User:Dm2711

Devangana Mishra was born to Vipin Sharma and Rashmi Sharma in Jaipur, Rajasthan, in 1986. Her brother, Rohan Mishra, who now heads Public Policy and Governance at the renowned company, Coca-Cola, back in 1986, had never seen a baby girl so small, a baby girl smile at him like that, he wrote to his parents when she was 3 months old, him 4 years and a few months old 'Look, my baby sister smiles'. He learned everything there was to learn, through his father coaching him by the hour, every dinner, and every car ride was a flurry of quiz questions, like Federer playing Nadal, no one wished to lose, though each lost with pride. Devangana's mother used to be a world-renowned dancer, the daughter of Rajasthan's Chief Secretary, now a full-time school principal and a mother, her children sometimes joked, one in the same thing, after all. Devangana cried too easy, too fast, so while everyone learned everything, she imagined the world in little steps and dance, her father would often tell her, to be a writer, everything else is too tall to climb, but sometimes words were mountains, so she read to little kids, with no mothers or fathers, like the ones she had by her side. After her time at the prestigious boarding school, Mayo College Girls School, she went to Lady Sriram College to study anthropology and philosophy and walked a few miles each afternoon to teach children whose parents were domestic helpers, at an NGO called Manzil. After her years at LSR, she watched how everyone landed big jobs, in big firms, to possibly everyone's disappointment or pride, she chose after all this money and time on her education, to be a teacher for special needs children. She did her first teaching gig at Vasant Valley School, back in 2007, then broken and exhausted by the autism industry in India, she put in some more money and effort and went to Teacher's College, Columbia University, to study autism and intellectual disabilities as core subjects, to be an agent of change in this space. She lived with her cousin in Upper West Side, on 76th and Broadway, when she first landed there, to get acquainted with New York with someone she was close to, then moved to Harlem, 111th, and Morningside to live with a friend. She worked and studied sixteen-hour days while in New York, but still somehow managed time to gulp frozen margaritas and jello shots at Heights on Broadway and 1907 on Amsterdam. Much of her family was scattered around New York and New Jersey, so her time there never felt too far away from home, she even considered working there, if the winter break of 2011 hadn't changed her mind. While working at Fortis Hospitals in India, New Delhi, as a behaviour therapist for children on the spectrum of autism, she met a young guy, her first real male friend, and got married to him when she was barely 25. It took a year and a half for their marriage to crumble, while she worked at as a Learning Enhancement Specialist, in her first ever big role, at Jakarta Intercultural School. She then met a handsome British guy, who also was in the same profession as her, working with children on the spectrum of autism, together they began imagining life in this field, in this subject, and what their futures could hold. They traveled the world, and she moved to Hong Kong, to be an advisor at a progressive school reimagining inclusive education, The Harbour School, with a reputation that preceded itself. He soon after moved to Hong Kong too and together they attempted many small and big ventures, some worked, some failed terribly, she always had a laugh about all that failed, he couldn't understand her, she had nothing to explain. He went on to study diplomacy and international affairs at SOAS, they worked out their relationship across continents but after his graduation, while she was leading a large team at Teach For India, he refused to move this time, and this time, they fell apart. They continue to remain cordial and friends through time. Right before moving to India, when Devangana and the young British guy, had broken ties, she met an interesting, fairly handsome, famous comedian on a dating app, Bumble, he caught her interest and for the first time in ten years, she reasoned moving back to India, as a good choice. Her parents were aging, she'd recently lost her grandma, he was the primary reason for her to move to Mumbai, besides her fabulous, exciting new big job, of course. They formed a friendship, an awkward one, here and there, they'd bump into one another, say their hellos, and go out to eat dinner or grab a bite once in a while, she led a big, busy team at one of India's top NGOs in the space of education, he was a sometimes terrifically successful, at times struggling comedian, part of the 'that which can't be spelled company', AIB, always in and out of deep political turmoil. When COVID hit the world, she broke ties with a lot of people she loved as she announced she'd be a writer, and take a break from this long-stretched emotional teaching life, over two years, through tears, pain, agony, and immense fear, she published her debut book of poetry and prose, Desierto Florido, which now sits on a pop-up message of her website, BrainBristle, as she goes back to her core life, of teaching little kids on the spectrum of autism, who no one else bothers to imagine for, the best, most incredible, loved lives. The men in Devangana's life fade in and out, as they have now, for three decades of her life.