Anusmita Mohapatra (Image: https://www.instagram.com/anusmitaaa)
The other sacrifice happened far from the college gate
Anusmita recalled being in Class 5 or 6 and her brother being in Class 3 when their mother would leave after visiting home. Because of her posting, her mother had to live away from her children. Because that’s what she does.
Anusmita said her mother continued paying her college fees semester after semester until she began doing internships and was able to support herself. She said her mother would cry every time she had to return to work. Always,” she wrote on Instagram and ended it with “love you above everything. In her Instagram post, she said she shows up at Flipkart for her mother and that the job represents the sacrifice made to send her to college.
It wasn’t a one-time struggle either. The story becomes more personal when Anusmita talks about her mother’s job. Years later, the roles had changed. In the Instagram video, Anusmita shows a moment with her mother before moving through glimpses of her own professional life at Flipkart. The contrast is striking: the mother who once left home to earn money for her children’s education is now being embraced by the daughter who has built a career of her own. “My mother put her gold bangles in finance to pay my college admission fee. She didn’t think twice. She just did it. And every single day I show up at Flipkart – I show up for her. This job isn’t just a job. It’s the proof that her sacrifice meant something. That the girl whose mother pawned her gold to send her to college made it somewhere worth going. I don’t talk about this enough. Ma – this one’s for you. Everything is for you. For Anusmita, getting hired by Flipkart was not simply about securing a well-known corporate job. She described it as evidence that her mother’s decision had led somewhere. The video carries the same message, with text describing her as the girl whose mother pawned her gold to pay her admission fees and who later secured a job that could allow her to provide for her mother. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test Get the latest Lifestyle News and more. Download the TOI app.
But today felt like the right day to say it out loud.
22 Sept 2026 | 14:56 According to Anusmita, her mother, Amita Mohapatra, was a teacher and had taken up a government teaching job when the family was under financial pressure. Her posting was in Ambodala in Odisha’s Rayagada district, nearly 12 hours from Bhubaneswar by train. The job initially paid only ₹3,000 a month and had a six-year contractual period before permanency, she told Hindustan Times.
The image is simple: a daughter hugging her mother, followed by glimpses of an office life that once seemed financially out of reach. Anusmita Mohapatra, now working at Flipkart in Bengaluru, recently shared the story on Instagram, explaining why her job means much more to her than a career milestone. Her mother had pawned her gold bangles to arrange Anusmita’s admission fee at NIT Trichy when the family did not have enough money. Then came the college admission.
But behind that embrace is a pair of gold bangles that had to leave the family home years earlier so the daughter could enter college.
Anusmita had secured admission to NIT Trichy, but the admission and hostel fee was around ₹1.25 lakh. The family did not have that amount available. So her mother pawned her gold bangles and arranged the money, allowing her daughter to take the next step in her education.