Every Sunday afternoon, Geetika beams into the living rooms of Canadians. She tucks her black tresses behind her ear and smoothes out her traditional sari. The golden embroidery on her sari glitters under the studio lights. She reviews her notes before introducing the week's Bollywood Freetime Movie on OMNI Television.

In her smooth, full voice, and impeccable Hindi pronunciation, Geetika (she doesn't use a last name) breezes through the script. For many South Asian viewers, Geetika is a slice of back home.

A recent immigrant to Toronto, Geetika is another one of Canada's success stories. The journey from New Delhi to Toronto might have been long, but now Geetika is making her mark as one of OMNI's most recognizable personalities. And she does that by sporting her saris and speaking fluent Hindi on air, showing young women from ethnic backgrounds that they can embrace their culture and still fulfill their dreams.

Originally from Chandigarh, India, Geetika got her big break in the Indian media industry when she responded to a Zee TV ad in the newspaper looking for VJ's and news anchors. Zee, one of India's largest television networks, auditioned hundreds of hopefuls.

"There were 800 girls all over India and six were selected for (Zee TV's shows) Zee Cinema and Zee News. I was bracketed for both," she says.

It was an easy choice between Zee Cinema's glamorous life in Mumbai and Zee News' hardcore journalism approach in New Delhi. Equipped with a master's in English Literature from Punjab University, Geetika packed her bags for New Delhi. She joined the Zee team with only four-and-half months of on-job training, which began in August 1999.

Geetika remained the morning face of Zee TV for most of the year. Besides the morning show, she also did international bulletins and weather forecasts. Soon, she was something of a celebrity. But it was hard work.

"Sometimes I used to spend more than 12 hours in the office, (but) I never felt tired or exhausted. I really loved that," says the 20-something-journalist.

"But as a newsreader I was just reading what was coming out on the teleprompter, I couldn't say what I wanted to say."

Geetika's interest in journalism was sparked in her youth. When she was 16, Geetika was the youngest author published in the Punjabi magazine Adhi Duniya, composing articles on women's issues. Journalists have a responsibility to make change, she felt.

"Doctors take diseases out from your body, and journalists take out diseases from society," she says.

In November 2000, Geetika started a new gig at Doordarshan News, hosting shows that incorporated profiles of people, organizations and programs, and studio interviews. At Doordarshan she often reported on social issues such as women's equality and education for young girls.

In 1995, Geetika's mother, Dr. Swaran Lata, a popular sitarist, was invited to perform at the University of Saskatoon. Lata fell in love with Canada. A few years later, Lata and her youngest daughter, Ritu, immigrated to Canada and settled in Hamilton, Ontario.
In India, Geetika longed for her family. So she left behind a blossoming career, packed her bags, and followed her family to Hamilton in October 2001.
"I regret it," she says.

Geetika found Hamilton to be "a dead city," compared to the hustle and bustle of New Delhi. Homesick in a new country, Geetika had to prove herself all over again. But she didn't waste any time.

"The very first week (after arriving in Canada) I approached CFMT's station manager. I know she was probably thinking that this girl has just come to Canada, she's crazy!"
After a year of doing odd jobs unrelated to journalism, Geetika's persistence paid off. When Rogers Television re-launched the multicultural station CFMT as OMNI1 and OMNI 2 in September 2002, Geetika was given her own show, Badhai Ho! and then Bollywood Freetime Movie.

Badhai Ho! promotes South Asian art and culture. Geetika likes hosting the show because it allows her to get to know people who have struggled to establish themselves in Canada over many years.

"We also interview people who have just landed, like new immigrants so it caters to all South Asians strata," Geetika says. Recently, Geetika also became the host of another show, Bollywood Boulevard, which she says helps her keep in touch with entertainment happenings in India.

But before landing the OMNI gig, Geetika struggled to find work in a post-9/11 world.
"I was refused a job. I went to a travel agency to give my resume, and just seeing my face, the guy said, "After September 11, we're not hiring anybody." And it happened in front of so many people," Geetika recalls.

She felt both humiliated and shocked that racism was prevalent in Canada. So, OMNI's petite Hindi sweetheart got a job as a security guard instead. She's tried to rise above the stereotypes about South Asian women being shy and submissive.

"I've always been independent. It's always been hard. Even being in a single-parent family in Indian society is hard," she says.

Geetika's allure is her ability to overcome personal hardships while still preserving her culture and fighting for her dreams. In 2003, Geetika was asked by OMNI to provide the Hindi narration for Canada: A People's History, a Gemini-winning documentary about the events that shaped Canadian history. She enjoyed learning about her new country, Geetika says.

"Everybody's an immigrant. It's the land of immigrants, nobody's a majority or minority here, and that gave me more confidence," she says.

But Geetika knows that the representation of visible minorities in Canadian media has a long way to go. And she's doing her part to break barriers for South Asian women on television. She credits her producers for encouraging her to be herself on TV.

"I definitely think it is a time in Canada where we should not be making [separate] compartments of diversity and mainstream," she says. "My producers told me that my viewers like you the way you are, and the station had taken you for the way you are."

With files from Nazia Ashraf