Ms. Bhagyalaxmi Barik
Forest Ranger & International Rugby Player
“I personally feel KISS has given me a new life.”
Ms. Bhagyalaxmi Barik, a KISS alumina, is now a Forest Ranger, a government employee, and a celebrated International Rugby player. She has not only earned fame for herself, but also brought glory to KISS. Born on 23 June, 1992 at Dalabhga village of Cuttack district in a poor Sabara family, Bhagyalaxmi began her journey of life through a lot of struggle. Her father, a government servant, had understood the value and importance of education for his children. As a result, her two brothers and the only sister are settled quite well. Her mother, not so well-educated herself, did bring up the children with utmost dedication, with the result that her children became successful in life. Having matriculated in 2007 from Unit- 2 Boys’ High School, Bhubaneswar, she enrolled as a +2 student at KISS and completed rest of her education and obtained MCA degree in 2015.
Great success came Bhagyalaxmi’s way as a student of KISS. She won many prizes as a player in the Senior National Rugby Championship from 2012 to 2021. She won accolades by representing India in the 16th Asian Games in China in 2010. She achieved the rare distinction of being the Captain of Odisha’s 23 Member Squad for the 2016 All India Women’s 15s Rugby Tournament. Bhagyalaxmi was one of the six women players to have won a Silver Medal at the Asian Women’s Rugby 7s Tournament held in Vientiane, Laos. She was also part of the Indian team that emerged PLATE WINNERS in the Asia Rugby Women’s’ Seven Trophy in Brunei in 2018. She tells her story of success in her own words thus:
When I came to KISS, I had a dream to be as successful as others in sports and games. KISS helped me a lot in realizing my dreams. I did miss home and my people initially. In the beginning, I in fact missed everything. It was quite difficult to see thousands of students in my surrounding and I felt like someone being lonely in a crowd. But slowly, in course of time, I adjusted with the environment and felt as if I was with my family at KISS – a much larger family, though. It was quite interesting when I got to learn different tribal languages and different cultures as well as life styles. I find making friends an attractive proposition, and from friends I learnt a lot.
At first, the medium of education being English, I faced some difficulty. Because of my subject, which was Science the technical terms became unintelligible. I always asked my teachers whenever I faced difficulties, and they always made things easy for me so that I could understand the concepts. It was only for their help that I could pursue higher studies at KIIT. I owe to my teacher the success in a sports career and professional career. As I was busy with my sporting activities, most of the time I missed classes. But my teachers were always there for me to guide me in the extra classes and clear my doubts. They supported me to be a successful player. They were the best decision makers as to guide me in the best possible ways for my academic success.
Today, whatever I am, it is all because of KISS. Without the support of this institution I couldn’t have achieved my goal. In my family, my father wanted to provide to his children the very best education; but this could not have been possible because of financial constraints. But the saving grace is that someone might enter into KISS, having nothing – neither any money in the pocket, nor social standing. But when they walk out of KISS, they have a high level of confidence to become self-independent. I am hundred percent sure of this. KISS offers us multiple opportunities to nurture our talent in various fields. What matters is what we choose to become and how well we prepare ourselves to meet our goals.
When I became famous because of my excellent sporting activities, and got a job, I did make an impact on my community. Since people look upon me as an example of success, they would allow their girl children to go to schools and colleges to be educated. I am in personal contact with the people of my village. I would definitely love to work for the welfare of my community, and especially for the promotion of female education. I will do whatever I can for the education and development of girls.
I want to send the message to the students of KISS that they had neither resources, nor opportunities before they came here. Now that KISS bestows on them all they need to realize their dreams of a bright future only through hard work. Lastly, they must not forget KISS, their alma mater. I personally feel KISS has given me a new life.
