Shatakshi Kishan

It is always said that “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we are not really living.” This is the basic mantra that changed my life completely.

This is Shatakshi Kishan and this is my story. I am a Patna based girl who loves to eat and cook food. I am an avid speaker who has participated in many public speaking competitions and has been an AIESEC member. I have completed my college at SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai. I never knew that this period will be a major turning point in my life. This period not only changed me as a person but made me a successful food blogger. I used to be a carefree girl who was pampered a lot by my parents. But moving to a new city surrounded by new faces made me a responsible person. I used to trust people very easily and believed that everyone was a friend. Chennai taught me that not everyone is a friend and when facing a disparity anyone can turn your back on them. As I am a single child, I never actually shared my stuff with people or in other words not used to sharing my stuff, hostel changed this in me. I learned how to share my stuff with other people and eventually got comfortable with sharing stuff.

Failure has been a major part of my life. Since my childhood, I have faced many kinds of setbacks, but I am quite lucky that I have great parents who have supported me in every path of my life. My failures in life are very common as other people, some of which include not getting the college of my dreams, etc. etc. Well despite seeing failures in life I am really happy with how my life turned out to be. Being content in life is one of the biggest achievements a person can get, and this is the phase I am in my life. I am happy and content with the life I am living.

Going to Chennai not only made me responsible but encouraged me to become a food blogger. Well, the story goes on like this. During my college days, I shifted to Estancia, a gated society, and this is the point that introduced me to cooking. All those North Indians who have shifted to South India have in some way or another faced a problem in the traditional South Indian cooking style. Well, those who know me know about the page hangry.31. Well as the name suggests, I am a big foodie. Anyway, first things first the moment I started cooking back then, I developed a genuine interest in cooking. This was the first spark that ignited the fire inside me. The second was the constant appreciation I got from my friends regarding the food I cooked. This garnered the confidence which I required to open the page. Well in May I thought let’s try it out. Bas phir kya tha!! Khol liya page!!!!

Starting a page is not enough. The main essence of any page is the number of followers it gets. The initial phase was very discouraging. As it turned out initially, I didn’t get many followers which resulted in people laughing at the back and well I did face mockery. But I have a casual attitude towards these things, like the famous Bollywood song “Kuch to log kahenge, logo ka kaam h kehna…” I got discouraged but never let it affect my work. I continued to cook and post photos on my Instagram page. To be honest, gaining 1st 1000 followers was a headache, but I continued to work hard, and well hard work always pays off. After gaining 1000 followers, the page worked miraculously. It gained a whopping 9.3K followers in just 3 months. I am having the time of my life. I constantly keep getting calls for collaborations and promotions. Initial days of hard work don’t prove that bad right!!!! Well, a girl who had no plans to become a food blogger is a successful food blogger today, gives me the motivation and confidence that I can do whatever I want with a little bit of hard work. People often ask what my inspiration is. SPOILER ALERT!! I don’t have any inspiration as such. I cook whatever I feel like eating, you can say that is my inspiration.

As much as I am excited about this newfound love of mine, my parents are much more excited. There have been many instances in which I sometimes forget to click the photo of the food I cooked and just start digging in. My mother then and there stops me and reminds me to click the photo first. It makes me ecstatic and satisfied when I see them so happy and content with whatever I am doing.

I recently landed up a job in one of the best software firms Amdocs. Well in my 2 months journey I have never found any difficulty in pursuing my passion along with the work. The work culture of the company is indeed very friendly and it helps the employees maintain a work-life balance.

I have dreams regarding my blog but I am not quite sure yet. Let’s see how it turns out to be. Fingers Crossed till then!

Total Work Experience : 4 months(Amdocs)