Ruchika Davar – The Accidental Anchor

Being from the field of journalism Ruchika made her mark in the entertainment industry. In a very short span of time, she became one of the most sought after event comperes of India. In the normal circumstances the journey to the destination is always  filled with a lot of challenges but for Ruchika, it is completely different. According to her she never faced the tough time in any of her endeavors and in fact she enjoyed the every moment of it. Ruchika is the perfect example of an empowered woman who believes to live life in style and work with complete self-determination.

I remember meeting Ruchika Davar almost 5 years back in one of the International Film Festival events in Goa. Ruchika, besides being a very vibrant personality is also a very down to earth kind of person. She carries herself like a DIVA and she is a self-proclaimed lifetime student of fashion, style and trend spotting. In short, I would say that any woman who believes in the woman empowerment should carry herself the way Ruchika does.

Ruchika Davar, having her roots in Delhi, moved down to Goa almost a decade back. “I am originally from Delhi. I used to do TV Anchoring before shifting to Goa but nowadays with my busy schedule I take up only selected projects. I did live anchoring for four years for IFFI (International Film Festival of India) on the red carpet for DD National, traveled to 18 countries and it all became possible because of this profession. There may not be a single corporate and MNCs in India for which I haven’t compared. It may be for awards night or a launch or an event of some sort,” said Ruchika.

Ruchika has anchored for the events for and shared stage with who’s who in India. May it be Adani Wedding (India’s top notch industrialist) or the wedding ceremony of Ravi Chopra’s (Director of Baghban & Bhoothnath movies) niece, Ruchika has always been the first choice of the upmarket people in the entertainment industry. “I anchored for quite a few events like birthdays, anniversaries. I have anchored in the presence of the biggest celebrity stars of India, anchored for Ranbir Kapoor’s cousin’s wedding Priyanka Dudani” Said Ruchika.

Although this profession has given lots of exposure to Ruchika but do you know how all these started and how a journalism and PR graduate went to become one of the most sought after Anchors? According to Ruchika, It was not difficult at all. “Just like people do BA, B-COM. When I passed out from school, the first time the Delhi University had launched a very revolutionary course which was BJ (Bachelor of Journalism). This was the first time that the Delhi University had launched a full-time degree course in journalism. It was a very limited class size with only 16 students. We had a visiting faculty because DU (Delhi University) could not afford a full-time faculty for just 16 of us. But that gave me a good fortune of being educated by the likes of Khushwant Singh, sunny Thomas- editor of Times of India and some of the well-known people from advertising and PR world that took our classes as visiting faculty,” said Ruchika.

According to Ruchika, although she began with the PR and Journalism but later she drifted towards the anchoring due to her abundant talkative nature. “I was always very talkative right from my childhood and that is what caused my drifting towards anchoring. The people around me observed that potential in me and gave me an opportunity. I started with small project work for different TV channels in Delhi. Starting anchoring for them off and on, in small bits and pieces,” said Ruchika adding that “Over a period of time, I started receiving calls asking me to handle the stage and I would keep telling clients that I am not an anchor but a PR person but they would not listen to me. They would say, ‘that’s ok’ but we need you as an anchor since we liked your stage presence and would prefer to go ahead with me only and that’s how I become an accidental anchor,” narrated Ruchika.

The most interesting part here in this story is the marital journey of Ruchika. According to Ruchika, she got married the moment she passed out from the high school. “All this happened while I was married. I have been married for almost 18 years now. I got married when I was just out of the school, then I was hardly 19 and I must say that I am very lucky to have a supportive and understanding husband. He never stopped me from pursuing my dreams. I actually grew up after marriage. Right from completing my education to dabbling in my profession to find my niche, finding my real calling in life, everything I did after marriage,” she said.

Ruchika is one of those rare and luckiest females in India, whose marriage did not come in the way of her career. In fact, Ruchika says that her marriage empowered her to do more. “My husband gave me complete freedom to pursue whatever I want and travel wherever I feel like going. I have traveled almost across the globe and most of the time without him and he never stopped me nor he imposed any moral values on me,” she said.

This story also makes one thing very clear that no women empowerment is possible without the help of a man, especially if that man is also a life partner. But Ruchika does not feel the same way. According to her, she is not the only one who is lucky. “I don’t think I am the only one. In my last few years of traveling of having being in this profession, meeting people, performing artists, actors, actresses, television artists, writers, I have seen and came across quite a few couples who have been living by the same philosophy as we do. I feel it goes both ways as he has given me space and also I have given him his space. Both of us have realized that this is one life and both of us can justify our creative selves by doing something then I think it’s worth it. Now we are like two different plants planted side by side in the same lawn and yet following our own individual growth curves.” said Ruchika.

Ruchika shifted her base from Delhi to Goa in 2007 and the reason behind this migration is surely be going to amuse you. According to Ruchika, she shifted to Goa to try herself an environment that will give her more chance to face the real challenges of the life. According to her, the most successful people in this world have found success only after staying away from their protective sanctuaries and other encumbrances.

According to Ruchika, her talent is the God’s gift to her and she thanks God for bestowing such a wonderful thing on her. “I Believe my talent is God gifted. Sometimes when I get off the stage people refer to me as female Kapil Sharma, I have done live shows with him so I take that as a compliment. Let me tell you the funniest story. I received an award last year from an organization for being an exemplary anchor. In my small acceptance speech for which I wasn’t prepared, because the award was a surprise. I just said one thing. Right from the time when I was a child, my report card would be filled with one singular remark that ‘she is very talkative and She needs to control her talking, needs to remain quiet, she asks a lot of questions, disturbs the class and is very disruptive.’ For every Parents Teachers meeting, my parents would be filled with dread because they knew that they would go to the school and the teachers would again make the same complaints about me that your daughter is very talkative, but then today when I stand on the stage and when I get applauded & paid for the same thing, I would like to go back to the school and I would like to thank those teachers because it was they who actually saw this attribute in me. As a child, I was very disruptive & that talent of mimicry, aping and joking around was always there but it was accidental that I made a profession out of it,” Said Ruchika.

Ruchika gives credits of her success to her husband Vic Davar, who according to her spends more of his time meditating & writing. When not doing either, he is busy with the stock market dealings. “It may look like that I am busier since I am in the media all the time but that certainly does not mean that my husband is making any lesser efforts to support the family. I personally believe that while the North India is a very male-centric society, as the families there show their preference for the male child a little bit more but I have the good fortune of having being brought up in a family where I strongly believe that my dad gave equal opportunities to me and my brother. If really forced to say, I would believe that my dad gave me 10% more opportunities than my brother. Whatever he could do for me, he did. I was truly his princess. There was a time in my life where I would sit down and think that I consider myself better educated, more talented, and more divinely gifted than my brother. I believe that god gave me more ammunition than my brother to succeed in this world and I thinks its cheap of me to sit back, relax and say ‘I am a girl. It’s my husband’s duty to bring bread in the house.’ When we say that women want equal opportunities and equal freedom, then why, when putting money on the table, a woman should duck behind the convenient excuse of being a woman and say, “I am the wife; I am not expected to earn money. You need to bring the groceries; you need to pay the bill” Having said that, I would like to clarify that my husband is neithr financially dependent on me nor has he stayed away from the domestic responsibilities of finance. Everything that we have done has always been equivalent. If you’re woman, who believes that she needs to enjoy the freedom, she needs to enjoy every advantage, every privilege that goes with being a modern women, then there are certain responsibilities that need to go with it and you need to shoulder them gracefully,” Ruchika emphasizes.

Ruchika sets the perfect example of a Women Empowerment with the complete responsibility and courage to admit the same. She never underquotes her husband and that is what keeping them going for almost two decades in a very healthy relationship. “When you are married, initially there is a sense of bonding but when you are married for a very long time, it detaches you in a very healthy way. When I got married to Vic, I went through a phase wherein he was very protective towards me. He would not let me get out of the house. He would pick me up and drop me wherever I needed to go. He would not let me drive. I wanted independence because I was basically an independent spirit by nature. He realized that my personality was changing because a woman like me is only happy when she is allowed to step out and allowed to do things that she loves to do,” she said.

According to Ruchika, It is the choice of every woman to take up the career or be at home and serve the family like a housewife and in both the roles she can give her best provided that she gets a family that synchronizes with her natural tendencies. “According to me, it is a blessing when your family understands your personality and begins to support it. When an Indian woman gives up her career willingly, you have to understand that deep inside that women was not very career oriented to begin with. She was not passionate that’s why she was quick to drop it. It’s a question of priorities. Things are changing in India. People are taking pride in the success of their girls,” avers Ruchika.

Ruchika is now planning to go back into the writing. “Now I want to go back to writing. Two topics I am prepping for- one is, of course, my experiences as a performer on the stage and another book I am writing is on corporate training. As & when I go back to writing, either it will be something related to my experiences related to as a performer, a fashionista or just fiction but something which will have a lot of my personality in the writing. Since I am disruptive by nature (she laughs)- I would like to create some thought disruptions now with my writing. ” said Ruchika.

“The message I want to give to Indian women is, I am all for female empowerment but at the same time I am not a hardcore feminist. In my heart, I believe that men and women are made differently. Both are meant for different things in certain cases. Women have to understand that they are progressing but Men have not been able to move forward that fast due to flawed conventions & conservative upbringing. You have to give a man that amount of understanding and empathy. Just because your own mental horizons are broadening, don’t impose that on the man. Sometimes you need to sit and talk and you need to make them understand. Men are willing to listen. They want to see reason and you need to show them that reason. All I am trying to say is women empowerment is great but you need to understand that men need to be made sentient that there is nothing wrong in a women getting out and that trust factor only a women a can bring in a relationship. But most importantly- I feel that I’m in the most blessed and blissful phase of my life. I had a heart scare last year which turned out to be excessive acid reflux due to mad travelling & erratic eating. But those 48 hours while I awaited my cardiac reports changed my life forever. I have made some great changes in my life, altered my priorities and If I can make one wish for the readers it would be that I hope everybody at least once in their life is in the phase that I am right now, living life and LOVING IT” Ruchika concluded with these words.