Right from her childhood, Sunita was very extrovert and very expressive. [break]No doubt, her parents were well aware of her innate characteristics and would always advise her to take up journalism after school. But Sunita back then cared little for her parents´ suggestion.
“Being the kind of a person who does not really make up plans, I had never really given my career a thought,” says Sunita with a smile.
This is what led her to take up nursing preparation classes after her SLC exams. However, she soon found that she was not interested in nursing. Maybe it was because she was born to be a journalist.
“For no reason, all of a sudden, I quit my nursing classes and took up journalism during my 11th grade,” she recalls.
Contradictory to what one sees Sunita on the TV screen, she can’t help giggling a little and smiling between talks when you meet her. She is grateful to her parents for not showing discrimination between her brothers and her.
“I was born in Katari, a village in Udaypur district, and not many girls from villages get the opportunity my parents provided me,” she explains.
Sunita came to Kathmandu for her further education after she finished school in Katari.
During her high school she realized how she would have missed the most interesting subject if she had taken up nursing. She had begun enjoying the classes to full extent. Her teachers too were quite supportive of her for she was one of the brightest students.
But her career in journalism as a newsreader began only when she was at college. By then she knew that journalism was what she wanted to do. Then one day it was as if God had heard her prayers. Her college called her up and she was sent to Avenues TV for a screen test.
“I didn´t have the faintest idea of why my teacher called me to college, and that too, during my Dashain holidays,” Sunita says.
Avenues TV had called up Universal College asking for journalism students interested in taking up a job, and Sunita being the brightest in her batch, was selected for the interview.
“The screen test was quite frightening but I guess I did well since I was offered the job,” she giggles.
Now, it is almost a year since she began her screen career. She says during this year she has not only turned 22 from 21 but has become more mature and more alert.
“I had no interest in politics before but now I’m aware of every little move in the Nepali and international politics,” she says confidently.
Many of those who live in the public eye complain of the constant attention but for this young celebrity things are quite the opposite. She clarifies that because she looks so different in her saree while reading out the news, it´s not easy for people to recognize her when she is clad in other clothes. There have been only a few instances.
It became her most memorable incident when a man stopped his bike and talked to her.
“I thought he was about to ask me directions but he not only recognized me but also said he liked my presentation,” says Sunita.
If we take her opinion, she still has a lot to improve. Although reading out news looks like an easy task, it is quite complex when you actually do it. She says she still has problems with ‘rise and fall pitch´, ‘pause’ and other technical aspects of news anchoring. The most difficult part for her is when she has to deal with breaking news, which gives no time for practice.
She is now a content TV journalist who wishes to do journalism for the rest of her life. The most unbelievable task her office has made her learn is to wear a saree.
“It now takes me only three minutes to get dressed,” she says happily adding, “I have to mention my thankfulness to my friend Rojita and my brothers who have been very supportive.”
Related story
Taking investigative journalism to new heights
-1200x560-1774606010.webp)
