About Deepika “I am Deepika Gupta. Deepika means diya (candle, light). I was born in September 1986 and brought up in the beautiful country of India. I grew up with two other siblings and we were raised equally by our parents. ” I did my bachelor’s in Information Technology in 2010. After a struggle for a few months, I got a job at an investment banking firm in Pune. I got married to Chintu Gahoi in February 2012. After two years, my husband moved to London and I decided to stay back to continue my job in India. In the same year, I got the opportunity to travel to Brazil and this was my first time travelling outside of my country. I also learnt a little Portuguese to make a little conversation with locals. I couldn’t go to Rio though, sadly. Maybe next time.
8
In 2015, my husband invited me to visit him in London to celebrate our third anniversary during the month of love—February. I was so happy to see snow for the very first time. In October, the most precious gift of my life arrived: my son Reyansh. In March 2016, I decided to move to London with my son and join my husband. We visited almost all of the major historical places, museums, natural scenic beauty spots, lakes and beaches in the UK. After exploring the mainland, we started our adventure around Europe and travelled to countries like France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Czech Republic.
In the Summer of 2017, my husband moved to Belfast due to another job opportunity. This was the very first time we heard of Northern Ireland. Soon I started to apply for jobs and joined an investment banking firm in freezing November.
“My husband used to travel to London every two weeks for the weekend and would tell us about how beautiful Belfast is.”
I learnt Kathak and Bharatnatyam Indian classical dance form, but just as a beginner. My dance style is free-form Bollywood. I prefer to be a participant rather than an audience member. I have participated and performed dances in many cultural activities organised by different Indian community organisations and I also performed in a Belfast City-organised event, Cultural Day, in Summer 2019.
We had initial settling issues like finding a rental place, and winter made it worse. After sharing apartments with friends, we finally found our own place. We started to settle and get to know more about the city. A year passed by, and we both got our driving licence. Soon we started to explore Northern Ireland and its beauty and my love for here started to grow. We also explored neighbouring Republic of Ireland. In 2019, we bought our house, and it became our happiest place in the world. In lockdown, we had a new member in our family as we were blessed with baby girl Meera in October 2020. We as a family picked up a new hobby, hiking, and went to a few mountains like Cavehill, Black and Divis, Slieve Doan, and Slieve Binnian I like dancing. More than a hobby, it’s my passion. I learnt dancing watching TV and practicing by myself. 9
