SUSHMITA DAS

• Pune

• How you describe your own Personality and Persona.

I believe one needs to be happy to spread happiness around. I am a positive thinker and do not lose heart easily. I always see a ray of hope in everything I do. As a person, I am very calm and level headed in stressful situations. I come from a loving family and the value it has inculcated in me reflects quite well in my persona. I think there is no substitute for hard work, so whenever I take up any task, I do it passionately with dedication. Trying new things excites me and I am quite social by nature which gives me an edge to earn good friends from different walks of life. I am free spirited and open in thoughts. I feel happiness resonates in my personality as I always feel God has been kind enough to give me such supportive family and friends and a comfortable life. I try to use it as an edge to help others in whichever form I can.

• Your achievements that make you feel high?

I feel the achievement that makes me feel high is the very fact that I have not forgotten my values with the kind of life we are leading today, where everything appears so materialistic. I have been able to retain the true value of life in me. With God’s grace, I have achieved good position in my career and I am so thankful to have such an amazing life partner and In-Laws who feels so proud to see me succeed in life. I always dreamt of pursuing higher studies post my engineering degree, other priorities took over. Now I am pursuing MBA along with my job, which remains a dream for so many married women. This is the close to perfect life, I could imagine to have and my self- belief and family support has turned it into my biggest achievement.

• Define the true beauty.

Personally, I feel the inner beauty is reflective of a beautiful soul and lasts throughout the life span. In my eyes, true beauty is a combination of kindness and modesty. It is a form of positivity that spreads around with mere presence of a being. It might not be seen by naked eyes, but can be experienced and felt. In one word, I define True beauty as ‘Soulful’.

• Do you consider yourself to be a giver or taker?

I think I am a mix of both. Taker in the form of learning from beautiful minds I meet in my journey of life and giver in the form of spreading that knowledge and experience further. I believe in giving something substantial to the society and what better than helping them in skill development. As part of multiple CSR initiatives, I have been able to touch couple of lives to guide them in right direction. I feel fortunate enough to be educated, which is a dream for so many underprivileged children, and we can do our bit by sharing our knowledge with them. I think by building their skills, we can make them self dependent for future. No initiative is big or small, and I think all of us have that tad bit to give to our society.

• What is your favourite Idea of Holidaying?

I love serene places and relaxing on a beach, watching sunset is the most desirable feeling for me when I imagine my holidays. If not this, I am very homely at heart and have been mostly away from family for studies, followed by job, so during a break from my regular hectic routine, I love to spend time with my big fat family, enjoying homemade food and getting nostalgic about those carefree childhood days. Holiday means rejuvenation and relaxation for me and this provides me both to bounce back to my hectic life, feeling all reenergized and refreshed.

• Why you are participating in Mrs India Queen of Substance?

To be honest, in my heart I always wanted to experience this whole journey as I believe it provides a great platform and exposure to share my thoughts on women empowerment and give me directions to contribute towards it. The best thing I like about MIQS is the way they are making a difference to the society. My heart breaks when I see the way our women are treated in India. I feel this pageant will give me an opportunity to share my thoughts on it and spread awareness among our folks and fellow Indians. Our women have achieved so much at National and International levels and MIQS is a true reflection of it and I would feel privileged to be associated with it.

• If you were given the chance to live again, what would it be?

As I always say, my life may not be perfect, but it has been a joyful ride and I have come a long way. However being a normal Human, I too would want to go back in time and do few things differently. I feel I did not nurture my hidden talents for which I had great potentials. I could have let loose couple of things and with studies should have given equal importance to sports. Although, I was more active in sports during my college days and now, still that is one thing I miss out of my childhood days. I was too busy with my creative side during those days, not a bad deal though.

• The Quote or saying that encourages you?

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow – By Helen Keller Helen Keller was deaf and blind, but she turned her incapability into her strength. I find this quote from her, so inspirational and full of positive attitude which defines the way I look at life. You will find numerous people to pull you back, criticize you but if you believe in yourself, you are unstoppable, just keep looking at the brighter side and work hard. Negativity is a matter of mind and we all have that capability to do away with it. Connect to your spiritual side and you would know how easy it is!

• Many teenagers and youngsters are bullied worldwide for having .

God has given us equal opportunity to make the best out of our potential. There is nothing called ‘Imperfect looks’, rather those who bully others based on looks, have ‘Imperfect vision’ which does not allow them to see beyond. We cannot control the way God has created us, but we can certainly enhance our inner beauty and try to be a good human being, that’s where one should not fall short. “Beat the bully”, as I strongly believe that bullying has nothing to do with you, it’s the bully who is insecure. Treat them as your motivators and work against the wind. Being strong is a choice, make it and move on.

• If you were selected as a Charity Ambassador what Value addition would you like to do for our Society and how? Why do you think giving back to society is important?

Most of us feel that for doing charity one has to be rich enough, monetarily. This is a very wrong notion. Anybody coming from any background can help others in so many different ways. As my contribution to society, I would want to work for women empowerment by connecting more and more women together from every walk. I think alongwith men, we also need to sensitize our women which can only happen when they work towards upliftment of each other. I think it is quite vital to develop skill sets and help our women to become self-dependent. We have a huge imbalance in terms of honed skills and this gap can be filled by sharing knowledge and educating our less fortunate women in some vocational courses that will provide them opportunities to earn for themselves. It is important to boost their confidence. I would want to spread awareness in this direction as I believe our society will be much better if our women feel empowered and free to share their thoughts equally. Whenever I feel life is too tough on me or, I wanted something which I could not get, I think about people for whom even fulfilling their basic needs is a challenge and struggle every day. Suddenly, all my pain and sorrow appears so small. It gives me a sense of responsibility to give back to my society whenever I get an opportunity to do so. Joy of giving is so priceless. Volunteering for any such cause strengthens our communities and provides a valuable experience of kindness. We may not feel so connected at the very first instance, but as we continue to serve our society, even the random acts of kindness would make one feel incredible. I have helped old people to cross roads, conduct learning classes for maids’ children and trust me, it gives immense contentment. We just need to look around and contribute to the society more consciously. It sounds like ‘giving’ but gives you so much in return.