Terminating Terms and Conditioning Conditions

How much of you are you? Ever wondered how much you can stretch your thoughts, your vision beyond what you have been brought up, taught and cultured with? Your perceptions, attitude, decisions, choices, even your liking and disliking, how much of them are truly yours and not what you have been cultivated to believe are yours?
Have you ever confronted the self and inspected whether you are truly yourself? Or asked yourself if you want to live the way you are living or would have lived it otherwise if only you knew it other way or hadn’t suavely submitted to the norms of the society that surrounds you.
Well, we cannot answer all that for you; we can only wish that you make peace with it, whether you find them or not seek them at all. What we have for you is the journey of another marvelous woman from our surrounding, who is a maverick and ahead of her time.
If we tell you about journey of Dr. Kavita Suri, it might not raise your brow with awe right away, but the time frame and timeline of her journey will be eventually imbibed and would hopefully leave you pickled in motivation and inspiration.
In a brief introduction, Dr. Kavita Suri is a former journalist, academician, an author and one of the two members of State Commission for Women, Jammu and Kashmir who is in her mid-forties and peacefully single. But this does not reveals even an iota about her enriching journey.
Kavita has been an academician for past 11 years now and is currently designated as Director and Head of Department at, Department of Lifelong Learning (Formerly, Centre for Adult and Continuing Education and Extension), University of Jammu.
Before becoming an academician, Kavita had a considerable stint in field of Journalism starting back in her college days when she was leading a dual life of student during the day and a professional journalist in the evenings, extending to fourteen years until 2008. Beginning as content writer and sub-editor for Kashmir Times in 1994 to resigning at the post of Bureau Chief of The Statesman in J&K, Kavita has reached out to almost every corner of the state to bring out it's story and report the instances. According to Kavita if it weren't for Journalism she couldn't have seen, experienced and learnt about the state so profusely.
Kavita shares that she had to leave the field because its uncertainties were not favourable for her mother after Kavita lost her father. She says, "For my job I used to be away for days and my parents wouldn't know about my whereabouts and well-being all that while; It was manageable while my father was alive, it gradually became difficult with time after that."
And let's pin it that it didn't happen in this decade, it happened in late nineties till 2008. Even when she took off from Journalism, women were not yet common in the field. They aren't, even today, making one more interested in her growth and journey.
Born in early seventies, Kavita was the middle child to Poonam, an academician and Late Vijay Suri, a writer, actor, director, producer and journalist who owned and edited daily Urdu newspaper 'Ujala' in mid-70s in Jammu. Dr. Kavita seems to have picked prominent traits from both her parents but despite of their influence in her life, she is leading her life by owning it all and owing it all to herself.
Kavita expresses, "My childhood was filled with experiences. I was brought up listening the gruesome stories of impact of partition to my ancestors. I was exposed to theater, books and Journalism due to the professions of my parents. It is unfortunate how kids of today's generation miss so much on real experiences and are far from the gravity of life and its reality."
Looking back at her journey it is evident that Kavita never gets tired of learning. It is revealed by long list of academic qualifications. She has a bachelor's degree in Science and Education. Then, Masters Degreein English (University of Jammu), Mass Communication (Guru Jambeshwar University, Hisar) and Education (University of Jammu). After attaining Post Graduate Degree in Education (M.Ed.) from University of Jammu, she went on for the doctoral degree and successfully achieved it.
Kavita has diplomas and certificates in Creative Writing, Tourism Studies, French and Lifelong Learning. She has also grabbed few Post Graduate Diplomas; Journalism (Gold Medal from Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Jammu), Business Management (University of Jammu), Distance Education (IGNOU). She also has substantial list of trainings and workshops she has participated in, all this while.
Kavita is recipient of prestigious British Chevening Print Journalists’ fellowship 2005-2006 at the University of Westminster, London, Charkha-Sanjoy Ghose media fellowship for the women journalists working in areas of conflict in 2006 (and therefore, worked on ‘Women and peace building in Kashmir’). She has worked at the foreign desk of The Sunday Times, London (A Rupert Murdoch Company) for one month in January 2006. In October 2004 Kavita visited USA on an invitation of the US State Department under US International Visitors Exchange Fellowship Program and studied Journalism there.
Kavita has eight books to her credit, three of which are edited volumes. Three of Kavita’s books revolves around the women ; ‘Impact of violence on girls’ education in the Kashmir Valley’,‘Gender, Work & Stress: A Study of Job Stress of Working Women’ and ‘Voices Unheard-Women, Conflict and Kashmir’.
She has contributed in more than a dozen books and more than fifty research papers published in various journals/magazines and have presented more than seventy research papers in international/national seminars.
Kavita has delivered ‘n’ number of invited lectures on various subjects, many pertinent to women. She has chaired/co-chaired numerous technical/academic sessions in conferences dealing with various social subjects and has been a resource person in many trainings /orientation programmes.
Kavita has been awarded Rotary Award by Rotary Club Jammu on 2011’s International Women’s Day observance; Sadiq Memorial Award in 2004, Rasa Javidani Literary Award in 1998 (for contribution in the field of Journalism) and has been honored by Rangshalla Theatre Society for contribution in the field of art, literature and journalism in 1997.
That's not all. Kavita has been member, advisor and consultant for many organization and committees and has a tidy number of academic and institutional membership with various associations.
Today, Kavita has 15 years of research experience, with a versatile area of research involving Education, Women, Gender, Conflict, Tribes, Lifelong Learning.Her current research work includes, 'Tribal Gujjar-Bakkarwal girls and status of their education', 'Women, Conflict and Education in Jammu and Kashmir', 'Ladakh, land, people and Places - another book on Ladakh', Working on a book on Aryan Brokpa tribe of Ladakh'
Kavita’s accomplishments are not only admirable but also make one curious about what must have gone in to give such output. After conversing with her it is safe to say that her non-conformist attitude is not only derived but nourished by her father.
Kavita shares, "My father let us decide for our lives, take our decisions and he stood by us in all cases. Even when I decided to quit a government job back in the days for pursuing Journalism, he accepted it. I was not expected to marry, just because everyone says I should; I was given the freedom from the societal norms and conditions and decide my own terms."
Reminiscing her childhood, Kavita shares that she and her siblings were subscribed various magazines and comics as well as were members of Ranbir library,kachi Chawni, which inculcated in them a passion to read, which eventually also bloomed into the passion to write. Also, from a very early age they started participating in Radio-TV activities.
Kavita is multilingul; fluent in English, Hindi, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Urdu and few other languages because of her interest in reading, writing and learning.
Owing to that Kavita tasted both contentment and rush of writing for papers, anchoring for TV shows and talking on the radio. Yes, she has done it all. Kavita still writes for various newspapers every now and then. In her own words, "A by-line still gives me a kick."
Kavita is unapologetic about her choices and doesn't regret anything about her life even when the people try to make her feel so. So, there it is, a way of living which isn't easy to find around and the rarity of it and bravery to exhibit it makes it exemplary. A life which is a message in itself.