“You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it” —Edith Head
I believe style is a matter of Instinct and fashion is a collection of everlasting memories. Two decades ago, there lived a boy in the southern fringe of Kolkata who understood little about being elegant or trendy. He wore clothes whatever his parents bought, whatever his relatives gifted; but soon he will find out what it means to be an à la mode. In 2012, a visit to a fashion retail store truly changed the way I looked at fashion.
“Pantaloons” it read at the entrance and a fan was born. It may be an everyday fashion apparel store for Indians but for me, it was a connection that impacted my personality and subsequently my life. Pantaloons with its sheer collection of in-house brands of clothes mesmerized me as it was the first fashion retail store I visited. I got attached to the brand and kept revisiting the store over the years. It’s now part of my childhood memories. Pantaloons was successful in inculcating in me a sense of style. Their wide range of products ranging from apparel, sportswear to footwear made the visit to their store an experience. I feel they were successful in justifying their tagline of Fresh Fashion. I believe fashion reflects who we are. Pantaloons clothes also changed the kind of person everyone perceived me to be, I was more confident now and my friends looked up to me. I think Pantaloons has truly been #BiginMylife and I will keep coming back.
“Challenges are what life make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful”
If I look back on my work life, it was full of challenges. I had made my mind to do an MBA after working for 3 years in a construction company. I had my plans set and started to buy books for my CAT exams. But there was a flaw in my plan; I didn’t see how I am going to set aside time for studying because my job wanted me to work 7 days a week. I was faced with a challenge that was stopping me to achieve my ambition. I knew I had to somehow steal time from my work without compromising my job. This needed me to work smartly and put extra effort into my job and then go back tired and study. This worked for a few weeks but as the pressure built up due to tight timings of the deliverables, my preparation went haywire. I knew there was only one way I could achieve my goal and that required me to leave my job. But there was a new challenge now, I needed to convince my parents. One thing every job teaches us is resilience. It teaches you to think and models you to never give up. I tried to persuade my parents. I’ll spare you the details but, the ordeal was incredibly difficult. I didn’t make any real progress until about a month when I finally convinced then and resigned my job. The best explanation that I could possibly have for is the fact that I never gave up. I continued to persevere and what mattered was not persuading them but making them believe in you. Never give up on your goals, always be confident in what you believe. Today, here I am pursuing my MBA from a prestigious college in New Delhi.