I am one of the most spendthrift people you will ever come across. Great shoes and clothes are my biggest weakness apart from travel of course and guess what, none of them come cheap. Imagine surviving on my own for years. It sure is no hard feat to achieve. But when you want miracles to happen, they just do. I have been out of college for only three years, but you know what, I have been supporting myself for the past six years. Wondering how? Let’s start.
Life for me as a child was a piece of cake. My parents coddled me at every step and pampered me with everything I ever wanted. I still remember my father reading out loud, stories about self made men who made their daddies proud. They used to study under the street light or in a candle lit room and yet managed to be some of the most famous businessmen or scientists of the century. Oh! How I wanted him to read out a similar story about me someday. Now, we always had electricity at home, so I couldn’t go out and read my boring school books under a street light, right? So I decided to do something which will make my daddy proud without blinding myself.
I decided to take charge of my life and my expenses and thus the plan began.
As soon as NIFT came calling and I moved to Mumbai to study, I started thinking of ways to earn money and decided to search for freelance jobs. So I made a pathetically small list of all my pros. After making the list, I felt so bad about myself, that I almost went back home. I was too curvy to be a model, couldn’t act to save my life, so no films or theatre and too chirpy to work in a BPO. Basically, I was not trained to do anything on this planet.
The only thing that I could do, was, write and so started my conquest to get a job as a freelancer writer. With no contacts, it’s not that easy to get a job, trust me, but after a year of trying very (very very very) hard, I finally landed some paying gigs and in 2009 officially, stopped taking money from my parents. Hailing from a marwadi family, where my cousins were getting married in their early 20s and were expected to produce babies and take care of their in-laws and husbands, here I was, earning my way in college.
It was very difficult in the beginning. I remember coming so close to making that call to my father to ask him for money so many times but stopped when pride intervened. I was broke all the time and frugality took on a new meaning. All of a sudden, stories about how to save money and quick and easy recipes for a healthy dinner made sense and following them was very important. I could have taken money from my parents – they would have never said no – but I just didn’t want to. I had been taken care of all this while, now it was time I took care of my own self. There were days when college and freelance assignments piled up and all I wanted to do was hide somewhere and sleep for a thousand years. But those were the times when I learned not to run away from responsibility and face it all, head on.
I learnt about money management, shopping in moderation and most importantly, about saving. When others were busy calling their parents for more money so that they could buy a dress, I was busy depositing my own hard-earned cheques in the bank and pampering myself. That feeling sure is one in a million.
It’s been six years since I took charge and it has been a journey full of ups and downs. I have travelled to so many places, bought so many luxury brands (finally) and experienced life’s gifts and you know what, I paid for it all myself.
My dad taught me about self made men, well daddy, your daughter is a self made woman. I hope you will read my story someday too with joy and pride in your eyes.
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