“Growing up, I was always a below average student. I was always passed on to the next grade with grace marks or through other means. Being born to overachiever parents, it was such a huge blow when I failed my 10th board exams.

The humiliation that followed this spectacle was excruciating for both my parents as well as me, as you can imagine. People took great pride in asking us what I will do after this event. I was sent to live with my grandparents for a year just for people to stop hounding us with questions.

As it would turn out, life had bigger plans for me. I did my diploma and then completed my engineering degree. Working as project coordinator in an architect firm, the idea for starting my own business took a firm hold inside me. I despised the idea of working under someone and being born to parents who were all salaried employees, I took it upon myself to lay down my own path.

I was an ardent fitness freak and the gym was one of my favourite places to turn to. As my drive to start something of my own reached a feverish pitch, I decided to start a gym studio named ‘Brigade Fitness’. Spending close to all of my savings in building the infrastructure, we launched the program and it became an instant success. We are currently training for people who want to get into military training.

On the way, we have also been associated with different social causes, one of our recent projects is to adopt a village to donate sanitary napkins for girls. Our organisation today employs so many people and as part of my racing career, I also have many badges to my credit.

In life, we have been trained to attach worthiness to achieving goals. But for someone who has seen failure to the extent possible, I believe that it is failure that teaches you all about resilience and determination. For all of us come with various dreams and we must all work towards channeling that inner drive into making our unique mark on this world.”