Congratulations DR. POOJA A BASU from Mumbai for being the Finalist of Mrs India International Queen 2021! Let’s know more about her! We interviewed Dr. Pooja and here are her amazing answers:

 

Name: Dr. Pooja A Basu

 

Profession: Professor

 

Qualification: PhD in Management

 

Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra

 

Strength: Perseverance, Emotional Intelligence and Persistence.

 

Weakness: Can’t say no. (Have to learn the art of saying no)

 

Likes: Passionate about teaching and fashion

 

Dislikes: Pessimism

 

 

Tell us about your family.

 

We are a family of four. My mother in law is a retired government officer and my husband is into a corporate job. I have a pre-teen son (with whom right now a lot of patience is required) and I am a professor in a reputed management college.

 

Quotes that keep you going /motivates you.

 

  • Whatever you do, throw yourself into it. Throw your head, heart, and hands into it: Indra Nooyi
  • Either change and flourish or stay stagnant and perish. Yours Truly

 

Achievements/anything you are proud of yourself.

  • Gold Medallist in Management
  • PAN India Topper in ISTD OB course.
  • Miss Fresher during management program
  • Beauty with Brains in Class 12th.
  • Case study competition winner.
  • The feedback provided to me by my students give me immense satisfaction and keep me working hard towards the cause of learning.
  • I think I have been able to strike a good balance between my professional and personal life. Being a daughter in law, a wife, a mom and a professor and living up to the expectations of all those around me makes me feel proud of myself and my work.
  • May be these are small wins but they keep me going and motivated

 

What is Women Empowerment according to you?

 

Women empowerment is one of the most misunderstood term in our society. Women empowerment is not restricted to having a woman Prime Minister or Chief Minister, or having the female CEO in any company. According to me, the real sense of women empowerment is enabling the females of our society to take own decisions in a well-informed manner. For long women across the globe have been living in an oblivion in many aspects. Women empowerment means breaking the shackles which tend to hold the women back and allowing them to explore their own potential.  The real empowerment starts from home wherein the women of the house are involved in significant decision making, when they are able to pursue their dreams and aspirations without being judged as irresponsible mother or wife, when they are able to be vocal of their needs, wishes or desires without being afraid of being negated. It is time for all of us to move towards equal opportunity for women not only on professional but personal front also. Getting same pay for the same kind of job, removing gender bias from workplace as well as the home, getting respect for being a home maker and above all, giving a patient hearing to the women around us are some of the ways to start incorporating women empowerment in the society.

 

Message for society:

 

In my opinion, one of the biggest and yet unrecognised challenge that the society is facing is the prevailing competition. Though I agree that a healthy competition is always good for the society, but at present we are reeling under the pressures of slit-throat competition. Be it in school, in office, in business or even in common household, rather than excelling themselves, people are busy weighing down others to show themselves as big and better. This starts taking a toll on the society in a long run as the strategies are made only to overcome the competition rather than bettering the society.

 

Also, I think we as society are quite reactive in nature. Something (good or bad) happens and we start taking actions based on what has happened. I agree that we need to be contingent also but such conditional acts need to reduce in a long term. Most of our acts are more of after thoughts rather than being well thought. For example rate of accidents governing the inclusion of safety features in vehicles and improvement of roads, present day traffic jams deciding the enhancement of public transport or many such situations.

 

From the platform provided to me by MIIQ, I really wanted to convey that as a society we need to act in a Cooperative manner rather than competitive manner. Also we need to have a proactive rather than a reactive approach. Be it the policy maker or the market movers, a cooperative mindset added with a proactive approach is likely to do wonders for the society. There are lot of opportunities for all of us and we all can grow so rather than pulling people down. People need to be supportive towards each other. We need to stop having the crab mentality to pull people in order to rise. Be collaborative and cohesive and see the distances that can be covered. Be available for others (be it friend, family, colleague or even a stranger). By walking alone we can go to a certain distance but collaboration and support will surely take us to the moon.

 

How will you give it back to society after becoming Queen?

It may sound cliché but I fully believe that: “With great power comes great responsibility”. With such a humongous platform, I would like to work towards women empowerment. I want to spread the awareness of women empowerment to the society and want to encourage women to stand up for themselves. If we do not fight for ourselves, no one ever will.

 

Also, I have always admired the great work done by Nobel laureate Mr. Kailash Satyarthi. I always take his example in my classes to enlighten my students of his work. I would like to work against the child labour and abuse. This child abuse is detrimental to the progress of the society and nation. I would like to make the society aware about the demerits of the same and would want to see a remarkable change in the society while working towards the cause.

 

My Efforts and plans:

 

While working as professor, I try to make my students aware about the issues of women empowerment, gender bias at workplace, child labour and abuse. I follow these thoughts myself and discourage child labour and abuse whenever I see it in my vicinity. I also tell my students, family members and my friends to discourage these ill practices in their surroundings. In future, I plan to start a NGO working towards eliminating devils of child labour and abuse from the society.

 

 

Why you have participated in Mrs India International Queen?

 

In our society, there is a certain image attached with being a professor. When we think of female professor, an image of a saree-clad, serious looking  female comes to the mind of most of the people. People think that a professor can excel only in the field of teaching. I have participated in this pageant as I want to break this stereotype image of a professor. Through this participation, I want to exhibit and express that a female can be as professional and fashionista at the same time. I want to show that I can be living for my passion of teaching as well as fashion contemporarily.