“There are times in life where we need to put our seatbelts on in case of any sudden danger, yet, the one time we forget to put them on, we crash straight into oblivion.
It all started with the demise of my mother, after which, I moved from Ranipet to my sister’s house in Chennai. I was in my 6th grade then and was going through a tough patch of dealing with the loss of my sweet mother. My extended family gave me the option of furthering my education but I didn’t want to. There was something else that I wanted to do, thus, I joined as an apprentice in my brother-in-law’s shop and started learning the art of mending things in his mechanic garage. I guess sometimes when your own life is a mess, your only solace is one single win and for me, this was it! My sister and my brother-in-law were the only family members I had. And growing up with them, life never seemed like a struggle. The work was tedious and tiring but I was able to setup an independent shop and this shop is the one continuing through these years. Time passed by and I got married. With the addition of new family members, my responsibilities exemplified and I was finding it hard to make ends meet. The money earned from the shop was hardly available to cover the expenses of the family. I did extra hours at the shop and started freelancing with a few automobile showrooms. Life was tough and exhausting but we were managing through it all. Until that one unfortunate day, the deadly blow, which brought everything to a screeching halt. My second daughter was born with a rare condition of hormone deficiency. She was with us for about two years during which time, we consulted with a wide variety of doctors across the city starting from government hospitals to some of the leading private hospitals. We lost her a few months later and it shook us completely.

With work, I was able to move past the sadness and the depression but this incident took a grave toll on my wife. It wasn’t until several years later that she was beginning to have any semblance of normalcy. Its funny how life can topple over in one fragile second; one moment you are celebrating the birth of your daughter and the next, there is the rude shock thrown your way out of nowhere. The death of my daughter was a turning point in our lives and I would always remember it as the incident which brought our family closer than before. My in-laws were greatly helpful and with small baby steps, we crossed the bridge together helping ourselves out of the great fall. In life I have learnt that, integrity and hard work are the only two factors which will sustain itself in the long run. The growth may be slow and steady, but you should always stick to the path of truth and honesty. So, through this business, I have been able to sustain myself independently without the need to work under someone. Being an illiterate, I have learnt a lot from the different experiences with my customer. For example, I picked up on the English language based on my interactions with my customers and I can now, converse in English with some level of fluency. I have also learnt to be more mellow and reasonable no matter how infuriating the circumstance maybe. Life has taken quite a few scary turns here and there but we have managed to come together above it all imbibing the lessons deep inside and preparing to face the next big challenge in this world!”

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