The journey has been full of ups and downs: Akriti Khatri on being a detective

India’s leading female private detective agency in Delhi, Venus detective agency is a private detective agency with an experience of 12 years work as a pioneer of customer satisfaction. Akriti Khatri, owner of the detective agency talks to QNA about her journey throughout, the reaction of her family, the agency, and much more:

How has your journey being a detective agent been like?

Akriti: The journey has been full of ups and downs, it’s not to succeed in any profession especially when you are in a detective field everything is only good when you solve a case. I began my career after following an ad in a newspaper that said an agency was looking for a detective. That very moment I knew what I wanted to do and I also knew it would not be well accepted by my family or the society. But this is where I stood up for myself and I am very proud of it now. I have come a long way since then and whenever I look back I feel happy for the choices that I made and the decisions that I took.

What was your family’s reaction when you opened about the career you wanted to opt?

Akriti: Even while they had many doubts, my parents were very supportive of the idea from the very beginning. Though my grandparents never agreed, they believed that I should take up some white-collar job as that is more secure. At the beginning of my career, I would not even tell them about my profession but as time passed I began telling them about what I do. Now that they know that I am doing well they have no problems with it now.

Tell us about your Venus Detective Agency?

Akriti: The idea of Venus Detective Agency came to me when I was really sure that I wanted to begin with something of my own and by myself. I simply wanted to stand out in this male dominating profession. When I began telling people that I am a young woman working as a detective, more people began coming to me with their queries. That is when I realised that I needed to hire a few people in order to help me with the cases, I knew how difficult it was for females to get jobs in this field, so I thought why don’t I hire a team of females and provide them with a safe and secure environment to be in. 70% of my team are females and let’s just say they are a bunch of good people who I am proud of.

Is facing challenges an important part of a detective agent’s life? Tell us about one such incident that was really challenging for you?

Akriti: Once I was investigating a case from Kedarnath where a man lost his wife in floods that happened there a few years back. His wife, who was suffering from a mental illness was lost for a long time and obviously could not report herself.

After a lot of hard work, research and patience, we happened to locate her in Punjab. This was one of the cases where we put in efforts for 2-3 months and our hard-work surely paid off.

How do you manage your personal life and professional life?

Akriti: We women are born superwomen!! Just Kidding….. Every female in today’s world has to manage both her personal life and her professional life so whether you are a film actress, an IT professional or the Detective, it is your duty to manage both. I try and divide my time wherever it’s more necessary, so for example if there is some situation at home that needs my attention I know I have to be there and if the same is required at work I would give my 100% there. I consider Venus Detective Agency as my first baby as I gave birth or started with it first. I still remember I gave birth to my son at night and the next morning I was asking my team for an update on the cases. Though my team is credible enough to handle the work on their own, I feel the need to be there in order to keep a check on what’s happening and how can we solve cases more quickly. By God’s grace, I am blessed with a family who supports me a lot in all this situation and because of that, I am able to manage both my personal and professional life. My formula for life is if I am 2 hrs at home I give that whole time just to my family.

Your opinion on what society has to say about your profession?

Akriti: I honestly don’t pay attention to what people think about me since day one. I am like an elephant, what the other people say never reaches my ears so if nothing reaches to my ears I would never respond to them and nor react to it. At the time of Dirty Picture, I saw one journalist asking Vidya Balan (in the film) that she should not read the articles rather just see the pictures, if she looked good she should keep the cut out of that article. The day you start reading about yourself is when the downfall in your life starts and that’s what happened in the end. Vidya started reading all those articles. So when you start listening to others like ‘oh what will she say??’ ‘What will he say because of that you can’t do what you want?’ So nothing bothers me.

What message you would like to give those who are aspiring to become a detective agent like you?

Akriti: My message to them would be to love what you are doing and love what you want to do… Be firm on your decision that yes this is something that I really want to do. Don’t do something under pressure, be confident and then only you will be able to perform better. I just believe and want people to believe that self-confidence is the key to success and if you are not confident you can’t do it you need to have confidence in yourself.