By Tanisha Sharma:
Most of my mornings start the same way. My roommate turns the lights on, and I wake up. I reach for my phone and quickly update myself on all that’s happening on social media. I attend classes after and the rest of the day goes on as usual but November 12 was different.
The life I have is the kind many would love. Sometimes, there’s melodrama, and sometimes there are those perfect moments from movies that happen in reality. And then there are those moments that give you a reality check, moments which shake you with vigour, and all the dreams and ambitions that were deeply embedded in your subconscious are brought to your attention.
I experienced some of those moments at one such event: Converge 2016. Listening to the speakers I had a potpourri of emotions – the regret of having procrastinated; the dreams I killed every time because I was lazy, and my plans to bring about change that I had always put off for later.
I have always wanted to raise my voice to raise the voices of those who go unheard. I got thinking about the many aspects of change and tried to pick the one that I could start with. I chose myself.
While I was attending Converge, I realised that at one point in time, I had sort of become a ‘people-pleaser’. I used to seek validation from other people. Ankur Warikoo, the founder of nearbuy at Converge said, “Don’t let someone’s opinion of you become your reality”, and that made me realise that so many people have never seen my reality, but rather, the reality that I think they would have loved to see. Sabika Naqvi’s entire speech reminded me that I had to fight against patriarchy.
At Converge, I got the motivation and inspiration to start working on my dreams and change myself for the better, in that process. And I can say that I have begun.