International Women’s Day Interview: Priyanka Khimani, Partner, Anand and Anand Khimani

Name: Priyanka Khimani

Age: 29

City: Mumbai, India

Occupation: Partner –
Anand and Anand Khimani

ST: Please tell us briefly
about you.

Priyanka: I am Priyanka Khimani. I founded my
own boutique law firm, Khimani & Associates, in 2014 that soon become known
for its celebrity clientele. In July, 2017, I merged the firm with one of the
biggest law firms in the country called, Anand and Anand, to form Anand and
Anand & Khimani. The merger was unprecedented in the legal circles at many
levels. Never before had the law fraternity witnessed a large, family run,
almost 100 year old firm, merge its practice with a young, startup law firm,
let alone co-brand the firm’s name alongside the name of young 29 year old
lawyer. It was quite a coup!

ST: Who is a woman that
inspires you the most and why?

Priyanka: It would be criminal to pick out
“a” woman that inspires me the most! There are so many incredible
women around me that inspire me every single day from my mother to my secretary
to women co-panelists to female colleagues.

To give you an example – I’ve spent
most of this week working round the clock on a sensitive trademark infringement
case for a new client company. One of the co-founders of the company, who is
also the CMO, personally flew down for the hearings. Little did I know that I
would be in for such a surprise! She sat with me in our conference room and
listened patiently, with genuine appreciation, as I filled her in about my
background, clients we had acted for, matters we had worked on (I often feel
the need to over compensate given my age!). She, in turn, kept her illustrious
background hidden and simply worked with us on the matter, patiently tutoring
me (and my team working on the matter) about all the technical aspects of the
case. Needless to say, we were all blown by the depth of her knowledge and the
clarity and ease with which she taught us, non-engineers, technical aspects
that would form the core of our arguments in court (given the nature of the
matter). But what began to stand out the most for me was her utmost humility in
the way she conducted herself, not just with me (and my team of under 30 year
old lawyers) but also the Plaintiff’s representatives who had dragged her
company to court. She greeted them with a big smile and warmth as she
recognised most of them were old colleagues or persons she had interacted with
in her previous role at different organisations.

Over the course of the time that I
would spend with her that week, I would discover that this mother of 2 (doesn’t
look it at all!) was the alumnus of the most coveted ivy league engineering and
business schools in this country, had been the global head of digital marketing
of one of the biggest banks and was regarded as being a stalwart and pioneer of
sorts in the area that she focussed on within the banking sector. And she
impressed all that upon me not through some dazzling appearance or display of
flashiness, neither through intimidation or dropping of names of her past
illustrious experience but simply through her sheer humility where she put her
head down and worked with her team to teach us (like you would school college
kids) core concepts about the technical aspects of the matter, coolly uber-ed
her way in and out of the city and patiently waited with us in the corridors of
the court waiting for her matter to be called out giving me her warm,
comforting smile each time I looked at her apologetically for the unpredictable
manner in which our courts functioned. It’s a shame that I can’t name this
remarkable woman since the matter is still sub-judice but she sure has made a
long lasting impression on my mind. You know who you are, ma’am… take a bow!

I would be remiss if I didn’t state
another name here. At the risk of sounding cheesy and Ms. Universe like (pun
intended), it is Sushmita Sen! And no, I’m not taking about the sexy goddess
that everyone sees on-screen or knows of thanks to the media. I am one of the
few people fortunate enough to work with this diva and actually advise her. I
went from being one of the contestants in a pageant founded by her (I am She)
to today, having the privilege of working alongside her and only she can put
this sort of trust and faith in someone and give them an opportunity to prove
themselves (yes, I shameless asked if she would let me advise her!). Her grace,
charm and wit are for everyone to see. But what stays with you long after
you’ve left her presence is her warmth (she will hug you for an extra 10
seconds making you feel like the centre of her universe in those moments) and a
supreme sense of belief in herself. Her enthusiasm for life and everything that
she sets her eyes on, is childlike and infectious! She is my booster dose of
“believe a little bit more in yourself and the universe will smile down
upon you” whenever I’m down and out.

ST: How are you celebrating
this year’s International Women’s Day?

Priyanka: I’ll hopefully be at my desk or in
court doing what I do best. No better way to celebrate this special day than
keeping myself surrounded with all the gorgeous, confident, young women who
work with me and make it possible for me to go out there and make our dreams
come true!

ST: What is the most
important message you want to send out to all the women around the world on
this occasion?

Priyanka: I once bought these post-its that had
the quote, “Do no harm, but take no shit” written on top, and which
somehow resonated with me deeply and became a mantra! And I wish more and more
women – young and old, our moms to next door neighbour aunties, troubled
girlfriends to household maids – adopted this too. Life would be so much
simpler! If someone or something makes you feel unhappy, miserable,
uncomfortable; learn to cut it out. The choice is always yours and yours alone!
You’d be surprised of how much nonsense you can weed out of our life by doing
this and just be happy! No one, absolutely no one, matters more than yourself.
Life’s too short to live it by the “what-will-people-say” standard.
I’ve learnt this the hard way, and still am, on a regular basis, learning to
resist this self-wallowing thought that is unfortunately, so deeply ingrained
in our social selves.

ST: What according to you is
‘women empowerment’?

Priyanka: Not surprisingly, the number of women
that work in my office outweighs the number of men. So also, given that there
is someone this young, and a woman at that, at the helm of affairs, seems to
discourage senior lawyers (particularly, male) in the profession from coming on
board (and that’s also exactly the kind of senior talent you want to avoid!).
Be that as it may, as a result of this, I get to work alongside these
remarkable, bright, young men and women every single day and am fortunate to be
in a position where I can ensure that each one of them (boys and girls) grows
with me – personally, professionally and financially. That to me is true
empowerment- both, the realization that I am in a position where I can empower
other lives, and that doing so, makes me feel empowered myself. I continue to make a conscious effort at
every step, and fortunately, it has already become so engrained in the firm’s
culture, that every opportunity is equal for all. So also, the more the firm
grows, the more we all grow individually. It sure comes with the heavy
responsibility that it is me who is responsible for empowering the lives of
those around me – from the team that works with me, to the clerks and peons
that run our errands, to my assistant who makes my life simpler. But then again,
it is that feeling of being empowered and empowering others that keeps me
motivated to set the bar higher!

ST: What would you say are
the main challenges facing women at present in India?

Priyanka: Unfortunately, WOMEN are one of the
main challenges facing other women in India. I see this routinely, at home and
at work – how the insecurities of one women inevitably become another woman’s
nightmare. Be it sister-in-law or mother-in-law insecurities; or insecurities
of the woman on the other end of the phone negotiating a deal with you; or
insecurities of a friend in school/college/work that makes you hate each other.

I am a married woman and face this
routinely, both personally and professionally. Fortunately, I am financially
independent, fiercely strong headed and not living in a so-to-say traditional
“Indian Society” set up where I must “suck it up” (although, I do
pick my battles). But I can only imagine the plight of millions of helpless
Indian women, who aren’t.

So also, WE are our biggest challenge!
Yes, each one of us individually is our own worst enemy. Some of these
ridiculous, traditional male-female stereotypes are so deeply ingrained in our
minds (millennial minds included) that we sub-consciously keep falling prey to
those – at home with a sibling, in a relationship with our partner, or at work
when dealing with colleagues or boss.

You know it baffles me when I think
that women actually are often the sole bread-winners for most
below-the-poverty-line or lower middle class families in India (your household
maid is, more often than not, working multiple homes to support either an
abusive husband, or a tobacco addicted mother in law or children quick to
emulate the same pattern). So also, a large portion of the working class women
actually earns as much as, or often more than, their partners. And despite
this, we let traditional societal norms and our own misplaced, archaic notions
of gender roles (no doubt handed down from previous female generations) get the
better of us. I hope more and more young women wake up to the importance of
being completely self-dependent and fearlessly, unapologetically, living their
lives for themselves.

ST: Where do you want to see
yourself in next 5 years?

Priyanka: Doing another interview, on a
pool-side deck by a stunning oceanfront, at the foot of a top-notch beach
resort!