“I was born after 28 years of marriage to my parents. When I was in 8th grade, I discovered my love for computers and photography. I really wanted a DSLR camera, but my parents thought it was too early for such an expensive gift, so I settled for a mobile phone instead. With my phone in hand, I started a photography page on Facebook. To my surprise, people liked my posts, and to my surprise, it garnered 6K to 8K likes on my posts.

In 10th grade, my parents promised to get me a DSLR if I scored well in my exams, and true to their word, they did. With my new camera in hand, I embarked on my journey as ‘Arun Creations,’ delving into the world of photography as a business. Unfortunately, I scored less marks in my 11th grade, and because I scored less, my parents advised me not to take photography as my career. So, I decided to take photography as my passion and started focusing on appearing for medical entrance. However, circumstances changed drastically during my 12th grade when my father fell ill.

My father, who had been struggling with diabetes and undergoing multiple surgeries, needed constant care. My father was already in his mid-60s, and my mom was in her early 50s. I had to step up to support my family emotionally. During that time, I couldn’t focus on studying as much as I needed to. Still, I managed decent marks in 12th grade.

Then, a new medical entrance exam called NEET came up. I studied hard and scored well! We were so close to getting me into medical school, but there was a problem. We needed money to secure my spot. Without telling us, my dad, in a desperate act of love, took a loan on our house, and made some money, to make it happen. But the person (from a very reputable college) to whom he gave the money disappeared with the money. We actually lost everything, and the stress caused my dad to have a stroke.

During his second stroke, despite our efforts, he had passed away.

It was then that I discovered that he had mortgaged our house to pay for my medical education without informing me. However, my mom knew this already.

The burden of this revelation weighed heavily on me, especially as I was about to embark on my journey into medicine. Despite clearing the NEET exam, I couldn’t find it in myself to pursue a career in medicine, especially with the emotional and financial disturbance my mother was going through.

My mother was very much mentally weak, and I decided to stay with her.

I enrolled in a college near my home that offered a course in Visual Effects. I was in the college during the first half, and I was enhancing my editing skills, working to uplift myself during the second half. Meanwhile, I was taking care of my mother. Tragically, my mother also passed away after six months, leaving me utterly alone.

I was just 20 when I had no family. With no financial support and facing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, I struggled to make ends meet. There were moments when I felt like ending my life, but I held on to the words of resilience from Rajinikanth’s movies. With just 1200 rupees, barely enough to survive a month during the COVID times, I somehow managed for months on end.

Despite the hardships, I refused to lose hope. I turned to freelancing to sustain myself and completed my college degree online. When opportunities arose, I seized them, even launching a product with fellow entrepreneurs on Clubhouse, though it didn’t succeed.

Slowly, things started getting better. I found some good jobs, even though I hated asking for help. People saw my talent and trusted me with important projects. Through so much hard work and willpower, in one of the companies that I was working for, I was promoted to a manager position at the age of 23. But I put papers to start my own marketing agency, Social Sculpt, in 2023.

Life throws punches, but here’s what I learned: Never give up. Don’t be afraid to fail; learn from it quickly, and try again. You can always start over. Most importantly, believe in yourself. That’s my real strength.”