Right from the school days, this Tawanagar girl has been used to changes, working hard and making it to the top. This is how she got herself into a Telecom company....
Making the impossible possible is the mantra Anagha Saxena believes in. Language has been no barrier for this daughter of school teachers from Tawanagar, Itarsi. Anagha did her initial schooling (up to standard V) in a Hindi medium school and was forced to do her schooling thereafter in an English medium school. Her parents, teachers at the government run Pradya Shikshan Hindi medium school in Tawanagar wanted her to switch over to English medium. She did not know English at all, not even the alphabets. She moved to Kendriya Vidyalaya in Bhopal to pursue her schooling. She did not have any friends for a few years, as she could not speak English. It was here that she made the impossible possible. “I did not have friends as I did not know to speak the language, it was tough and students laughed and mocked at me. I took it as a challenge and went on to top the IX standard exams which gave me a new lease of life,” said Anagha. She used to get up as early as four in the morning just to learn English. It was her father, Sunil Kumar Saxena who boosted her morale saying she can do it, and she made him the happiest man when she topped the IX standard. And soon her younger sister took the cue from her and did her schooling in English and now is doing her medicine in Bhopal. The world around her changed and she had more friends than anybody else in school. And now she is with Tecnotree, working as a trainee manager, after topping her Business Management course from one of the top colleges in Pune. She is now based in Bengaluru. Having seen the rough side of life in her early days, Anagha is now a confident person. She goes down memory lane as she speaks to Corporate Citizen:
“I still remember the day when Papa gave me the English textbook and a pencil and asked me to underline words I was not familiar with. The first word I marked was: once”
Brought up in rural Tawanagar, Anagha was like any other village child—playful but good at studies. Switching from Hindi to English medium after class V was a tough call, but she made it happen with determination and commitment, making her parents Alka and Sunil Kumar proud. She was like a fish out of the pond. “I was an average student when my parents decided to change my school. They trained me enough so I could pass the admission test for Kendriya Vidyalaya in Itarsi, 200 kms from Bhopal. I still remember the day when Papa gave me the English textbook and a pencil and asked me to underline words I was not familiar with. The first word I marked was: once,” said Anagha who had her entire family behind her. “Dadaji taught me tenses while my father took care of my handwriting, and my mother oversaw all my subjects. She used to sit with me, burning the midnight oil,” said Anagha. She went on to finish her BE in Electronics and Telecommunications from Bhopal College of Engineering, securing 70%, for which she stayed with her relatives. The first time she moved out of her house was when she joined BITM in Pune. It was yet again a tough decision, not just for her but also for her parents as she was going to stay in a hostel. The college was a great place to study, according to Anagha, as there was no difference between seniors and juniors and everyone came together to solve all the problems.
Anagha soon became well known in the college. She was selected as the CRT member and this was the turning point for her. “I got the opportunity to understand the corporate environment at close hand and got a chance to interact with many companies. Here, along with my team members, I was responsible for the placements of my batch mates,” said Anagha, who did her internship from Radio Design, Gurugram, where she had a pre placement offer. But she wanted to join a telecom company and in her first attempt got placed at Tecnotree Convergence Private Ltd.
It was the technical round which she was worried about. “I did take guidance from seniors who grilled me well, and I overcame it with much ease,” said Anagha who is now an intern at PMO (Project Management Office), Nigeria Delivery.
“What I am today is because of my parents. But for their support I would have remained like any other Tawanagar village girl. They have been with me all along. I would not have gone this distance without their help and I cannot find a proper word to describe what they have done for me. The hard work has paid off. My parents are my inspiration. And of course, my friends and teachers— especially in the professional college-have guided me on the right path,” admitted Anagha.
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, you’ll find it,” observes Anagha.
by Joe Williams
