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My Determination as my Strength

I am Varsha, from Bihar, recently graduated from university of Calcutta, here I would like to share my story on “Determination” I was going through LinkedIn and I found this platform to share my struggles in life.

I came to Kolkata from a small town to pursue my studies and to enjoy my young adult life. After 1 year, I suddenly thought of earning and learning as I was passionate about cooking, paintings, dancing, and singing. I decided that I was going to take up cooking as my profession and open a restaurant.

I discussed with my parents and friends to know what they thought of my idea and no doubt, my friends supported me, but my parents did not want me to get involved in any kind of business. But because of my determination and the support of my mother and friends. I started this business and named it “VARSHA VEG KITCHEN“.

Unaware of the struggles which were ahead of me I started the restaurant without having enough budget to run it. I managed to collect around Rs. 50,000 to meet all the expenses of rent, furniture, labour cost, material cost, and other petty cash in mind. With this, I decided to learn and earn.

Days passed and we did not have proper management of labour and it was a total disaster. After 5 months I had a debt of Rs. 3 lacs. So, I prepared myself to shut down but I couldn’t tell my mother and my family about this debt because of my mother’s constant love and support and my father’s warning from the beginning. I did not have more than Rs. 50 in my pocket and I was completely in despair.

During this period, it was so hard to live with an ongoing debt and other expenses as I was only 19 at that time and I was not old enough to handle my debt and studies simultaneously. I was unable to tell my father because he had asked me to manage all my expenses since I owned a restaurant and earned from it. I went under depression as I had no one to share my thoughts and feelings with, no friends nor loved ones. Then, one fine day I decided to share my feeling with my mother, as my mental health and economic condition was deteriorating.

So finally, I focused on clearing my debt with any sacrifice that I had to make as I had a strong determination. I had to quit shopping, outing, exploring, etc., with my friends to minimise my expenditure. I changed my room for a minimum rent, and had no android phone, only around 2-3 pairs of clothes and I did not buy any new clothes, no fun with friends because of my commitment to repay the debt. I lost my smile and cheerful attitude of “the old me” and “happy me”. Without graduation I was unable to get a good job. But eventually with lots of searching and patience and determination, I finally got a job which paid me Rs. 7000/- so things got a bit better. I just ate only 1 chapati and bread during the snack time in my office. I usually moved away from the places where the employees had their lunch.

Finally, with my earnings, I was able to repay all my debts.

It has been two years, I closed my restaurant, I lost the best part of my life like, fun, outing, college life but I have the satisfaction and fulfillment that I did what I loved and loved what I did. I was happy myself that I was able to accomplish and learn from my mistakes.

Now, I am an HR Professional and working in an Animation Company and my passion, confidence, determination, and thoughts are a part of my past, which helped me to make the right decisions and learned that if you are wrong, you will be the “only one” to solve your problems. Just keep a strong determination and never give up.

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