the angel biker

Who am i? I am a winged creature who has been flying for more than a decade. Too dramatic? I fly because i am an air hostess not because red bull gave me wings you silly! For the last 6 years and 10 months I am a mother. When I was born I was destined to be called Voila - from my father’s favorite Shakespearean play - "the twelfth night" but I guess sanity prevailed in the guise of my mother who gave me a very proper name - Pragati. My dad’s nickname stuck though so I answer to Voila too but only if I like you enough.

I am a typical Gemini (yeah… Linda Goodman rocks). I live in a fantasy world. I am emotional in one moment and strong as a rock in other. I always stand by my family and friends no matter what. I am tall, dark and beautiful and every time he looks at me in that special way i feel pretty 

Things I want to change about me? I am too possessive for my own good. I trust everybody to anybody. I am also a spendthrift

What do I do these days? I work for an international airline company. I have been to so many beautiful countries but so much remains unexplored. When i tell people about my work and about the places i have been they want to know about the places I have been to. But every coin has two sides. Its 20:25 hrs and right now when everybody is looking forward to return to their home to cosy up to their family, I am getting ready, putting on make-up and flying away.

Did i choose to do this? As a kid i dreamt of becoming an air hostess one day… but I did not work towards it like someone possessed. At each stage of my life I did what I wanted to do then - from doing my +2 with maths and biology, to graduating in english literature and psychology, to doing my post-graduation in journalism! So I really cannot say if i chose this profession or it chose me. I was always a spoilt brat but I owe my success to my parents. When i joined Air India in 2004 the first thing my father told me was don’t leave this job. Stay! In the beginning i was very restless and desperate to leave. For me staying away from family for even a week was very painful and i used to spend all my money making calls back home. Now it’s been 11 years and apart from seeing a new place each time I take off, this job gives me the chance to meet different people from different parts of the world.

What makes me go yayyy? Like any other woman shopping makes me happy but i really love riding bikes.  My father taught me how to ride when I was in school and since then I am in love with the feeling when the wind is in your hair and you just speed away all alone. I bought a Royal Enfield for myself some years back but now my eyes are set on a Harley. Sleeping with my daughter’s limbs entangled with mine makes me a happy person in the morning. Travelling for fun and not work also makes me a chirpy bird.

My favorite smell ? The un-perpetuating smell of fresh air after a long flight, the smell of home cooked food when I reach home and fresh flowers. 

How do i de-stress? I have a life-size punching bag ...literally. After my separation this wonderful person came into my life with whom i share everything with and pour out my heart to. He is my best friend, my partner in crime, and he has made me the confident person that i am today. He has given me a sense of security and I feel wanted around him.

My dream is to bring up my daughter on my own terms and also be filthy rich. I know money can’t buy everything but you see it does help you buy a lot of things that do make you happy. Since the time i have become a mother all my hopes, dreams and aspirations have become one directional. i just want to give my daughter everything that she wants and everything i can give her. People might say i spoil her but to be very honest i think it is the guilt that works behind this attitude of parents like me, who cannot bring up their own child. I left her with my mom when she was just 11 months old.

The words I adore and keep chanting to myself? My father is a retired english professor. When i was young, i used to watch him teaching his students. I would listen attentively to all the poems, stories and novels and my young mind would go on an imaginative journey every time I was introduced to a new character. One of my favorite poems was " stopping by woods on a snowy evening"  by Robert Frost and the lines" the woods are lovely, dark and deep, but i have promises to keep, and miles to go before i sleep,  and miles to go before i sleep"        have been engraved in my heart since the first time I heard it. i find these lines very beautiful and since then this has been the motto of my life. "it is not in stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves"

What was the life altering event that changed my life? The first time I held my daughter in my arms and looked into her eyes. That moment lasted for just a few minutes but my life changed after that. In the last few years i have seen myself grow. From all the heartbreaks and broken relationships, from being a mother to my little angel, to being besties with her now, i have felt it all. We know what we are, but know not what we may be. Time teaches us everything. i feel every woman is strong in her own way. I, for once, know my strength now.