MY IDENTITY-WORLD PULSE

With the hustle and bustle that goes hand in hand with everyday life in today's society, it's quite easy to take our very existence for granted. Most people feel at ease in their own routine and don't dare leave its comforts. However, there are those who strive for bigger and better things -whether out of ambition or simply a will to survive, those wonderful women who strive to help others reach for the stars and arrive at their destination. I wanted to become one! I knew it was not a cake walk.

I have encountered daunting obstacles in life but have overcome by utilizing grace, determination and an undying love of life.

I turn the pages of my diary back to 2006 – The worst disease in the world is "being unwanted" and I was that unwanted since then. As a victim of domestic violence many times I chanced upon death. Even the very thought of the torturous nights I had spent was spine chilling now. I remained there as a useless bundle for months.

Inspite of all this pain and pressure, an inner voice spoke –
Where is the woman who was once a community organizer, a team leader, social worker bringing changes in the lives of women?
who organized campaigns for girl’s education, gender equality, sexual abuse, rapes and all that attacked both urban and rural women?
A counselor who rendered psychosocial/trauma care to the witnesses of the giant waves of tsunami swallowing their loved ones?

It struck that for quite some time I have been out of my track and now regained my vision. That was the day when Google took me to World Pulse. “A former patient can make an excellent doctor.”The pain of rape victims, innocent widows, trafficked children ran through my head. Now it’s not only my activities but my voice that will echo this pain.

To others around me I don’t look normal which they infer from the way I dress, in an out of fashion manner, don’t conduct myself normally, speak in a language that only I understand and not others. But World Pulse understands my language, appreciates me for what I am.

Overcoming each set of challenges has enabled me to augment my stature as an activist. But entering into World Pulse has made my journey of the challenging past into a mere chapter and opened the gates wide to expand my vision, my future – a reality.

Now I have the opportunity to reach out to thousands of women worldwide whose voices have been shut by the vices of culture. We the women are responsible to lead the nations into the future. We must show courage and leadership by engaging in all aspects of our democratic processes to truly realize our demographic dividend. We need not look back when we realize we are responsible for our lives.

For that we should right the wrongs we witness by becoming voices of the global media revolution – “Voices of the Future.”