Becoming Somebody - By Shipra Mathur

Written By: Shipra Mathur

Category: Becoming Somebody

Competition: Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

In the evocative piece "Becoming Somebody," Shipra Mathur offers readers a poignant exploration of ambition and self-discovery. Featured in the Creative Writing category of the Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026 by Hashtag Kalakar, this narrative delves into the nuanced journey of Priya, an ordinary girl with extraordinary aspirations. As Mathur unfolds Priya's story, we are invited into her world of struggles, triumphs, and the perpetual quest to define success on her own terms.

About the Work

"Becoming Somebody" is a beautifully woven narrative that captures the essence of striving against the odds. Mathur's storytelling is rich with emotional depth and evocative imagery, portraying Priya's internal and external battles with authenticity. The piece explores themes of resilience and self-worth, questioning societal norms and the true meaning of success. The mood is contemplative, offering readers a profound reflection on personal growth and the courage to pursue one's dreams.

At Loss at Both Ends

Original Submission by Shipra Mathur

Becoming Somebody

Priya was an ordinary girl.

Very ordinary, in fact.

If there were fifty students in her class, she would usually be ranked somewhere around twenty-five. Never at the top, never at the bottom. She somehow managed to pass every year.

What fascinated her were the toppers.

How did they do it?

How did they manage everything-studies, sports, drawing, debates, music? Everything seemed to come naturally to them.

Priya, on the other hand, was always struggling to get the basics right.

She studied, but somebody had studied more.

She played, but somebody played better.

She drew, but somebody’s drawing was always displayed on the classroom wall. There was always somebody ahead of her.

Yet Priya wanted to become somebody.

She did not know exactly who or what she wanted to become. She only knew that she did not want to remain ordinary all her life.

Perhaps that was why her father had found the easiest way to make her work.

Whenever he wanted her to do something, he would tell her, “Leave it. You won’t be able to do this.”

That was enough.

Priya would get angry.

And once she was angry, proving him wrong became her sole objective.

Whenever he wanted her to study harder, he would say, “Leave it. Don’t study. This time you will definitely fail.”

Priya would be furious.

She would sit down with her books, determined to prove him wrong. Her father would then sit beside her, teach her whatever she did not understand and make sure she studied properly.

She would work hard, appear for the examination and somehow pass.

But when the results came, Priya was not grateful to her father.

She was angry with him.

He had said she would fail.

He had doubted her.

At least that was how she saw it.

It never occurred to her that he had been the one who had taught her and stayed beside her. For Priya, passing the examination was not a victory shared with her father. It was a victory over him.

And without either of them realising it, Priya learnt something that stayed with her for years. She worked hardest when someone made her believe she could not do something. She needed something to prove.

She needed someone to prove it to.

Priya had a diary.

It was not a daily diary. It was a place where she could put down her emotional outbursts.

Whenever she was angry with someone or hurt by something, instead of shouting at that person, she would quietly write everything in her diary.

Sometimes, while writing, she would be wiping her tears and her nose and continuing to write.

She could write things in that diary which she could never say to anyone. Nobody ever read it.

Perhaps that was why Priya was completely honest in it.

Years passed.

Priya somehow managed to pass her matriculation in first division. She completed her graduation, followed by her LLB and then her LLM from a well-known university.

She became a lawyer.

She wanted to become a successful lawyer and, someday, have a law firm of her own. She knew she was not the best lawyer around.

But she also knew she was not bad.

She was good at drafting and quite forceful in her arguments. She worked hard, prepared her matters well and believed that if she got the right opportunity, she could do much better.

The problem was that opportunities did not come easily.

At the law firm where she worked, some of the other lawyers received more attention than she did.

She often wondered why.

But she kept working.

She travelled to the office and to the courts, changing buses in the hot sun and getting tanned. She prepared her cases, drafted, researched, met clients and stayed back late to finish her work.

By the time she reached home, she still had dinner and household work to finish. Then she would sit down and read the cases listed for the next day.

The next morning, she would do it all over again.

She was tired.

But she kept going.

On her way to work and court, she would often see advocates arriving in their cars, crisply dressed and looking confident.

She would look at them and then at herself.

By the time she reached court, her clothes would gather the dirt and smoke of the road.

She would often wonder why other advocates who had their own cars and smart dress did not have to struggle the way she did. She wanted their life too.

She wanted her own car.

She wanted to dress well.

She wanted people to know who she was.

She wanted to become a successful lawyer.

At home, her family was looking for a suitable match for her.

Even this was not easy.

Nobody seemed to want their son to marry a tall lawyer who had an LLM degree. Her height was a problem.

Her profession was a problem.

Even her higher qualification seemed to work against her.

Basically, all the qualifications Priya had worked so hard to acquire were becoming her disqualifications in the marriage market.

After a long search, her family finally found a proposal which seemed suitable. Priya met Priyansh along with their families.

They had almost nothing to say to each other when they met.

While Priya was still thinking about what she should say about the proposal, the boy’s family gave their acceptance.

Her father gave his acceptance too.

Before Priya could really understand what was happening, an early marriage date was fixed. And just like that, Priya and Priyansh were married.

Priyansh was gentle, soft-spoken, very loving and caring.

Like Priya, he too had his own struggles in life. But they were never visible on his face. He was always smiling, as if everything was fine.

When he was around, Priya simply felt relaxed.

Unlike her father, who would create difficult situations for her so that she would fight and overcome them, Priyansh wanted to give Priya comfort. He wanted to remove the obstacles and difficulties from her path.

“You don’t need to travel by buses anymore. Take an auto instead,” he would tell her. It was a small thing.

But for Priya, it meant a lot.

“Priya, you can do whatever you want,” he would say.

For the first time, Priya started experiencing freedom without struggle. It was all so new to her.

Together, they were not very well off, but they had enough to meet their expenses and still have something left to enjoy.

She liked coming home without worrying about changing buses.

She liked having someone who would tell her that things would be fine. She liked not having to prove herself all the time.

For a while, she thought this was what she had been working so hard for.

She continued working-office, home, office, home. They slowly saved money and eventually had a house and a car of their own.

Perhaps this was success too.

But slowly, something began to change.

There was no one telling her that she could not do it.

No one was doubting her.

No one was challenging her.

Priyansh never said, “You cannot become a successful lawyer.”

He said the opposite.

“You can be whatever you want to be.”

And perhaps that was the problem.

Priya had spent so many years fighting against people who doubted her that she had never learnt how to fight for something when nobody was standing in her way.

The struggle had always given her something to prove.

Now there was nothing to prove.

And without noticing when it happened, Priya began to postpone things. There was always tomorrow.

Tomorrow she would work harder.

Tomorrow she would look for a better opportunity.

Tomorrow she would do something about her dream of having a law firm. That tomorrow never came.

Priya still had the need to become somebody.

But she no longer knew what “somebody” meant.

When she was young, achievement had a clear shape.

She wanted to become a successful lawyer.

She wanted her own car.

She wanted to dress well.

She wanted people to know who she was.

And someday, she wanted to have a law firm of her own.

Now those things did not seem to matter in quite the same way.

She still wanted to do something.

She just did not know what that something was.

So she started trying different things.

She was learning to sing.

She was learning to write.

She would sing a song and wonder whether she could ever become a good singer. She would write a story and wonder whether anybody would ever read it.

Sometimes she would put her work out there. Sometimes somebody would appreciate it. Sometimes nothing would happen.

She was still unsure where any of it would lead her.

But she kept doing it.

There was no one telling her that she could not do it.

No one was challenging her.

No one was saying, “You won’t be able to do this.”

And she was not angry anymore about anything.

Earlier it was her anger which acted as a fuel to make her do something. And now for the first time, she was doing things without having to prove anything to anyone. One day, while looking through one of the drawers, Priya came across her old diary. She opened it.

She turned a few pages and smiled.

There were things she had written years ago.

“I want to be somebody.”

“I must have freedom.”

“God, help me to become successful and then I’ll show this world…”

She read those lines again.

The girl who had written them seemed so familiar and yet so different from the woman she had become.

That girl had always been angry.

Angry with her father.

Angry with people who did not notice her.

Angry with people who seemed to be doing better than her.

She had always wanted to prove something.

She had always wanted to become somebody.

Priya closed the diary.

She realised that she had not stopped wanting to do something with her life. She had simply stopped needing to prove herself.

The young Priya had written because she was angry.

The older Priya wrote because she had something to say.

The young Priya wanted to become somebody because she wanted people to notice her.

The older Priya was slowly learning that perhaps she did not have to become somebody in the eyes of the world.

Perhaps doing something she enjoyed was enough. Perhaps not knowing where it would lead was also okay. For the first time in her life, Priya was not fighting with herself. The young Priya had never really been at peace. The older Priya had found peace.

And perhaps, after all those years, that was an achievement too.

About the Competition

The Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026 by Hashtag Kalakar is a prestigious platform celebrating diverse voices and literary brilliance. It aims to nurture creativity, providing writers with the opportunity to share their unique stories with a wider audience. The competition showcases a range of genres, capturing the imagination and inspiring readers worldwide with compelling narratives and innovative poetry.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Shipra Mathur for sharing "Becoming Somebody" with us. Her contribution to the Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026 enriches our understanding of ambition and self-discovery. Thank you, Shipra, for your compelling narrative and for inspiring us with Priya's journey.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.