Crooked teeth, hair frizzy as a cotton candy and face covered in pimples, that was me; shaking under the weight of the jitters of my sixteenth birthday. And suddenly my sister barged into my room with a beautiful, sparkly box. That was my birthday gift! I darted across the room, snatched the box and opened it layer after layer. And there it was! An Allen Solly original, beautiful sleeveless grey shirt! It looked at me from the box like a fresh dew drop. I was sixteen and my endorphins, dopamine and serotonin levels should have hit a fabulous trajectory after seeing the stunning shirt, but they did not. I looked impishly at my sister and said, “Do they know about this?” Back in the blurry days we weren’t allowed to wear sleeveless shirts. They were considered indecent exposure. The world was taking a twirl, but when it came to fashion it wasn’t just twirling, it was spinning like a tornado. But acceptance was a distant term for my family. The next morning I got out of my room wearing the grey shirt. I was a little apprehensive but sure-footed. My mother saw me from the corner of her eye, but before she could say something, I blurted, it’s never about the clothes ma, it’s about the person draped in them. This incident has kept Aditya Birla in my best books for introducing me to fashion and perspectives.
Conquering my demons!
As a child and even late into my adolescent years when I was a lanky, spindly teen girl with arms and legs like twigs, I would have second thoughts before appearing for my maths examination every year. I would sweat, panic and worst of all run away. I barely scraped through the maths exam in every class. It was growing into a demon I couldn’t vanquish. My fear for numbers loomed, grew bigger and it never stopped, until I started my cat preparation last year. I started with a simple ratio problem and struggled with it for ten minutes. I looked at the problem and it looked right back at me. It gave me a snigger, but I kept trying unabashed of all the last laughs that the sum would throw in my face if I wouldn’t be able to solve it in time. But unlike always, this time the demon was losing its powers. Belief was the most important keyword here. I started believing I could, and day after day, I sharpened the edge of my faith by using practice and consistence as a whetstone. By practice I not only channelized my fear into faith but also developed a liking towards something I loathed. Few months later, I landed into Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune, because of the late night sessions with the demon that was. That’s when I realized, only by facing your fears can you become the best version of yourself. Comfort zones are to be broken.