Nikita Rathod - Interview

Nikita Rathod works in Marketing and Communications and has Indian citizenship. She grew up in India and currently lives in France.

Nikita's portrait

For Nikita, home isn’t defined by a specific geographic location, explaining how throughout her travels, she would create the feeling of home through personal expression and placement of objects. Prompted by ownership of her first pet, she wondered how this mentality might change in the future, through family and relationships:

●      “Home is a very important word to me. I feel like any kind of shelter with a little bit of love and warmth makes a home for me.”

●      “I have this need for those cute, cozy corners where my personality is seen. It could be through paintings, or just the way I want my speaker to be placed on the table, but I think mostly the personal touch. I like to keep things around me very personalized.”

●      “There have been instances where I travelled to a place and I was supposed to be there for four days, and I ended up staying for one month and everyone in the dorm extended their trip to be just with me. I was the person who would add cute flowers, set up the things to bring in love and light, and it just becomes home to me.”

●      “I think after a few years, I will be that woman who's going say home is where my partner and my dog and my kids and make those mama podcasts. But right now, I feel like home can be anywhere.”

●      “I'm much more sensitive and I have deeper emotions, since I have the dog and that responsibility. It helps me be a better person because they're so forgiving, and each time I'm impatient or I'm frustrated over something related to the external world, I just look at the dog and see the unconditional love that they have. Obviously, humans cannot get there, but I think it's a great way to have faith and perseverance, or at least try to acknowledge it, and the day just starts to feel better.”

Nikita views identity as something which is externally defined, without detracting from her agency – she highlighted how through her courage and actions, she has become a role-model to her community back in India:

●      “All the people back home in India, they look up to me. And they have no idea what's going on here, but I'm kind of that reference point for a lot of young girls back home.”

●      “I see identity as something that everyone else sees in me: I'm a huge extrovert, I never fear from sharing what I have learned, what my relationships have taught me, how I feel in friendship or building from woman to woman. I am a fighter. And I’ve broken a lot of barriers, because I come from a very small town, and nobody would have ever thought that I would move abroad. I'm a bit optimistic, and I just want to have fun with all the challenges that I come across. Because I've tried being sad about things, it did not help.”

When describing her personality Nikita emphasised her positive mentality whilst acknowledging her short temper and how that impacts her relationships:

●      “I feel like is the little experiences that that shaped up my personality, so it’s very personal for me. I'm joyful and I want to share my knowledge, but in terms of trusting people, I'm very, very, very selective, so I keep that pool of people really small - I call it my sacred corner and it's the building block of everything that I do in my life.”

●      “I am a big believer that I don't want to send out this negative energy and affect the people around me.”

●      “I lose my patience a lot, I can be really short with my words and brutal. My close friends and family fear that side of me a lot and they are thoughtful to not test my patience.”

●      “Most of me is happy, cheerful, confident and sharing energy, but there's one little side, and I love that one as well, to have those mellow days. I love the mix of this, but I wouldn't like the sorrowful side of me to be the major part of my personality.”

Nikita has experienced discrimination both as a woman and a migrant of colour and feels especially concerned by the prevalence of gender-based violence, which often affects her psychologically:

●      “As a woman, when you have this strong personality. People just take you as a as a threat. I've seen that happening with everyone, people of all cultures, countries and races. People judge you in various ways, and it doesn’t really matter how pure your intentions are – sometimes, you are criticized for wanting to be seen and heard.”

●      “Another thing as a woman which boils my blood and brings out all the rage in me is the rape cases that I have seen across the world. My cousins, who are 12 and 14 years old, are too afraid to go to school if their Mum can’t drop them off. And it's really bad in India - the rape cases have been so brutal. I try to not get into the details, because I see that affecting me for the coming days, and then I lose all hope for humanity. And even if nothing has happened to me directly, this is something I try to be conscious about when I’m travelling. It just breaks me, it's disgusting.”

●      People my age in India have different priorities right now and my life here is completely different, I am sometimes juggling between admin work for my visa, looking for a job and trying to keep the balance.

Nikita has travelled extensively across India, and did not always feel like she fit in certain regions because of attitudes towards women, whilst reflecting how on recent trips to her home she has experienced “reverse culture shock” having adapted more to Western cultural norms. In France, her friends are all members of the international diaspora community and she explained how she connects the most with people who have had similar life experiences of travelling and migration:

●      “Back in India, I did not see myself fitting in a few regions, where people were much more orthodox, especially towards women; where they don't have to study, work and make money. And I just did not see myself fitting in there those places, because I just want to be independent, financially and emotionally.”

●      “When I moved to France, and lot of things were different, from dressing to language and people not wanting to open up conversations. So it’s taken me almost two years to feel slightly comfortable here.”

●      “The bestest of friends are the people that I have met while traveling, they are my chosen family, not my given family. They are extremely open minded, our vibrations are just the same - we are on the same frequency when we are talking about stuff and being adventurous, not planning days and weeks ahead of time, just doing random stuff.”

●      “I suddenly realised that all the friends that I have in France come from other countries. And even if they've been living here for more than 10 years, they don't feel the exact same as people from France. And the best thing is, they have a mix of all the cultures and languages, so when you get together, it's always a blast. And we all have similar problems, we can sip a bottle of wine on the visa issues.”

●      “After moving to Europe, I appreciated how freeing it felt to express myself without worrying about how others might perceive my appearance or clothing. When I visited India again, I experienced a bit of reverse culture shock. People seemed to notice (or probably i started noticing) me more when I carried myself the way I had become accustomed to in Europe. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but it made me reflect on the different cultural dynamics in each place. It was a reminder that I’m navigating two distinct worlds, each with its own unique perspectives, and I’m learning to find a balance between them.

Nikita described her passion as:

●      “To Grow and Glow.”

●      “I don't want to let go of my ethical values, no matter the amount of challenges I face and the environment I am in, I don't like practicing the little politics to get ahead of others.”

●      “I want to create a life that my Pinterest mood board looks like; the kind of house that I want or the kind of skills that I want to learn.”

●      “I love marketing and communication because you can express yourself professionally.”

●      “Traveling is everything for me. And it's not about just ticking off the places on my bucket list. It's about living the experiences. Living as a local as much as I can, sharing, learning and enjoying with people - and crying with strangers. One of the best that has happened to me is to cry with strangers.”

Nikita chose colours which reflected her personality, spirituality and experiences of travelling for her portrait and a tattoo design which symbolises her love of travel for her flag:

●      “The place where I changed, where life changed, when I was up in the mountains. I can still feel the river flowing and the shade of blue.”

●      “The Hindu temples in India, are a very strong, deep orange. I'm not a very religious person, but these places have made me so much more alive.”

●      “And the yellow of a flame. Some really big flames, which we call Aarti - I get lost in it.”

●      “For colors which represent my personality, the answer would be all shades of pink; rose gold and everything, the entire family of pink.”

●      “It's a small bag with a heart on it and this can mean your personal, emotional, professional, all fucking kinds of baggage. Then you see a broken line which makes a heart, to take my own time, analyse things, move forward slowly, but definitely I don't want to move backward. And then in the end, there is an airplane - when I'm just not able to balance these two things in my life, if I see that I'm not moving forward in my life - I tell myself, take a fucking flight. And I believe that I will find some answers on the way.”

Nikita's flag

Find all the interviews from my 'Kaleidentity' poject on my blog!