Mandira revealed that she used to cry everyday after the live telecast. “In the first one week, I had so much excess baggage in my head. I was so worried and nervous. When the red light of the camera comes on, I’d be tongue tied. I also didn’t believe that I belonged there. I just wanted to be accepted and be a part of the furniture. I just wanted them to be okay with me being around. People should just accept me, love me, and want me around,” she said.
“One week went by with absolute hesitation, fumbles and mistakes. At the end of every show, I would put my head down and cry. The legends on either sides of me, I would ask them questions and they just stared at me. They turned to the camera and answered whatever the hell they wanted to answer, nothing connected to my question, because my question was probably not relevant or important enough for them. It was very unnerving. I felt disrespected,” Mandira further added.
However, things changed when she gained her confidence back after the channel’s intervention. “At the end of the first week, there was an intervention and the channel called me and said, ‘We have chosen you amongst a thousand women, we believe you belong there. You are not an analyst, expert or a commentator, you are a presenter. Go out there and have fun, show them your personality’. That intervention was really helpful, it was a turning point for me. I flipped a switch that day,” she expressed.
