An essay one-pager on:: “We all come from somewhere and it shapes us — both in who we become and what we value. Tell us your story and what has shaped you.”

My father, my pillar of strength, passed away when I was young, but showed me how to face challenging situations in life and achieve your goals. Despite the financial hardship we faced, my parents always made sure that I had access to the best formal education they could afford.  After completing his schooling in the native language, he learnt that the job prospects were significantly higher for people versed with basic spoken and written English skills. Thus, to gain competency, he learned to communicate in English and even completed higher education with a distinction in the language. In his initial jobs, he waited tables at a restaurant while seeking better employment opportunities. He passed away when I was young. While observing him work in such high-pressure environments where he attended to a hundred different people everyday, I learned the most important lesson — No job is big or small. As long as your heart is in it and you are honest about it, you will get extremely good at it. My mother is the epitome of selfless love and offered unbiased education to the underprivileged children living in impoverished neighbourhoods. She displayed extraordinary skills in first winning childrens’ affection and then keeping them encouraged to take classes from her. She has fulfilled her goal in life, which is to help children who have no formal means. My parents are my first teacher and I cannot thank them enough for making me realize that the hurdles are meant to strengthen you so that you can face even the toughest moments in life. I was glad to be part of the opportunities they created and have inspired me to become the person I am today. While at the university, I put in my best effort to assist fellow students with assignments and projects. Not only I sharpened my knowledge about the disciplines but also acquired great leadership skills while keeping myself engaged with them. The pandemic-induced economic recession has piqued both poverty in India and my curiosity towards this topic. Poverty is not just people having erratic income but it has also seized their political voice. The Indian economy has observed unpredicted shocks that have severely impacted the demand and supply of labours. After my research, I found that due to the economic slowdown and high job informality, more than 150 million people had fallen into poverty in 2021. I have been reading peer-reviewed journals and articles on Poverty and strongly feel that the need of the hour is an extensive identification of the poor and vulnerable groups so that proper interventions can be taken. In the light of the same, I aspire to make a difference in society. I wish to empathise with people going through tough moments and send them good thoughts.