Sukirti Gupta: Pushing beyond societal expectations and carving her own path

"Take actions instead of dreaming your dreams, face your fears and do it anyway", says Sukirti Gupta, a teacher with 4 years of teaching experience. She is known for her innovative and unorthodox teaching methods, she believes that education goes far beyond textbooks and formulas. She strongly advocates that true education should nurture both intellect and character.

But her journey hasn't been easy. From fighting with discrimination since a young age to fighting the society with their definition of 'success', life hasn't been a smooth ride for her. And yet she thrives towards excellence every day.

Rising above social stereotypes -

Since childhood Sukirti has battled with discrimination based on her skin colour and body type. Her very first encounter with this type of attitude was in class first when students refused to sit next to her due to her wheatish complexion.

This created a deep rooted scar in her mind and yet after all the hardships she still managed to move forward in life with kindness and grace.

She knew that the only way to overcome these shallow social stigmas was through hard work and skills. And she did just that. She worked hard and was always praised for her creativity and outstanding performance as a student.

Even though these achievements gave rise to jealousy and resentment in her peers, but she kept going.

She had realised that in order to shine and thrive, she had to stop caring about what others think and instead she needed to focus on doing the right thing.

The turning point -

Once her school life got over, the challenges were just waiting to pounce on her. Her college life was not a bed of roses and she struggled to make her own space and identity.

She realised that not everyone was as kind and accepting as she was. The constant jealousy, competitive attitude and rude behaviour of her classmates took a toll on her mental health and she fell into depression.

She graduated in the year 2018 while battling with her own emotions and thoughts.

Her thoughts kept spiralling which caused a lot of anguish to not only her but to her family as well. Everyone was shocked to see such a lively and cheerful girl fall into a pit of sadness and despair.

Yet she refused to halt. She decided to join a coaching for civil services in New Delhi. For one year she prepared for competitive exams while handling her own emotional and mental well being.

The educators in her coaching centre opened a new perspective for her. She realised that there was more to life than just chasing goals. She started questioning things and demanding answers. But her 1 constant question remained, which was, “Why is there so much rush in life?”

The interactions with her educators in her coaching institute opened the door towards enlightenment for her. After one year of coaching, she went back home and did self-study for one year due to the onset of COVID-19.

Still, her heart was in chaos. She started writing thoughts and quotes to inspire herself as well as others. Seeing her dilemma, her mother suggested that she read ‘Ramcharitmanas’.

And this suggestion was truly the turning point of her life. She realised that most of her questions were finally getting answered, and she didn’t need to wander anywhere anymore in search of clarity. After that, she read ‘Shrimad Bhagwat Gita’, which marked the start of her spiritual journey.

Due to this, her thoughts had finally calmed down and she gained stability in her emotions. This led her towards the decision of joining B.Ed. She had found her calling, she finally knew what she wanted to do.

Path towards social work

As opposed to what many might think, she believed that the time she invested in preparing for civil services was not a waste at all. Because this was the time that had finally given her a sense of direction in life. It was the time that made her realise that the sole purpose of her life was social-work, and she wanted to follow it through any means.

She felt being a teacher was her calling. She could help the young minds in building morals, character and a positive personality.

And as fate had it, after 2 days of making this decision she got a call from the school she is currently teaching in asking her if she was interested to join.

All is well, that ends well-

Today Sukirti has not only managed to establish herself as a successful educator. But has also actively preached for spirituality and spiritual awareness. She has actively inculcated professionalism and spiritualism into her life and she works towards bringing this enlightenment into the lives of others as well. She has distributed 98 Bhagwat Geeta till date. And wishes to keep working towards the path of social service.

She feels that as women we need to be shameless while fighting against the pre-conceived notions that have been pushed against our throats since ages.

Her ideology is pretty straightforward in this matter. She has delivered few lines in this regard -

“A woman who has nothing left to lose.

A woman who no longer cares what the neighbors will say, how society will look at her, or who whispers behind her back.

She no longer lives to play the role of the good wife, the obedient daughter, or the perfect mother.

Her survival required burning those roles to the ground.

She is no longer afraid of judgment, gossip, or loneliness, because she has already lived through all of it.”