In response to a question on the early influences that may have been reflected in her practice, Gita Balakrishnan starts with her relationship with Kolkata. She describes in detail her recollections of her birth city which she had left at six months old, only to come back to it in her college years. She notes how most of her vibrant memories of the city came through her father. Moving on to her move to Hyderabad where she stayed till she was in class 9th, she recollects her vivid memories of the city’s built environment. Being a small-town girl, as she notes,  her steep transition to Delhi also brought a change in the freedom afforded to her. On being admitted to the SPA,  she remembers her impressions of the building architecture, her initial college years, and the lasting relationships and collaborations she made. At this point, she digresses to point out the importance of making your professional and personal spaces look presentable, which people were reminded of during the pandemic while working from home. 

Furthermore, she mentions all the people she met over time who made a significant impression on her, such as Anil Laul, whom she interned with. She talks about the learnings she gained from Professor Srishti while on a trip together to the Andamans for a documentation study project. Subsequently,  she talks about her final years at SPA and the internship at Carnegie Mellon that opened up a new world for her. In her journey upon returning to India and in between choosing her first job, she dwells on the medical emergency she endured and how she felt unfulfilled at work. She soon took up a course in Alternative Methods and Stabilised Mud Blocks at Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST). Her journey with a social career began with her decision to make the move and respond to an ad for a Creative Rural Educationist. She concludes by recalling her subsequent projects and planning her professional life based on her partner’s career, research, and writing.