Q and A with Dr. Satabdi from Assam, India
“Never play the role of a victim; wake up and fight back. To fight back is the demand of the universe, even though people may call you the villain.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: Passion is that fire that burns within your soul that never can be put out. For me, passion means writing. My love for writing was actually ignited in me by my grandfather who used to say, “Reading makes a man; writing makes a perfect man.” This particular thought, which once he told me during school days, became my lifetime mantra and affirmation to write more and more. Today, I am an academic writer, an author, and a social influencer. My field of writing is academic. I am interested in writing academic write-ups because they follow a certain structure. That is academic write-ups are always scientifically based and published after proper primary and secondary surveys.
The main focus of academic writing is to convey information as effectively as possible. An academic writer has to be patient because he or she has to develop a write-up backed up with proper evidence. Academic writing is not just a collection of ideas one has to go for relevant research questions, proper argument, critical thinking, and established theory with real-life case studies. Presently, I am helping people with my academic content. I have recently published an academic textbook named Amazing Assam: Unveiling the Hidden Charm (a book on culture, tradition, historical facts, geographical information & tourism of the place called Assam, India). I also have more than 20 internationally published research papers and articles with 51,228 reads, 90 recommendations, and 47 citations. I have been awarded many times for my contribution in the area of academic skills, including receiving the Innovative Writer Award from (the Global Trump Foundation), the Young Researcher Award from (the Institute of Scholars), the International Brilliance Award from (Hypedge Group), 100 Inspirational Women of the Year 2021 from (I can Foundation), Best Achievers Award from ( Magic Book of Records), Super Woman 2020 from ( Forever Star India Award), and Best Paper Award from ( EPRA Journals). Additionally, I have also been featured in many media houses like Hindustan Chronicles, The Preventlent India, Success India Magazine, Spot Latest, and Fox Interviewer.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: For me, Dr. Satabdi Roy Choudhury ( Ph.D in Human Resource), I grew up as the daughter of Mr. Satadal Roy Choudhury, Rtd. Executive Director from NEEPCO, a government of India Enterprise, and Mrs. Mitra Roy Choudhury, a college professor (Department of Economics). I have a younger brother named Saptarshi Roy Choudhury, who works as a senior system and infrastructure engineer at Walmart Global Tech.
I am a freelancer academic content writer from Assam, India. I write about contemporary issues in society and showcase them through my research papers, articles, and various other creative ads. My love for writing was always there as I always participated in various writing competitions. My zeal for writing was first boosted during an essay writing competition in the year 2007. The topic of the essay was “My Dream Country India,” where I won 4th position. I also used to contribute many of my creative writings to a college magazine called Societies of St. Edmund’s College, Department of Sociology, Meghalaya (2006-2009) India. During my MBA days at E.I.I.L.M, Kolkata (2010-2012) India. During this time, my writings were very much appreciated by my professors, and I used to prepare various promotional short ads for college programs. My write-ups took a professional shape during my Ph.D. course (2013-2015) under my guide Dr. A. Barman, Associate Professor from Assam Central University, Assam India.
My Ph.D. is the stage where I got introduced to the professional world of research journals, research workshops, seminars, webinars, newspaper write-ups, and creative writing.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: Some life lessons that I learned: (a) Make yourself necessary and you will be needed. (b) Listen to advice from others, but never let others make decisions on your behalf. (c) Accept what you are, acknowledge your deficiencies, and try to be better. But never become someone else to gain acceptance in society as such fame is short-lived. (d) Never play the role of a victim; wake up and fight back. To fight back is the demand of the universe, even though people may call you the villain.
Some lessons I learned as an academic writer: (a) Every research article or research paper has to have some amount of self-contribution. Proper paraphrasing and citing of sources should be the priority in acknowledging the author or other writer’s work in the reference list. (b) Another important part of academic writing is one should avoid hedging the claims with words like ‘perhaps’, ‘maybe, ‘for all one knows, ‘it may be’ etc., as such words give the impression that the writer lacks confidence. On the contrary, one should focus on words such as ‘suggest’, ‘of course, ‘recommended’, ‘advocated’, ‘indicate’ etc. (c) An academic writer should also avoid informal language and has to put them on a third-person basis, as it focuses upon presenting fact rather than providing an opinion.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism is an ideology that aims to define the establish political, economic, personal, and social equality for the female gender. The ideology holds the view that societies prioritize the male point of view and that women are treated unjustly. According to my point of view, feminism does not fully copy male counterparts in society. Feminism is not jumping into competition with males. According to me, feminism is taking pride that, “Yes, I am a female.” Being a female, I can be both benevolent as well as compassionate and protective as well as fierce. Being a female, I am the source of life, a source of kindness, a source of motivation, and a source of nourishment for my family. So, feminism is a shakti (power). To nurture yourself, and your family, and to create an environment of positive intelligence and self-awareness.
More from Dr. Satabdi: Well, in this space, I want to share some of the challenges I faced during my journey as a writer. The major challenge that I faced was the stereotypical belief that a girl should not spend so much time only on study purposes; a girl should be more bothered about how to be supportive of her family, search for a suitable partner to get married, and focus more on family issues. Secondly, the challenge that I faced is that being an MBA ( Master in Business Administration) graduate, one should search for a full-time job. Instead, I am sitting with my laptop, and trying to write, which is not acceptable within society. People’s derogatory reactions and speeches as nothing can be achieved by writing, it’s a waste of time, as in reality, no money is coming into your hands. How you will support your daily life and much more. Other than these challenges, being a writer, the most difficult problem I experience is balancing certain academic theories with actual real-life problems. Moreover, I had a lack of ideas, impatience to read books or journals, and finally, concentration to focus.
Thanks for reading!
Connect with me, Dr. Satabdi, here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Satabdi-Choudhury
