“Life was resplendent till my early twenties, to say the least! The waves that hit my family since were something we weren’t prepared for.

It started with my father’s export business experiencing an unexpected crash. Before we knew it, we were selling home-cooked food for a living. The trench deepened when his health suddenly dipped. While his hospital bills came up to 2.5 lakhs, we were only able to pay the initial Twenty-five thousand. And being a shy person, I hesitated to ask even my closest friends for financial help and broke down out of sheer embarrassment. But they were incredibly understanding and immediately supported us. One friend even went out of his way to take up a few gigs that he wasn’t so passionate about, just for my family!

Adding to the agony was my six-year relationship witnessing an abrupt end! Seeing the guy, who I thought was the love of my life walking away, as his parents won’t approve of my current financial situation really made me question the fundamental ideas of love and marriage. If that wasn’t enough already, we kept getting bogged down almost year after year, with my dad’s second collapse, the Chennai floods and now the Corona pandemic.

But I am not here to paint a sad picture. In fact, I’m phenomenally proud of my family’s resilience. The stark contrast from our earlier way of life is indeed a huge jolt but I want to focus on how much closer it has brought us, as a family. Today, even if I’m given a chance to go back, I wouldn’t, despite the indelible scars as these six years have truly helped me evolve.

Life can sometimes be our best teacher, and mine has taught me to keep moving forward no matter the circumstances. What I strive for today, is to ensure no one faces the same state of helplessness as I did while I take baby steps towards that goal.”

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