Mumbai, February 17 – Bollywood superstar and global icon Priyanka Chopra Jonas was seen getting emotional as she addressed students at Harvard Business School during an India Week session.
The actress was heard saying how proud she was to see an auditorium full of young students dressed in sarees and kurtas, further stating that she is excited to know that her daughter Malti Marie has "so many to look up to."
Sharing her experience on her social media account, Priyanka wrote, "So, this is how my day started. I was scheduled to give a keynote address with one of my closest friends and business partner, Anjula Acharia, to conclude India Week at the prestigious Harvard Business School. The topic was 'The India we imagine'… I thought, 'I can do this, Priyanka.'"
However, the actress further revealed that seeing the audience changed everything for her.
"But looking out at the audience today, all I could think was – 'You are the India I imagined.' Let me explain," she added.
Speaking at the session, whose theme was "The India We Imagine," Priyanka shed light on her own experience while studying in the US as a teenager.
Recalling those years, she spoke about feeling like an outsider. "When my 12-year-old self arrived at a high school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and subsequently at Newton North High School in Massachusetts in the mid-90s, there were not many who looked like me."
Priyanka also expressed her thrill and surprise at seeing so many Desi faces at an international university. She said she never imagined that decades later she would be addressing a packed hall at Harvard. "I would never have imagined, in my 30s, that I would be speaking to you, the future of our culture and our world, on this stage, in this iconic chamber, where so many incredible people have not only spoken, but where so many world leaders were born. The audience was packed… and we were Desi… and we were Desi allies," she shared.
"It made me want to cry, because this is not how my teenage experience looked. But I'm so happy that you get to have this experience. We all stand on the shoulders of the generations before us. I'm so excited that my daughter will have all of you to look up to," she added.
Expressing pride at seeing representation at one of the world's top institutions, she wrote, "To see an auditorium full of students, dressed in sarees and kurtas, at the campus of HBS (@harvard) in Boston, Massachusetts, where I grew up... to see so many people from my community at one of the best schools in the world, made my heart burst with pride. You are the future."
Priyanka concluded by thanking the students for their warmth and also expressed gratitude to her husband Nick Jonas and daughter Malti Marie for their support, calling them her "forever Valentine's."
Regarding her professional life, Priyanka is gearing up for her upcoming Hollywood film "The Bluff," where she will be seen in a powerful role. She is also set to star in filmmaker SS Rajamouli's much-anticipated project, Varanasi, which also features Mahesh Babu in the lead alongside her.
