She walks with her might – meet Radhika Chaudhary, a trainee from IL&FS Skills on rewriting the story of her life

26-year-old Radhika Chaudhary has been challenging her expectations to make all her dreams come true. For her, it’s been a hard road to happiness. At the age of two, she was infected with a Polio virus, which immobilized her completely from the waist down. Till the age of nine she was stuck at home, she wasn’t going to school, her life revolved around the four corners of her home. She started walking with the help of her hands.

At the age of 10, she joined school at the insistence from her parents. They persisted to ensure that she leads a normal life. They encouraged her to do things on her own, and Radhika did eventually learn to become her own boss, so much so that, by the age of 24, she completed her Master’s in Arts and had secured a Diploma in Elementary Education.

She narrates her experience when she was applying for the job of a teacher, “everyone used to be impressed with my resume but when I used to get called for the interview, most of the teachers denied me the opportunity. I later got a chance to work in a Government school with the help of my father, where I taught students from nursery to the 5^th standard, at the mere income of Rs. 1,500  for five years.” Maybe that was a beginning, but it wasn’t enough for her. She wanted more out of life.

She joined IL&FS Skills in February 2019, for the Customer Care Executive course and got placed in ICCS at an annual package of Rs. 96,000/-. She recalls, “how my cousins forbade me to attend marriage functions. My response to most of these remarks were, if that’s how I was born why should I feel shy. Either you accept it or not, that’s not my problem. Sometimes, I feel my attitude has been the biggest strength of my life, which I have gained only through the constant support of my parents and my brother. Nothing really shakes me, neither the bullies nor my life situations. I was born with a determination and that zeal is all that matters and not what people say or think about me.”

To date, she has acquired a good number of friends, the impact Radhika has on others, combined with the love and support she receives and her attitude towards her life, is the reason she is smiling today.