I wept and longed
Searched where I belonged
Emotions that I had
To my diary I said
All unsaid dreams
That cruised through blood streams
So, I fought for them
Until those were tamed
It was all the desire
That kept the raging fire
My diary heard my words
You may read the story- Unheard!
When I was a kid, my friend and I were talking about family. She said in a very boasting way, “My father is the best father in the world”, and suddenly tears started rolling down my cheeks. I was unaware of father’s love. Now you must be wondering why I said so! To answer this question, I will start with my journey.
I hail from a middle-class joint family in Jodhpur (Rajasthan). Due to financial crunch, my father started working in his very early age. He started a retail grocery store, and the timings were from 8 to 11 without any holiday. The saddest part was that I could not even recognize him till my kindergarten and my classmates used to make fun of me. I used to cry a lot in my bed. During my school life, I had a habit of writing a diary which was given by my uncle who used to work in Aditya Birla Group. My ABG diary would always start with “Dear Papa.” I would write everything that I wanted to say to him. But everything remained secured in that diary. Unlike any other kid, I never went on any vacation with my parents; I didn’t have any “full family picture.” It sounds quite absurd for normal people, but it is excruciating when you are in those shoes. On every birthday, I used to imagine that when I go home, there would be a surprise waiting for me. My father would take leave from his work to spend some time with me. All my dreams would shatter, and I would again start crying and writing. My ABG diary was my only support system.
As I was growing up, things got a little better. Our financial condition improved and we moved to our own house from a rented home. The strength of our house was built by Ultra Tech Cement and our entire family grew under one roof. My brother pursued Charted Accountancy and I went to pursue engineering from Udaipur after rejecting NIT Patna, NIT Jalandhar and many more colleges due to location constraints as my family was quite protective about me. I was very ambitious and gave
first priority to my career over everything else. I would stake everything to pursue my passion and hence I was very adamant to pursue my dream.
I always made them proud by my achievements, I gave CAT and got good percentile, all my family was happy, but they were concerned about sending me to any far of place. IIM Ranchi was my best call, I got so lucky to convert it in the first list but my father refused to send me. He insisted me to take up NMIMS Mumbai. I tried really hard to convince them and fought for my passion and finally, they agreed for IIM Ranchi on some conditions out of which one was that they would come to see the college and the hostel. So they finally came to drop me, and everything went on smoothly. I finished my admission process, and it was a time to bid adieu to my parents who were there with me from the past four days in Ranchi. We three got down from the cab, and as I went down to touch his feet, my father grabbed me into his arms hugged me tightly and busted in tears. He gave me that ABG diary and said: “Go chase your dreams” He couldn’t speak more than this, but that day I realized how much he loved me. All the sacrifices he made, he made for us.
Not everyone is born with a silver spoon, he wasn’t, but he made sure that I do.