In a country like India, where divorce is still frowned upon by society, breaking the shackles of patriarchy and following one's dreams after divorce is a boss move. In everyday life, we come across several women waiting for their chance at making a name for themselves, and unfortunately, only some of them are able to break free and realize their dreams.
One name amongst the women smashing patriarchy every day is Ms Priya Pramita Paul. Coming from functional family background and balancing family rules and regulations with personal independence, she was always ideal and praised daughter, girlfriend and wife. Like every woman of her age, she used to dream fondly of an ideal marriage and the day she got married, she thought her dream had come true.
She got married to the love of her life who was born and brought up in a conservative environment. Her life soon changed when working became a luxury and clothing was regularly questioned, but her "unfaithful husband added the nail in the coffin". She said she took a stance for herself after two long years of struggle but when nothing worked, she demanded a divorce.
However, life after separation isn't easy. Rather, it becomes difficult with each passing day, with increasing burden from society and depreciating mental health. She, on the other hand, took this time to isolate herself and made the choice of changing her life. She says, "I must say that I didn't face a lot of difficulty from society because I chose the backdoor and isolated myself from everyone. I made a very firm decision that either I am changing my life or I am giving up on my life."
She took the bold decision of working on herself. While speaking of the time after divorce, she says, "I realized that divorce is not really signing the papers, it's in the mind. My divorce phase was those 2 years of convincing him. Before physically divorcing him, I had already divorced him in my mind which made the court formalities easier. As a new version of me, I did everything alone with the lawyers and closed that chapter."
She says she realized her worth and understood how she can do anything in the world if she puts her mind to it. This drove her to the pageant world and near her dream of becoming something like Miss India, like her idol, Susmita Sen.
Though things weren't the same for her after marriage, she chose to live her dream and check everything off her bucket list rather than sitting and thinking about what life could have been had things turned out differently. She believed in herself and learned from her experience without seeking validation from outsiders.
Now, she lives her life as a life coach, telling women to love themselves and stay happy regardless of what life throws at them. She teaches the lesson of rising and shining as she did.
