I, Rishabh, am a patient of ‘Leukoderma’ and this is my life story in which Aditya Birla Group played a big part. I was genetically born with this condition and during my childhood days, I faced a lot of bullying, mocking and harassment because of my not so common Indian skin colour. I couldn’t play well, study well or do anything because every day same thoughts of facing harsh reality clouded my thinking. The other sad part of having this disease was that I used to get caught with sunburn very easily and for this reason, I had to cover my body with shirt and pant for most of the time. Such turn of events led me to become a fashion freak as it helped me enhance my look and people started accepting me as I dressed well. Shopping at Pantaloons became my favourite activity. Van Heusen shirts tucked in Allen Solly pants and graced with Allen Solly casual shoes became my favourite look. I had never imagined that clothes could provide me with such acceptance. Whenever I dressed with the like brands of Aditya Birla Group, I felt really happy.
The feeling of not being part of the society had not completely gone away. Apart from dressing myself in Peter England, Van Heusen clothes, I also had a passion for dance. But I never went on stage by the fear of how people will think, how they will make fun of me, etc., A sort of inferiority complex developed in me.
Once, there was a Teacher’s day function to be held at our school and posters rolled out stating interested students could come up for auditions for dance performances in the function. Reading the poster, a wave of excitement emerged in me because I really wanted to showcase my talent and the next thought was of regarding the people making fun of me. On that day, I was quite sad. Seeing me like this, my mother asked me about the reason for my sadness and I told her everything. Mothers are filled with selfless love, and this I realized on that day as my mother encouraged me at the best to take part and not to worry about the consequences as she told me that we had only efforts in our hands and nothing else than that. I practised hard enough for the audition and after two days when I was about to go for the audition, my mother made me wear my favourite white Peter England shirt and Allen Solly pant. I finally gave the audition and got selected to perform for the function and also received lots of appreciation. From that performance onwards, I never looked back and went forward in life with my passion for dance. I won various awards at the school level, college level and also at the national level by participating at National Level Cultural Festivals.
My journey made me realize that fear is only in our mind and no can make us feel inferior unless we want ourselves to feel the same. Also, now I don’t hesitate to share my story which I used to do earlier because I really want that people should develop empathy quotient in themselves as there are many people who feel left out and do not feel inclusive in this world.
Aditya Birla Group has made itself ventured in different interests and has impacted different lives in different sorts of way. The Fashion & Retail segment of Aditya Birla group is like alchemy for me. It helped me in paving the way for a transformed version of myself and also taught me an important lesson:
People will stare. Make it worth their while.
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