A Girl Can Dream
Saloni is from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. She joined VidyaGyan, an institution of Shiv Nadar Foundation, in 2010.
While going through some old things at home I found a number of my mother’s hidden paintings from years ago. Upon finding them I was not surprised by how good they were or how talented she was, but for the first time I understood the source of my artistic inclination. My nani then told me about how my mother wanted to pursue arts and become a professor but instead she was married off right after she graduated from school. Despite my love for sketching and drawing, everyone coerced me to become an IAS officer so I too adopted this dream and made it my own. However, now I am sure I will pursue fashion design to follow my dreams and make my mother proud. I want to use that knowledge to open a small apparel unit in my village to employ young girls like me and make them believe that their capabilities are limitless and can do anything they set their minds to.
*VidyaGyan is a Leadership Academy, designed for the economically underprivileged, meritorious students of rural India. Established in 2009, VidyaGyan envisions bridging the urban-rural divide by creating leaders from India’s rural hinterland who can act as catalysts of change for their communities, villages, and the nation. To know more, visit www.VidyaGyan.in
