Creative intelligence: Neha Joshi

‘You cannot have a positive life with a negative mind’, Neha Joshi, the versatile journalist from Delhi believes that womanhood is all about aspirations and the pursuit of passions…

Ours is a land of strong women, from politics to the business sphere, from grassroot panchayats to entrepreneurship, Indian women are known to draw strength from ‘hope’. By shedding the embedded stereotypical mindsets, we, as society, can rise from the guilt that may halt our progress, believes Neha Joshi, the senior journalist from Delhi. Having spent majority years of her career with television news channels such as Aaj Tak, Neha has an interesting take on the progress of the world’s women. “If we enable our minds to understand the virtues of our inbuilt passions, we can take a lead in preparing ourselves for opportunities coming our way. But, we need to stop over-stressing about discovering our passions and pay close attention to the curiosity and the nuances of the journey called life.”

Throwing light on the concept of women empowerment, Neha says, “Women are way braver, stronger and smarter than they actually think they are. A woman working on the streets or a lady traffic police officer, or a health worker, or normal womenfolk in metro or buses – they all symbolise energy and power. Women have been strong since time immemorial, it’s the society which makes a woman weak by projecting her a weak gender, by degrading her status and her rights.” Neha shares there’s a strong need to revise the law of the nation, as she says, “I think it’s not women, it’s the entire system that needs empowerment. Once we do that, women will automatically be empowered.”

Straddling between newsrooms and the piles of newsworthy documents, Neha gets creative satisfaction. She has been a renowned journalist and a news anchor with a leading television news channel for decades now. Journalism is a high-pressure job. Newsrooms buzz with excitement, scripts are written with rarefied deadlines and reporters are on their toes to break some more news in a typical Indian news channel setting. “All my life I have worked as an anchor in news channels. The 24×7 functioning of news channels creates immense pressure. There are moments when a news breaks and you have to immediately accelerate to the studio. The pressure levels spike up every now and then, but you have to maintain a calm demeanor. So, this experience helped me immensely to stay calm, even when I am in the worst of my moods. You have to juice out the best from the given situations to stay sane,” she shares.

For a socially sustainable society, Neha feels there is a strong need for gender parity. “A gender equal society would be the one where the word ‘gender’ does not exist. By talking about gender parity we are actually leading the world towards gender inequality. There’s a strong need to stop calling it ‘women rights’, ‘women empowerment’ and so on. The society needs to rise from this and accept women as equals. No doubt, we must elevate every woman in our orbit, but remember our women have been and are the strongest.”

Neha ardently believes women must empower other women by creating a network of encouragement and support. She feels there’s a strong need to elevate women so that they can recognise the milestones they accomplish and celebrate the achievements. “Women, they smile when in distress. Modern women ensure stability, progress and long-term development of the responsible societies. They are multifaceted – they teach their children, they cook, they head out on professional meetings, they look after the family responsibilities and even spend time with their friends. The new age educated professional woman knows how to wonderfully strike the right balance between her work and personal life, and she knows her own worth,” Neha suggests.

As a mother of two, Neha is enjoying her personal life as well as giving new dimensions to her career. She is currently running a web portal – http://mirroruttarakhsand.com/, empanelled by the Govt of Uttarakhand. Sharing more nuggets from her professional life, Neha says, “My work allows me to flow with my creative energies. When you work on something that you utterly enjoy, stress is one thing that stays on the backfoot,”

Urging women to enjoy some moments in solitude, Neha shares her experience as she says, “It so happened that once I was in desperate need to take break from my routine. After dropping my child for his classes, I ventured to a coffee shop at a nearby mall. There was not body at the coffee shop, and only soft classical music and warm mug of coffee gave me company. I came back totally refreshed. So, it is important to do things close to your heart. I enjoy painting, cooking and spending quality time with my children. I like giving back to the society in whatever way possible. I lavishly cook good food for the needy and buy them clothes. Shopping, of course, is a great stress buster. I love talking to friends and organising my house. All these things are important for a positive outlook. Do not hesitate to spend time with yourself,” Neha signs off wishing our readers a very Happy Women’s Day!

Words of Wisdom for Womenfolk: