In Her Shoes with Prapti Elizabeth

Two happy dogs welcome her with wagging tails as she walks into our home on a pre lockdown Saturday morning.

Prapti screeches with laughter as she jumps around in what seems like a scared-of-pets special performance!

Well, we lock ourselves into a room because we don't believe our furry homies should be!

So for a while, we have this conversation with her in a locked room! Haha!

A writer by profession she ventured into content creating with videos that tickle your funny bone at the same time hitting issues that need to be talked about more often!

Taking me through her journey, she tells "I have always been a writer, videos just happened to me. Idiva was shutting down the department I was working in and as they liked my writing they asked me to try being in the video team. I said why not! Let's try it out! And that was it. That's how I started voicing my infamous opinions on misogyny and other issues in ways that can be called hilarious at times!"
It's almost brunch time and a fruit platter comes in as she goes to change into the Rainbow saree.

Gorging on oranges we talk further about how a girl from an orthodox Malayali background found roots in a career that mostly means making people giggle!
"It was difficult for them, my family that is! To understand how I make my living out of something so unconventional", she says with a radiating smile that she carries almost always.

"While I was only writing, it didn't matter to anyone much. For, I was in the shadows but switching to visual and vocal content meant the world becoming a part of my personal space. And how can the generation-old patriarchal system tolerate that! Nevertheless here I am, sharing my story with a she-preneur and that's getting back at a system which usually prefers women on the sidelines."

We see you roasting the misogyny as Mrinalini these days and I must say we are glad you took the journey that you did!
Tell us more about yourself, like who you think of yourself as a person!

"umm...haha! I think of myself as a person who loves to laugh and make others laugh! That's like a maxim to me in fact.

I am the woman whose age, caste & religion isn't available, all that's available is pure honest world views!

I am very finicky about time. Always beating the clock. I have often arrived at weddings at 10am because the invite said that's when the baraat arrives and have received gawking welcomes! Haha.

Apart from that, all I can say is that I am mostly chill. Yeah! just that."

How do you think being a woman has affected you in your career.

"The fact that even in 2020 we have to put this question across, that this question exists in itself speaks a lot! I have often been accessed with puzzled expressions about how I can be funny while being a woman. This is what I so strongly speak against in any content I make! Someday we'll get there when creativity will be free of gender biases.

Till then let's roast the system!"

We move out of our locked room where we try to make the woman whose age, caste and religion are not available aka Mrinalini aka Prapti, friends with Izzy and Polo.

The excited doggos get cozier with a shying her. Testing their boundaries with each passing minute.

So, what's your association with color and fashion?

"I love to notice color around me in my daily life. Like a cart of a fruit vendor, how the oranges look so inviting almost making you feel fresh! Or the contrasting tones a bangle seller flaunts on the mosaic streets! Or the plants after the rains, looking all happy and rejuvenated making you feel alive! Or the soft sunset that makes you want to snuggle up in the favorite corner of your home and take up reading on a dog-eared book! Color is something that scintillates the senses and brings out emotions in the best way possible!"

By now she's getting a little comfortable with Izzy and Polo and also sharing fruits with them even!

I wonder was her fear even real!

The sun filters abundantly through the curtains as we click her photos in Nomad! The energy is as high as her levels! A creature of humor and wit, today she has brought us all on the same vivacious platform that she exists on.

It's like the world is a platform no. 9 3/4 and anytime she'll step into the wild full of magic. I only ask her to take me along with her too!

Between brunch, banters & a billion pictures what began as a day for collaboration ends with multiple friendships formed!

She parts as a friend leaving a lighter atmosphere and a sense of understanding in her walk.

To be continued...

In her shoes.