Move Beyond "OR"

Story 1:
It was 10 pm that night. I was still at work, working on a killer presentation. The phone rang and it was my Super Boss. He told me, that they had decided to appoint me as a Board Of Directors at Pepsico. I was elated. I shut my laptop to rush home and break the news to my family. My husband's car was parked in the garage. Good..I thought. He will be so happy to hear about my promotion. The moment I stepped in the house, I saw my mom. I hugged her and told her I have big news to share. She calmly said, the news can wait. First go out and fetch some milk for the morning. I asked her where our maid was? She said she had taken a day off. I asked her why didn't she ask her son-in-law, my husband to get it, since he was home early. She said, he was tired.
I was very upset. I drove my car and got the milk. Handing over the milk to her, I said I have been promoted as a board of director of my company. This is huge and you send me to fetch milk at this hour of the day?
My Mom replied. When you park your car in the garage, I want you to leave your invisible tiara there. When you enter this house, you are just a daughter, a wife, a mother. Nothing more.

Story 2:
After completing my MBBS from Grant Medical College in Mumbai, I enrolled for MD in Gynaecology and Obstetrics. A few months into my M.D. and I received an offer to do a TV commercial. The offer was tempting. I decided to give it a try. My parents didn't object either as they thought this was a one off thing and it would make me happy. The moment I faced the camera for the first time, I felt at home. The shoot was completed successfully and the ad was a huge hit. Post this, more offers started pouring in and I thought it was finally time to break the news to my family. I told them, I didn't want to pursue my education further and start modelling. This was a big shock to my family and they tried to convince me. I was determined and wouldn't take no for an answer. My family told me, that the shelf lives of a model is limited. Most of them don't even get married and kids are out of question, as child birth will mess up your body and your modelling career will come to a standstill.

Story 3:
After a lot of resistance from my family, I finally started competing for state level boxing games. A lot of hard work, training and years had transformed my body and more importantly my mind into iron. Nothing could beat it, nothing could defeat it. After winning the state and national level championships, I finally won my first international game - Asian Women's Boxing Championship. I was at the peak of my career having won a fourth successive gold medal at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship and a gold medal at the Asian Indoor Games and the inevitable happened. I fell in love.
When my trainer learnt about my marriage, he got too upset. He told me I was spoiling my career. I tried to convince him that I would play even post marriage, but he argued everyone said that in the beginning. Once reality sets in, you will be doing dishes and laundry instead of push ups and weight training. And before you know, you will be pregnant. What after that?

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Three stories of three different women. All labelled and restricted by the society.
It would have been very easy for them to give up and accept life as it is.
But they decided to go against the tide, because they knew, because they dreamt and because they believed that they were so much more than what the society had labelled them as.

They were Indra Nooyi, Aditi Govitrikar and Mary Kom.

Indra Nooyi, the Current Chairperson and CEO of Pepsico.
Indra is a Business Executive and a Daughter and a Wife and a Mother.

Aditi Govitrikar, the only Indian to win the Mrs. World Title.
Aditi is a Model and an Actress and a Daughter and a Mother.

Mary Kom, the only Indian woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships.
Mary is a Boxer and a Daughter and a Wife and a Mother.



You are Beautiful And you are Smart.
You are Kind And You are Strong.
You are Unconquerable, because You are a Woman.

 
P.S. The above illustrations were drafted drawing inspiration from the lives of these three beautiful women. They might not necessarily be exact depictions of their real life incidents.

“This post is a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus“.