“Parents naming their children with their ancestors or pure Tamil names have gone out of focus now.
But I see that as a trend. Though I’ve been called ‘Indhu’ in Chennai, I was proudly named “Ponnazhagi” (family deity’s name), and my brother – Kanaga Sabhai. And so would love to tressure our real name.
I was born in Madurai and did my schooling in Sivakasi. Eriyur is our hometown and we are Karaikudi Chettiyars (I’m mentioning my caste not to demonstrate any offense here but rather would like to bring out what really is happening illogically).
Our house in Eriyur was built 100 years ago, and next year would be the 100th year for the temple that my ancestor had built. People were nice enough to celebrate each other, but casteism does exist. Since I was born as the first girl-child after 60 years in my family, I was so much celebrated and equally restricted in certain areas.
When Robo Shankar uncle (my father’s younger brother) decided to marry the love of his life, my village (Eriyur) did not accept his way of marriage. More importantly, he is also one of the famous actors in the Tamil Film Industry, which seemed to be the second distraction from our village’s principles.
It was a ritual that when a girl crossed 20, she must get married, but fortunately, my parents agreed to leave me in order to continue my studies and passion for working before getting married. Of course, I played tantrums to escape the usual ceremonies – it wasn’t that easy!
From that day onwards, I’ve been staying in Chennai (with my parent’s support) with my Chithappa & Chiththi, heading towards my entrepreneurship journey.
As soon as I completed college in 2018, I started working in the media field. Although I had experience working as an artist coordinator in KOC, Ramar Veedu, BB Kondattum, etc. & PR in Sun TV, I was always pondering about learning new things where I could be the captain of something.
Interacting with influencers had become my routine as I was piled up with Influencer Marketing for a few brands. I kept hearing great positive comments about the outfit that I wore every time. This pushed my mind towards starting a boutique.
In 2021, I curated the type of dresses that I would be making for my clients, and I marked the birth of Vestiphobia that same year.
I believe every existence has a reason, and every action has its consequences in its own way. If I would’ve listened to my village’s (illogical) principles, then I neither would’ve become an entrepreneur nor an explorer.
If you think you’re on the right path, then don’t let anyone stop you.”