The Little Girl With Big Dreams i
Publishing-in-support-of, EDUCREATION PUBLISHING RZ 94, Sector - 6, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110075 Shubham Vihar, Mangla, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh - 495001 Website: www.educreation.in Copyright, Author All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of its writer. ISBN: 978-1-61813-625-1 Price: ` 180.00 The opinions/ contents expressed in this book are solely of the author and do not represent the opinions/ standings/ thoughts of Educreation. Printed in India ii
The Little Girl With Big Dreams Indira Ramanidharan EDUCREATION PUBLISHING (Since 2011) www.educreation.in iii
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There is no power stronger than your will-power. v
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I dedicate this book to My Goddess (my mother) - Shanthi & my better half - Venky. vii
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About The Author Indira Ramanidharan is the President of Knowledge Tree Training Academy. She holds an international certification of diploma in NLP from IIPE, Canada and is a post graduate in Instructional designing. She also freelances for corporate training programs and conducts public workshops. She is expertise in the field of life skills and lives life with the motto that it can be lived once so, live it your heart full. She spends her leisure time in writing stories and pencil-sketching. ix
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Acknowledgement I would like to thank the God, almighty for giving me this gift of writing. I would like to thank my parents for encouraging me to write this book. I am blessed with a husband who patiently listed to the whole story and helped me above and beyond to publish this book. Thanks a million, Venky. I would like to thank my uncle, S. Sai Ganesh, Associate Professor at Dayananda Sagar Business School, for helping me and boosting me to publish this fable. I would also like to thank my best friend Kaushika, who has seen me at my best and worst and appreciated me in both. My friend, Neha who read this fable and helped me in editing it, thank you. xi
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The Little Girl With Big Dreams 15 March 2010 Indira Ramanidharan On the streets of Jaipur, a little girl with golden eyes and long black-brown hair was riding her bicycle to school. Her name was Naina. It was one of the most important days in her life because it was the day of her 10th board exam results. She sat in front of the system in her classroom waiting for the results. Just then, Rahul entered the class and sat next to her. He asked Hey Naina, How are you? Rahul was a tall guy with green eyes. He was the smartest guy in the class and comes from a royal family in Raipur. They have been close friends since childhood. Naina turned around smiled and said I am fine Rahul. How are you? What are your plans next? Just then, the results popped up in the system and Naina was on cloud nine - She scored 92%. Before Rahul could reply, Naina got up from her chair and left. She reached home and hugged her mom, who was preparing gulab jamun for her. 1
The Little Girl With Big Dreams Naina s mom - Shalini was a woman in late 30 s who had long black hair and wore cotton sarees of light shades which suited her pale yellow skin. Naina said Mom, I love you. and kissed her on her cheeks. Shalini said love you too, Naina. So, how much did you score? and stuffed a gulab jamun into her mouth. Naina said 92% with her jamun-filled mouth. It was 6 in the evening, Naina s landline rang. Hey, Naina. How much did you score? Hi Rahul, Sorry dear, I was in a hurry. I scored 92%.What about you? 91.7 % (giggles) Naina, I got 2 free passes for Miss Pan ache fashion show. That s so cool Rahul. When is the show? On the 23rd of this month. Wow. Thank you so much. (Hung the call) 2
Indira Ramanidharan Naina was a fashionista - she loved art, fashion and anything that involved creativity. Naina s dad returned home that evening. He cuddled her and said I am proud of you, my little princess. Naina hugged him back and kissed him on his cheeks. Naina s dad - Dev, was a diligent government employee. He was in his early 40 s, with a dark skin tone and had few grey hair which seemed like silver lining on dark clouds - making him look smart. 23 March 2010 Naina was getting ready in her room upstairs. She wore a plain white t- shirt with sky blue jeans, which neatly exposed her lovely 5.8 feet figure. She decided to leave her hair free. She applied a mild shade of lipstick, kissed herself in the mirror and walked out of the house. Shalini screamed from the Balcony Where are you going Naina? Naina replied I will come and explain you mom. and rushed to the gate. Rahul was waiting in his Skoda 3
The Little Girl With Big Dreams Octavia car. Naina opened the door and got in. Rahul took her hand, kissed it and said You look awesome. She blushed and gave back a buoyant smile. They reached the auditorium. It had a huge walk way. The hall was covered with wall decors and wall hangings. It was The Indian bridal ramp walk. Rahul pulled Naina and went to the back stage. They saw tall models walking around, rehearsing for the show. The fashion designers were explaining them how to wrap the sarees, the makeup artists were busy doing the hairstyle, nail art and makeup. Naina admired everything over there. Just then, someone called her Excuse me, mam. Can you please help me? Naina helped the designer to wrap the sarees. The designer said with a smile Thank you, Gorgeous. and got busy with the next model. Naina and Rahul went near the back drop and started posing themselves. They cat walked on the ramp and laughed their hearts out. The bouncers came and scared the two away from the ramp. It was time for the show, all the 4
Indira Ramanidharan audiences settled down and the show began. The whole environment seemed like it was Naina s dream, she felt this was her cup of tea, she should be a part of this. She felt she should be a fashion designer. She was excited moving about meeting all the models, fashion designers and makeup artists after the show got over. She got a few friends too. Naina told Rahul about her dream of becoming a fashion designer. Rahul encouraged her and said If you love something, go for it. Listen to you heart, it knows things you don't know and makes you do things which you think you can never do. That night Naina got a weird dream of going to London for a fashion show and meeting Manish Malhotra - the top fashion designer in India. She turned around, smiled and slept off. 24 March 2010 It was a pleasant morning, Naina walked into the kitchen to get her hot 5
The Little Girl With Big Dreams cup of tea. She saw Shalini busy preparing the breakfast, Naina hugged her and said Mom! Shalini spoke in her sweet voice Tell me darling. Naina continued with excitement in her eyes. Yesterday, I went for a fashion show at the Birla auditorium. I met a lot of models and fashion designers there. It was a mind blowing fashion show. I loved the place mom! The people there are so stylish, gorgeous and so creative I want to be a fashion designer. Shalini, who was from a very traditional family of Rajasthan, got angry on her and said Don t dream too much, Naina. You are gifted that in spite of being a girl, you are allowed to go to the higher secondary school. Your cousins who are a year younger than you have already got married. You are going to join the science branch, complete your engineering and get married to a rich guy and settle down in the US. (Which is the dream of most of the Indian moms...he...he...) Naina replied in a harsh and determined tone Mom, I am serious about this. I want to be a fashion 6
7 Indira Ramanidharan designer. She gulped her breakfast and left to school in her bicycle. Naina s dad returned home in the evening. Shalini explained Dev what happened in the morning. He went upstairs and knocked Naina s door. Naina opened the door with red eyes which had swollen with tears. Her dad got in, sat near Naina and spoke, Naina, I understand you want to become a fashion designer. But, it involves a lot of risk. Yesterday in the ramp show, you saw the happy side of all the people there. These people don t receive good salary and some receive their pay too late. You need to fight a lot because it is a huge field with heavy competition and fashion changes every minute. I think you know that very well. The industry looks good only from the outside. Once you enter, you will repent for not listening to us. We care for you and love you. We want you to be happy and that's the reason we are telling a no for this. Naina said But dad, no one has ever achieved anything great without risking. Failures are a part of success
The Little Girl With Big Dreams and if you are passionate about something, it is impossible to fail at it. Dev got up and left her room saying You are still a kid. Good night, my bold little princess. 3 June 2010 Naina was waiting along with her mom and dad to fill the application form at the reception in her school to get her 11 th grade admission. She met most of her 10th grade friends - Vishwa, Vendita, Reena and Rahul. It was only Ankita who was missing. Rahul, who was standing with his dad, crawled slowly towards Naina and whispered Did you tell them about it? Naina mumbled Yes. But, they said a no. He asks her in a husky voice What next? She said We will meet up in the central garden at 5 in the evening. He said Ok and vacated the place immediately as he saw Naina s dad standing near her and frowning at him. 8
In the Central garden, Jaipur - Indira Ramanidharan Rahul and Naina sat near the musical fountain, for a long time silently admiring the water dancing with the rhythm of the music in the fountain and changing its colours. Rahul finally broke the silence and asked her So, what s your plan? Fashion designer? My parents are not ok with that. Naina said with a sad face. Rahul said You don't need anyone's permission to do what you love. If you really love it, you will find excuses to get it, else you will find excuses to leave it. Naina said But, I need their permission to study. I am not financially independent. Moreover, my parents love me, I cannot disappoint them like that. Naina, remember that you can live only once and that should be filled with things you love. Time is limited, you can't live forever. Saying this Rahul left the park. 9
The Little Girl With Big Dreams 23 June 2011 Naina got a call from her Aunt Leela. Leela was a woman in her late 30 s. She was a well-educated and brilliant woman, who owned an IT company in Chennai. She was a lady of guts and had struggled a lot in her life to become what she had always dreamt of. Hello Naina, How are you? I am fine Aunty, How are you? I am fine. How are things going on? What s your career plan? Everything is fine. (Lowers her voice) But, I want to be a fashion designer and my parents are not ok with that. Naina, that s a good choice. It's a flourishing industry with heavy competition. I will try talking to Dev. Don't worry. No one has ever achieved anything great without diligence and perseverance. Keep fighting till you win. Finally, it is not the size of the dog in the fight. But, the size of the fight in the dog which matters. 10
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