Today morning I woke up to see my Instagram flooded with the news that Kamala Harris has made history as the first woman, the first black person of Indian descent to be elected as the vice president of the United States of America. This brings immense joy and pride to every woman out there who has dreams for herself, who work extremely hard to fulfill them, who stay hopeful in the dark times and who want to be heard.

While I scroll through my Instagram my memory took me back in time. The time when I spent some memorable days with my grandfather. In my earlier days he took me to a couple of old temples nearby, he took me to the park where I did some horse riding, he told me about his adventures, he made me meet his friends and was extremely proud of the little things I achieved in school like winning a running race, taking part in a school assembly, scoring well in a class test. Not only he was super proud of my little things he also shared all these things with his friends. My grandfather who was a businessman hardly completed his high school but was serious about my education and all the things related to it.

The year was 2010 and I had just returned from school. My grandfather was having lunch that afternoon. As soon as he finished he went to his room for a quick nap. By that time I had freshened up and was talking to my mother about some incident that happened in school. He called my name and I went rushing into his room. He called me towards him and held my hand and said, "Beta, I earnestly wish that you work hard and become someone big in life. I just have one wish. Make your grandfather proud." I just smiled and said, "yes."

Today, it has been nine years since we lost him but his words continue to motivate me and I hope I keep making him proud as I move ahead in life. I feel so exceptionally blessed to say that I belong to a family where my ambitions are given wings more than my marriage. Where my failures are accepted with an open heart and successes are celebrated more enthusiastically than birthdays. What more a girl even wants?

AND IF MY GRANDFATHER WAS ALIVE TODAY, he would be filled with such honor and pride to see Kamala Harris being elected and the vice president of United States and he would say, "If she can work hard and take herself at that position so could you achieve your dreams."