[Monday Motivation] How I went from a farm in UP to studying at a top US university

I was born in a small village in Uttar Pradesh. My father is a farmer, and my mother is a homemaker. We were not well to do and our annual income was less than Rs 1 lakh. My family struggled to make ends meet and ensure that I went to school. When I was only 12 years old, I was told about an opportunity to study free at VidyaGyan, a leadership academy founded by the Shiv Nadar Foundation that gives children from rural underprivileged families an opportunity to better their lives. I wrote and cleared the entrance exam and secured admission. However, the news was bittersweet because my education would now be free, but that meant I had to leave home, my family, and my friends. 

ALSO READ

[Monday Motivation] This 10-year old is creating awareness about plastic pollution among children through her podcasts

When I told my parents, they insisted that I go as this was a wonderful opportunity. My parents have always talked to me about the importance of having an education and it was this passion that motivated me to join VidyaGyan. I stayed at the academy till I graduated high school with top marks. My education at the academy was free throughout my stay there, and the teachers always supported us. It was this that convinced me that I could do anything I set my mind to. After finishing high school, I decided to write the Scholastic Aptitude Test or the SATs which is a must for anyone wanting to do an undergraduate degree in the US. I cleared the exam with a high score and secured a scholarship to study at Purdue University in Indiana.

Foreign experiences

Living in the US was not all fun and games. I found the transition very tough as this was the first time I was seeing and experiencing life in a big city. Going to the academy was the first time I was leaving my village, but even Dulhera was a small town and this change was more than anything I imagined. Needless to say, I had to face a lot of challenges when it came to my interactions with people, my professors and peers, and even in terms of the culture.

My first big challenge was how difficult it was to find affordable vegetarian food. I was forced to live on salad and fruit. The only time I ate any Indian food was when they served it at the university dining hall. My first-ever visit to a restaurant was also after I reached the US. I had also never eaten any international cuisine, so was very happy when I first ate Mexican food. This was the closest I had even had to Indian food in terms of spice and flavours. It also reminded me of the food I would eat back home.

It also took time to get used to how people interacted on campus. My first day in class was a real shock. Everyone called the professors by their first name, and I was also asked to do the same. For someone who had grown up only calling my teachers 'sir' or 'ma'am', this really took time to get used to. There were also a lot of things that I saw on campus that I had conflicting thoughts about and found shocking. Luckily, I made friends with other Indian students and it was conversations with them that helped me adjust to what I was seeing. The exposure also broadened my perspectives and helped me understand, accept, and even appreciate people whose approach to life was different from what I had grown up believing was the right way to do things.

The environment on campuses in the Us are very liberal and people of different nationalities, races, sexualities, and genders, sexualities all live freely and can be themselves. Experiencing all this made me realise that everyone has their individual stories, and it is this diversity that helps teams grow with different perspectives, voices from multicultural backgrounds, and varying abilities. It also helps nurture an environment that is inclusive and dynamic.

What I also benefitted from was the flexibility in the US education system. In my second year, I changed my major from mathematics to computer science as I learned, discovered, and understood various opportunities I wanted to experience.

But, it was not all academics and I pursued various extracurricular activities through campus clubs. I worked closely with professors and researchers on different projects that caught my interest. It was all these activities that I participated in outside the classroom that helped me develop an analytical approach and developed my problem-solving skills. It was my research on a healthcare project that ultimately helped me to scuere a job at a startup in North Carolina, where I work with healthcare data on a daily basis.

My advice to other students is to do many internships as possible when studying. It is this that will add value to your CV along with gaining experience via research projects with professors. My tenure as a Teaching Assistant was also a great value add. The four years I spent at Purdue University have inspired me to always keep an open mind and learn new things whenever I can. My research does not end here. I want to do a lot more in data science/data engineering and help solve challenging problems. 

It's been more than two years since I have had the chance to go home. I am waiting to be able to visit my parents and tell them all about my life and experiences and how them motivating to give that exam 10 years ago has changed my life completely.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)