Youngsters who’re living their dreams

[1]

Shitij Malhotra

“Youth today should identify and follow their interests and the rest of the journey will itself fall into place,” said former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, interacting with students at the “Young India Fellowship Programme” in the capital recently. A few youngsters, share their expedition with us. These young people not only dared to dream, but also carved a career out of their dreams…

Aarti Verma
Financial constraints kept her away from the career of her choice, but not for long. Being the only earning member of her family, Aarti had to strive to work out ways to be what she always wanted to be — a fashion designer. She took a job as a schoolteacher and then in a BPO before she created her label, Art Meets Fashion. Aarti creates handcrafted and painted bags and retails across the country. The 28-year-old is already contemplating on going global with her venture.
“I won’t deny the initial hiccups I had as an entrepreneur, but I should say it was worth it,” she says adding, “I started the label as a part-time thing, but always knew that it was going to work. Today, I have a client base across the country and even abroad,” she says.

Sonal Kapoor
Fiesty Sonal made the right career choice by doing an MBA and landing right on top of the corporate ladder. But that wasn’t exactly what gave purpose to her life. Sonal, to the shock of her friends and parents gave up her cushy job to set up Protsahan, an NGO that aims to work for the underprivileged children and women in the urban slum of Delhi.
“I must say that I am the happiest person today,” says a beaming Sonal. The 25-year-old ropes in youngsters to impart basic livelihood skills to women and children. “I am doing this with the help of other like-minded youth, and the best is that I can see immediate results of my work in the form of broad smiles from these children,” Sonal says.

Shitij Malhotra
An engineer by training, Shitij Malhotra also has patents for a few original medical devices. But technology is not what the 29-year-old chose to take further. Instead, Shitij along with partner Priyanka Prabhakar, an MBA and digital advertising expert runs a creative gamming concept for kids called Traveller Kids. The duo left their “happy and fun jobs” to follow their passion for travel and entrepreneurship.
But how did the out-of-the-box idea come about? After every international trip, the globetrotter, Shitij would have a detailed answering session with his nieces and nephews on what he got to see in the new country he travelled to. “Everybody wants to travel and see the world — most can’t, due to social, financial or school pressures. I devised an interactive package to explore the world while sitting at home. The idea is to provide fun and learning to kids in India,” he informs.
But for Shitij, the most motivating factor about Traveller Kids is that it requires him to be constantly on his toes.

Ayush Gupta
Music is what has been driving this 23-year-old drummer — quite literally. While Ayush completed his MBA at the persistence of his family, a career in the corporate world wasn’t meant for him. This headbanger is a drummer with a five-member young band called Astitva. It took a lot of persuasion to make his parents understand why declining a good job offer came easy to him. “I am not meant to be a ‘zombie’ who does a monotonous eight hour job. So what if I have a dual degree in finance and marketing?” he questions. “I am glad to do what I really wanted to do. When my parents look forward to my concerts, I know even they are proud of my decision,” he says.