A Woman of Two Shades

My name is Wricha.

I come from Bihar, a state in India with a rich history, yet one that still struggles with many challenges unemployment, social barriers, and questions of safety, especially for women.

If I am honest, I did not come to France through extraordinary courage. I came because my brother wanted me to see another world. Until then, life had protected me from many struggles.

But the moment I began living in France, everything changed.

The language changed.

The weather changed.

The food changed.

The culture changed.

And slowly, the person I thought I was began to change too.

Back home, I carried many identities. I was Indian. I was from Bihar. I belonged to a community, a culture, a familiar world.

Then suddenly, I was here.

A girl in a foreign country.

No one knew my story.

No one noticed where I came from.

No one cared about the labels I had spent years carrying.

I cried.

I felt lonely.

I wanted to explain myself, but how could I?

I was living a life many people dream of, yet I was suffering in ways I could not describe.

Not because I was alone.

But because the identity I had built around myself was slowly fading.

For the first time, I had to ask:

Who is Wricha?

Beyond nationality.

Beyond religion.

Beyond culture.

Who am I when all those labels become quiet?

The answer did not come easily.

It arrived through confusion, anxiety, curiosity, and countless moments of self-doubt.

But somewhere in that uncertainty, something beautiful happened.

I stopped seeing people as categories.

I started seeing them as human beings.

My world became larger.

My judgments became softer.

My empathy became deeper.

I began to understand that every person carries invisible struggles, shaped by experiences I may never fully know.

And while I became more understanding, I also became less tolerant of cruelty.

Less tolerant of arrogance.

Less tolerant of the need to make others feel small.

Today, I am still discovering who I am.

A woman between two worlds.

A woman of two shades.

Not fully the girl who left Bihar.

Not fully the woman France has shaped.

But perhaps something more honest than either.

Simply human.