Tarini Mukherji upcoming Haut Monde Mrs India Worldwide pageant in Greece. In an interview with YoursNews, She shared her success story.
Q1. What drove you to apply for Mrs India Worldwide?
A1. I woke up one morning and realized that life has many a folds which one needs to experience. While it varies from person to person, but for me, I realized that I am more than a daughter, a wife, a mother, a career woman. I wanted more to my existential life and that opportunity came knocking when I stumbled upon Haut Monde Mrs. India worldwide 2019 pageant auditions in New Delhi. Since I had missed the application deadline, I submitted mine at the last minute as a wild card entry. One thing led to another and before I could fathom anything, I was selected as one of the finalists out of a global pool of 15000 participants.
Q2. How has your experience been so far on this beauty pageant journey?
A2. Beauty pageants are stereo typed to be all about “beauty” and nothing to do with brains. Unfortunately, nothing can be farther from the truth. When I see my fellow participants, every one of them is an accomplished woman in her own right. This pageant to me exemplifies womanhood wherein she has the strength to perform multitude of roles – a mother, a daughter, a wife, a career woman, a homemaker. “Womaniya” is a notion in motion and I am on a mission to showcase the best of my credentials as I prepare for the Grand Finale set to be held at Greece in October.
Q3. Tell us a little bit about your professional life?
A3. I am an architect by profession and a proud alumnus of Sushant School of Art & Architecture. At present, I am working with Ireo Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. wherein I am project managing the development of Grand Hyatt commercial project – Ireo’s flagship project – which is set to open this year. As the only woman in the team, I have invested last seven years towards this project and, hence, feel immense pride being part of a wonderful team and an equally wonderful organization.
Q4. Architecture is a profession that is dominated by men. What has been your experience when it comes to breaking through gender bias?
A4. Yes, historically speaking, this profession has been dominated by men. However, like every other field, Architecture has evolved over the last decade wherein a lot more women are choosing this field as their primary career option. Personally speaking, I have never let my gender be perceived by anyone as a limitation or a handicap. And, that is because I have always believed in my abilities, which is not a function of gender but rather a function of my inner confidence.
Q5. Outside of work, how do you spend your time?
A5. I love spending time with my children. My family is my pillar of support. My husband is a co-parent and a partner in all possible aspects of my life. I attain all and step out of my comfort zones because I know I have the backing of my family. Apart from that, I am passionate about cooking. So, I find most joy when I amalgamate the two and operate at its intersection – that is, getting my kids to cook with me! As a child, I have always been surrounded by different flavors and aromas, and, thanks to my mother, I grew up spending lot of time cooking and learning my way around the kitchen. Now, in my role as a mother, I want to inculcate those same habits in both my kids and help them experience the joys of cooking.
Furthermore, I find cooking to be extremely therapeutic. It allows me to let my imagination run wild by pushing my senses in multitude of directions through experimentations of different cultural cuisines.
Q6. Given the personal and professional journey you have traversed thus far, what has been your proudest moment?
A6. Few years ago, I decided to lend a small part of my life for a worthy cause as I felt an urge to give back to the community. At that time, I was unmarried and used to live alone in a rented apartment. Right across my building, there was a group of around 20 street children that would attend a make shift school under a banyan tree which was being operated by a fairly inconspicuous and ill-funded NGO. One day, I decided to approach the NGO and offered two hours on Saturdays every week wherein I would come and teach these street kids basic life skills like art and numeracy. The reason why I feel this has been my proudest moment is because deep down my heart I feel immense gratitude knowing that even if I made a small positive impact on one child’s life, it was all worth it.
I have continued my efforts towards contributing to the community. In particular, at the grass root level. With efforts of a trust called ADOPT, I have been able to help out bringing infrastructure developments such as toilets, bio gas plants and rain water harvesting in villages far and about. I believe the need of the hour for our country is to drive outreach programs that reach the “last mile” – remote parts of the country which haven’t seen the full impact of India rising. And, thus, important for each one of us to create societal impact in some shape or form that has the potential to reach the fringes of our society.
Q7. My support and role models?
A7.I grew up in Delhi and an alumni of Air Force Bal Bharati School. My life till date has been an encouraging one with the role models who have played a strong influence in every step of my life. My mother is the core icon in my life who has single handedly raised my brother and me in a country which is till date dominated by a patriarchal society. I never felt amiss of a father figure in my life as I had the best of both in my mother. She has raised me to be the person I am and is my biggest fan all the way. Not to forget the biggest critique too. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of being mentored by my teachers in school. An ode to late Professor Padma Shri M.N. Rana who was a nation builder. His support always made me believe in myself and my accolades and medals are a tribute to the impact he made on my life.
On workplace mentors, I have been blessed to have worked under immensely talented architect like Ar. Sudhir Vohra.
Q7. What’s next in the pipeline?
A8. This year end is a goody bag for me. I have the Grand Hyatt opening to look forward to and the Haut Monde Mrs. India worldwide 2019 finale in Greece towards end of the year. Apart from all of this, I am currently writing a children’s story book to commemorate my role as a mother. So as you can probably tell, I am eagerly looking forward to the new chapters in my life’s book (pun intended!)
