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Home » Write Your Own Destiny : Journey of a Once Abandoned Girl Child: Pooja Chopra (Transcript)

Write Your Own Destiny : Journey of a Once Abandoned Girl Child: Pooja Chopra (Transcript)

Here is the full transcript of Pooja Chopra’s talk titled “Write Your Own Destiny : Journey of a Once Abandoned Girl Child” at TEDxKGInstitutions conference.

In this inspiring TEDx talk, Pooja Chopra shares her journey from being an abandoned infant to becoming Miss India. Her mother, faced with the ultimatum of choosing between her husband and her newborn daughter, chose Pooja, raising her and her sister single-handedly. Despite financial and societal challenges, Pooja’s mother and sister made significant sacrifices, fostering a resilient and ambitious spirit in her.

Pooja’s early life was marked by hardships, but she channelled these experiences to fuel her determination to succeed. Her breakthrough came when she was offered a chance to participate in Miss India East, leading to her winning Miss India. During the Miss World pageant, despite suffering a foot fracture, she showcased remarkable perseverance, winning the Beauty with a Purpose award. Pooja’s story is a testament to the power of determination, self-belief, and the pivotal role of a supportive family in overcoming adversity.

Listen to the audio version here:

TRANSCRIPT:

Early Life and Choices

I was just born, 20 days old, and she was asked to make a choice. It was either me or my father, because my father didn’t want another daughter. My mother chose me. With one infant in one hand, and a daughter who’s seven years old in another, she left her marital house.

I’m not really sure what she was thinking back then, but while leaving, she just said, “One day this girl will make me proud.” It’s been the three of us since. My mother had to start working immediately to put food in our stomach. I’m sure she had to put a stone on her heart to leave a month-old child and a seven-year-old baby all by themselves, alone in the house.

When I would cry, my neighbor came and breastfed me, or so I’m told. So I’m half Bihari in that sense. Well, very few childhood memories and instances that I vividly remember. One specifically being, when I was in my fourth grade, I discussed with my sister that once mom came back home, I’d ask her for a cycle, because all friends my age had a cycle.

Childhood Sacrifices and Inspirations

She explained to me that if I did that, my mother would not come home at night too, because then she would have to do a double duty to get me my cycle. I didn’t ask her for the cycle, or for anything for that matter of fact. My sister and me were both absolutely okay with using hand-me-down notebooks, bags, school books, shoes, practically everything that you could probably reuse. But trust me, we have nothing to complain about.

My mother made sure that she always overcompensated the absence of my father. In fact, when they’d probably distribute cakes and chicken sandwiches at her office, she wouldn’t eat. She would wrap it in tissue papers and get it back home to feed us. My sister did the same thing.

All the chocolates that were given to her in her class, at her tuitions, she came and shared it with me. I would see Didi waking up at 4 a.m. in the morning to go and distribute newspapers to a locality far from home, so that she could go unrecognized. And that money was then used towards my tuition fees.

Striving for Excellence

Well, Didi, she really pushed me to study really, really hard. She made sure that I stood a rank in my class. She pushed me in every possible extracurricular activity at school. And me, I was a really naughty kid.

Honestly, I was really naughty and very mischievous. In fact, the teachers would tell my mother during the PTA meetings and open houses that if this girl wasn’t as brilliant, she wouldn’t be in the school. In fact, my teachers thought that I’d grow up to be a doctor or an engineer, given my academic track record. But of course, destiny had something else in store for me.

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And modeling really happened more by chance than by choice. I won Miss Mount Carmel while I was in school. Post that, my sister pushed me to participate in a lot of local beauty pageants in Pune. I won a couple of them.

Beginning of a Modeling Career

And offers started coming in for editorials, for print shoots, for fashion shows. And I took them up. I mean, it gave me extra pocket money. And of course, I was getting famous in college. I didn’t mind that. So that’s how it started.

But trust me, it was only in the year 2014, when Tanushree Dutta won Miss India, that it finally struck me that this is something I want to do, because we had worked in a few fashion shows and pageants together. I was 18. I marched up straight to my mother and told her, “Mama, I want to participate in the Miss India pageant.” Without much of a reaction, she said, “You can do whatever you want, but that’s only happening after your graduation.” All right. So now I had three years.

Journey Towards Miss India

I knew that building castles in the air is great, as long as you can put pillars below them. I knew Miss India is not going to be easy. So without wasting another day, the next day itself, I ran to this video library very close to home and struck a deal with the guy. I said, “Every day, the Miss India episodes that are aired on television, I want you to record each and every episode for me.”

I started reading voraciously. I kept this 200-page notebook, which I would consider my Bible. I would take down difficult words, meanings, idioms, phrases, everything, because I knew how important it is at Miss India to have a smashing answer in order to win. I joined a gym, which is really close to home.

I did everything in my living capacity that I could possibly do.