My original plan was to be an engineer. But things changed after I arrived in Mumbai in June 2010. My family hails from Bhopal, but since my father worked in the coal mines of Chhattisgarh, I went to a school in the hill station of Chirimiri. My mother is a homemaker, and I have two brothers, and one sister. I was a topper in school, and Math and Biology were my strength. I had cracked the PET (Preliminary English Test), and was preparing for the IITJee exam, but when I realised that I needed R2 lakh to get admission to a college, I knew I had to find a way to make the money. 

When I saw an advertisement in the newspaper about a Miss MP contest, I decided to participate. I had imagined they’d ask me to dance a little here and there, but I was expected to do the ramp walk and go through a question-answer round. I told the organisers that I wasn’t fit for this. Back then, I was dowdy, wore mustard oil in my hair, sports shoes and baggy clothes. But they said, they would groom me. And just like that, I won Miss MP.