“My family, they said, ‘Ladkiya ghar ka kaam hi karti hai,’ and ‘Hum tumhe skirt pehen kar khelne nahi denge.’”
“I wanted an escape from my life; from the electricity shortages, to the mosquitoes buzzing in our ear when we slept, from barely having two square meals to seeing our home getti
“I told my family, ‘One day, I’ll wear that blue jersey!'”
“Papa was a farmer and would barely make Rs 250, Mumma was a housewife and took care of us 7 siblings at home– we all studied in a government school. I was just 11 years old wh
“I’m a mother, doctor and a bodybuilder. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“I was a sporty kid and was known as the ‘best athlete’ on campus. But my parents were wary of this, ‘If you hurt yourself, no one will marry you.’ Still, I’d skip my B
“I’m going to lift knowing that I can, and I will, make history!”
“Whilst growing up, my siblings and I would have to walk kilometres to find firewood for our food to be cooked. Mummy ran a tea stall while my brothers would work in the fields a
“They said, ‘If you fail at archery, what will you do?”
“Papa was an auto rickshaw driver and mummy worked at the village hospital. We struggled financially–our home had no bathroom so we’d bathe in the river. We’d often go to b
“After coming back to Mumbai, I began therapy and I’m still healing”
TW: rape & suicide “I was raped when I was 5 by a family friend, but I didn’t tell anyone… I was afraid. From there, everything spiralled. A year later, my mother passed
“He undid the bottle and threw acid on me. Fumes rose off my skin.”
“I belong to an orthodox family in Odisha. Papa passed away when I was a kid, leaving me, Maa and my 2 sisters at Fufaji’s mercy. He wanted us to stop studying and do household
“I cried in pain. I was married to a sadist.”
“I met him through a matrimonial site; it was the ‘perfect’ match. But a month into our courtship, he started asking me for money to fund his trips and buy gifts for his fami
“I was molested by my dance teacher’s dad. I felt like a dead body.”
TW: sexual assault “My grandma started body-shaming me when I was just 12. ‘Don’t laugh, all your body parts are shaking’, ‘Don’t eat rice, your breasts will get even b
“I was in class 5 when my older brother started molesting me”
“I was in class 5 when my older brother started molesting me– he’d pull my pants down and rub his penis against my body. Then he’d threaten, ‘If you tell Maa, I’ll hit