Nidhi Bakshi, is a successful HR professional apart from being an avid traveller, adventurist and a social activist.

Background

Born to an army officer Col. SP Bakshi (retd.) and an educationist mother, Mrs. Vijay Bakshi, she has traveled many parts of India because of frequent transfers. Imbibing different cultures, she was brought up with a deep understanding of various political and social perspectives.

Nidhi developed an inclination towards the public service from a very young age. Her inspiration was Oprah Winfrey. She was also introduced to Transcendental Meditation (His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi) during her college days & has been a practitioner since then.

Turning point

Being a management graduate in Human Resources and having worked in corporate companies like Reliance & Tata; she felt something was amiss. A chanced visit to a tiny hamlet in Madhya Pradesh to meet her father, offered her an opportunity to visit California – her life’s turning point. In this process, she gave up few lucrative offers from big corporate to explore the unknown. After spending several months as a special delegate in peaceful environment of His Holiness Maharishi Maheshyogi Peace Palace at Ramona, California; she began to view life from a Vedic perspective.

Nidhi shares: “I started questioning myself as to what my true calling is, what the purpose of Human life, my real Dharma is”.

In a Different Zone

Something fundamentally has changed inside her as she yearns to find the answers. She now wants to work for a cause, and thus grabbed the opportunity for working with 108 ambulance services for its Rajasthan operations at Jaipur. She also had stints with organizations like Jaipur Rugs and Fortis Healthcare.

According to Nidhi, these organisations gave her the opportunity to experience the challenges of marginalized rural and urban communities, healthcare issues and exposed her to those truths that shook her very being.

She is currently working with PSI (Population Services International – a global health organization, which has a flagship program on maternal health. She is the Senior Manager-PEOPLE for its Rajasthan operations.

A nomad by heart, she draws inspiration from the rural women, who are stepping out of the veil and defying social norms to have a meaningful existence.

Difficulties and Dreams

Being a single woman in India, the journey can be tough. It can be daunting to say the least. The trials and tribulations strengthened her resolve to work in the social causes albeit, especially to work for women empowerment. After she returned back from the US, she decided to shift base from the comforts of her hometown to a new city to start life afresh. She feels incredibly blessed to be in Rajasthan and feels a karmic connection with this mystical state. Nidhi’s journey took an unexpected but beautiful turn recently, when she met her partner Himanshu Sharma who himself is a passionate traveller, a multi-cultural enthusiast, an entrepreneur and a geek.

She feels that we’ve come a long way on many social indices but a lot needs to be done. She wants to get into policy making and implementation thereby creating the required social changes in democratic manner.The big picture she has envisaged includes the host of issues like environment, social justice, equality, dignity of human life as all of these are inter-connected. Of course, being a woman herself, the issues of gender violence and disparity are closest to her heart.

Nidhi says: “We women must take charge of our lives and get going. We must stop being victims of circumstances. We are responsible for carving our own destiny. So take risks, travel, believe in yourself and experience the life you are meant for, a life worthy of respect, honour and fulfilment.”

By: Ruby khan

Jaipur Women Blog Journalist