odisha, and everything related to this State. I will always try to make people know about the beauty of this State, and all the good things that come out of it.” – Namrata Sahu