“‘To be knocked down only to rise back up even stronger’ could possibly be the one-liner of my life. At every step, it’s either fate playing out its slopes or me getting carried away by the good times, before being humbled once again.

I guess today, at forty, I can confidently say that life is a collection of opportunities that you either build or lose out on. Born into a middle-class family in Erode, my world turned topsy turvy post the demise of my father. I was sixteen then trying to process the death of my strongest man, while simultaneously begging my entire family to let me continue my education further. In that chaos, the only person who came to my rescue was my brother, dropping out of school so that he could pay for my studies.

Next was college, and work, where I had no say over what I wanted to pursue. Getting the opportunity itself was such a big deal that my preferences couldn’t ever be expressed. However, despite the hardships, somewhere down the line after completing my MSc in Mathematics and working as a lecturer, I became a bit complacent with life. I was married as well by that time, and with a kid soon after, I completely forgot how cruel life can get and started taking things lightly. By that time, I was also fully depending on my new family rather than sharing our responsibilities.

So with this giving rise to newer, more problems, I knew somewhere that I had to restart my career once again so that I could earn back both my identity and my finances. Nevertheless, this time too, life had a bit of a twist in store.
With my husband fuelling my passion to learn new languages, I took the chance to grasp Japanese, after a series of tries in various fields. I’d previously worked as an insurance agent, a Montessori teacher, and whatnot but didn’t ever feel fulfilled in any of those endeavors.

So I knew I wouldn’t lose anything more by attempting this new interest, and therefore went head-on in learning Japanese. Now in the midst of the million thoughts swirling in my head at that point, I realized that I was enjoying the process thoroughly that I’d dedicate hours towards it every day. And fortunately, when passion met opportunity, I saw my efforts reap results in the form of a coveted job offer right after being on a break for seven long years.

From there, whether it was the pandemic, or any other difficult reality panning out, I pump myself up, reflecting on all that I’ve been through. My life in its entirety, has been unconventional, be it my choices or the incidents that chose me. I mean who could imagine a random woman working at some of India’s top MNCs after changing fields several times, all due to a singular interest in learning languages. Having said that, what I look forward, is to give my child the best life possible, all while making good use of the opportunities that god will present me with.”

#life #journey #hardships #empowerment #chennai #humansofmadras