Venkata Vamsi Krishna Kothuri

Engineering

Tough times makes you build character.

I don't say I was born with a golden spoon but definitely with a silver spoon. Days were all good and rosy till I was in my final year of graduation. Generally, every semester, my dad used to give me 20,000 Rupees as pocket money, but in my last year, he gave me 2,000 Rupees and asked me to manage my expenses with that amount that year. At that young age, I was like - What the heck is this? How can he do that to me? Why is he doing that? Did he stop loving me? Did he even understand my commitments and expenditures? How could I take my friends out for parties? How could I compromise on my lifestyle? And what would my friends think about me? Will I be looked down upon?... More than 1,000 questions ran through my brain.

Then my dad gave me another shocker - "No higher education because you have to support the family," he said. This devastated me completely until my mom told me that my dad's business got into trouble and ended up with so much debt that we couldn't even afford our usual standard of living. He needed my help. I had no words other than tears. Especially being born as a kid where all my wishes came true in no time, it was heartbreaking.

This made me think about my character deeply. At this point, I had two choices: accepting the changes or completely rewrite the story of my vision of the future. I choose to pursue the latter option. Because my dad used to say, "Tough times test and build your character." Being the oldest son in the family with two younger brothers, I decided to be brave and made some difficult choices.

After I finished my graduation, I embarked on my career immediately. While I was in college, I decided to tutor other engineering students. Then, when I got a chance, I worked as a freelancer, then as an insurance agent, I did stock trading, gave corporate training, even worked as a real estate agent. I did not say no to any job opportunity that came my way, and five years later, devoid of social life, no trips, no holidays, no sleep, I finally found something that I could call a stable job. Those five years were the most challenging years of my life, yet those were the best years. It transformed me completely the way I think and act on things, the way I listen and understand situations, how I treat family and I think about people; and how I respect all that we have today and had in the past.

I feel those five years added character to me and what I do. Now I strongly feel blessed to have what we have, and I also firmly believe that I can live a simple life and brave any challenges life throws at me.