Image credit: Instagram
Every once in a while, a reel comes along that isn’t really about a dance step or a recipe, it’s about a life philosophy hiding inside a 60-second clip. That’s exactly what happens when Mitali introduces herself on camera. She’s a doctor, a classical dancer of six years, and a singer. The list doesn’t end here. She is also a painter, a swimmer and an all India rank holder. She absolutely loves hosting, debating and public speaking. And somewhere in the middle of listing all this, she drops the real story: none of it happened by accident. Her parents built it, one summer and one competition at a time. Mitali explained in detail how her mother made sure, during every single summer vacation, she picked up a brand-new skill, no exceptions. Not one lazy, scroll-through-the-holidays kind of break. And it wasn’t limited to summers either; during the school year, her mother made sure she took part in at least one inter-house competition of extracurriculars every month, whatever the activity happened to be. And when you look at everything she just listed, the dance, the music, the sport, the art, the constant curiosity; it does read less like a personal highlight reel and more like a report card for her parents’ parenting style which deserves praise. There was no master plan to turn her into a doctor who also paints and sings and swims. There was just a steady, years-long habit of saying yes to new things, put in place by two parents who believed exposure mattered more than specialization, at least in the early years.