Burn survivor Mitali Sonawane builds modelling career, wearing her scars openly

Mitali Sonawane was five years old when an accident changed the course of her life. In a special podcast on the occasion of Navratri, she spoke candidly about her childhood, the days of her treatment, her journey in modelling and the good and bad reactions she gets on social media.

Mitali said her exam result had come just before the accident and she had scored 97 per cent. She was visiting relatives at the time. Work involving hot water was under way in the house, and she was coming down the stairs carrying toys and a few other things. Hot water suddenly fell on her leg, she lost her balance and fell down. The hot water spread over her body and she was badly scalded. A difficult phase of treatment, pain and changes in her body followed.

Speaking of the days of treatment, Mitali said she had to endure a great deal of pain. She was small, so at first she did not fully realise that the marks could stay on her body for life. When she saw herself in the mirror after treatment, she felt something quite different. For her the biggest thing was that she was alive and had come back home. She came to see the marks as a part of her life and decided to move ahead with them.

According to Mitali, accepting oneself is the first step to confidence. Instead of hiding the marks, she chose to live with them confidently. She says what matters more than what others think of us is how we see ourselves. Modelling carries many expectations about beauty, skin and build, but instead of moulding herself to them she embraced her own distinct identity and did not treat her scars as a hurdle to her progress.

She has about 12,000 followers on social media, and according to Mitali all of them are genuine. She says she does not feel the need to buy followers merely to make a name. She said she has also studied artificial intelligence and machine learning, yet she prefers to stay connected with a real audience rather than artificial popularity.

On the purpose of her work, Mitali said that more than thousands of people seeing her work, it is more satisfying if even one person draws courage from her journey. On negative comments, she said that even one bad comment among a hundred good ones draws attention, but one should not let it lower one's confidence. Such comments can also be a sign that your work is reaching more people, so they should be ignored and one should focus on one's work.

Her family's support was a great pillar throughout this journey. In the conversation, Mitali spoke of her mother and those close to her.