Essentially, what matters to me is that whatever I do should affect people’s lives, even in the smallest way. I realized over time that more than anything else, contributing in that way is what gives me genuine satisfaction, and therefore is my calling.
I never was an ambitious person, nor am I today. I left the media because of it --- I never had the aggression and drive required to thrive in it. Often I would wonder how I can lack ambition to such an extent. But this is who I am, for the better or worse. I do things because it makes me happy and I am satisfied with it.

So why politics?
Politics came to me by default. It definitely was not a choice of mine. I was pushed into it after my father’s demise. I was four months pregnant at the time and I most certainly had no intention whatsoever to enter politics. I had never thought of it before. My father had never encouraged me in that direction. Quite the contrary. He had been involved with it for 25 years and had seen every side of it. He knew how cut-throat it is and how much “in your face”, ambitious and aggressive one needs to be to survive in it. He knew me better than that, and saw that I am not that kind of person.

Today, I try and look at it as an opportunity to serve the people and have an impact, to contribute much more than had I not been in politics. I look at it as access which I can use for the right reasons. Some people pursue it for power, money and so on. They think of success as the growth of one’s political chart --- reaching from point A to point B, then C then D, from member of Parliament to other responsibilities and so on. I do not see it that way. If I can influence some lives in a good way, for instance as an inspiration for the youth, it is pretty good for me.

... contd.