FATTEH KARO!’ Against All Odds
Work-Life Balance
I was in a marriage where I was the sole breadwinner. I had to struggle to make a living. Above the Khyber restaurant in Fort, I had a little studio and had hired my first employee. She showed up to a burnt office. The night before, a raging fire had destroyed my studio, my life라이브 바카라 work, and all my tools of livelihood. I was literally on the streets and had to work hard to get back on my feet again. There was no time to process the shock of my loss, I just had to chug along.
When I became pregnant with my daughter, I had no choice but to work through a fractured leg in my 5th month and continue with my assignments till almost the eighth month. I had too many responsibilities and no one to lean on at work. I remember when my daughter was three months old, I would run to the office between feedings. I did not have the luxury of taking any real maternity leave because who would keep the hearth burning?
At a time when it seemed my career was going rather well, we were given the devastating news that my father had cancer. At that time, we lived with my parents. As a primary caregiver, I put all my time, energy, and resources into supporting my parents through the two years of his debilitating disease and eventually lost all my consultancy work. Once again, I had hit ground zero and had to gnaw my way back up after my father라이브 바카라 demise.
Being a woman entrepreneur is never easy. We work twice as hard as men to prove ourselves, we never really become part of the men라이브 바카라 club which calls the shots in all businesses. We run two shifts, one at work and then one at home.
But with the courage of the innocents, I plunged into the deep end regardless. I started my company Vyas Giannetti Creative in its present avatar and slowly built it to be a recognised force in the industry. I lived in the suburbs and my office was downtown. I realised I would have to shift to the suburbs to be close to my child. My days started at the crack of dawn to send her to school, then work, a quick break to rush home to lunch with her, and then in the evening, I made sure I had a story to put her to bed before getting back to finishing pending projects.
At work, whilst we were growing, dealing with people and client issues was always a challenge. Maintaining creative standards was a non-negotiable mantra and that meant always being alert to what was created. New talent always needed to be groomed and supervised. And whilst these were the usual startup growth pangs, I was ignorant that my naivety in matters of money had made me vulnerable. I was devastated to discover that people I trusted in the office had managed to siphon off a lot of it.
Our growth took us to spread wings from Delhi to Mumbai, building an enviable client list, and just as I was feeling unstoppable, my life came to a crashing halt with my daughter collapsing from a life-threatening disease. She was diagnosed with Anorexia Bulimia and had to be put into the ICU, hanging on by a thread. This event changed everything. For months I could not leave her side.
Her treatment took precedence over everything. I mean everything. This disease is pernicious and at that time was little understood hence qualified doctors were not available. It라이브 바카라 not something that gets over in a few months or a year. It took well over a decade to show some results. It sucked away my vital energies and left me bewildered at the ferocity of this affliction. With my child라이브 바카라 life at stake, and very alone in a dark space, I had to scavenge for strength and stamina to stay on the healing path. And even so, the scripts of our lives were rewritten in more ways than one.
For one, I had to take my eye off the business, which over time started to lose its edge and client relationships started to get dodgy. Money issues seemed to be rising. And there was a strange undercurrent amongst some senior leaders I trusted, that made me deeply uneasy. I had uncovered a plan to defraud me of money and divest me of my clients and people. The situation was extremely grave, to say the least, and as I was trying to resolve it, the world was hit by the 2008 Lehman Brothers catastrophe. So hit twice in a year, my ship capsized. I was left with only a lifeboat trying to navigate these pralaya waters. Once again to start afresh.
I was left with only a roof over my head, honestly, not knowing where my next meal would come from. Disillusioned and devastated as I was, I had no time to wallow. I had responsibilities towards my family and the few employees and clients that had stayed with me. I needed to reinvent and climb out of the deep hole I had fallen into first and then get back on my feet again.
Armed with a new strategy and team, I restarted the company. Having learned many lessons, I curated my team better, had a more prudent grip on my finances, and kept my vision sharp. And just as we were beginning to take off in a meaningful way, a new roadblock hit the economy — demonetisation. The green shoots curled up and died. Once again we were scrambling to get back on our feet.
And as if that was not enough, yes, Covid hit us smack in the face. And back we were, locked in our homes. As an entrepreneur, the risks are all yours. No one shares the bad times with you. Hiding my own anxieties, I worked hard at keeping the team herded together, motivated, and productive. It라이브 바카라 been about four years since then. Yes, we are once again up and running and God willing, will remain so for a long, long time.
A Legacy of Impact
I have run this business without a business partner or any investors. I’ve done it on my own terms, as ethically as is humanly possible, and without compromising on quality. Be it in my personal life or business, I have never shirked my responsibilities and kept all my transactions clean and my intent honest.
And as you can see, my life has not been a dance in the park. It has been fraught with numerous dark and tempestuous nights of the soul. I have a great sense of achievement and contentment in knowing not that my goals were achieved but that I fought every battle honourably, with courage and resilience.
So where did I get my resilience and strength to be a serial survivor, you might ask? Good genes? Possibly. Good upbringing? Can’t deny that. Divine intervention? Absolutely!
In my mid-twenties, at a time of some mental confusion, I was magically led to a copy of Swami Chinmayananda라이브 바카라 Bhagwad Geetarendition. Brought up in a religious-agnostic environment and further pushed into a more westernised mould of thinking, I was not even in sniffing distance of any spiritual leanings, so yes it was magical. It was a transformative event. It exposed me to the awesome spiritual might of a culture capable of awesome depth and universality of thought.
What it also did was to give me a matrix of Karma Yoga to structure my attitude upon; to do my very best and then surrender the outcome to Krishna. This simple heartfelt intent and mental attitude is what has been my bank of resilience and positivity. This led to many new spiritual chapters which became a parallel study of Indian spiritual literature and practices. Above all, I was blessed to be guided by a Guru and later, other Upagurus teaching me the paths of Bhakti through the divine Shrimad Bhagwatam, Gyaan through the Upanishads, and Dhyana through meditation. This invisible but ever-present spiritual study is what has helped me stay buoyant, resilient, and resourceful. And this is what has led me to my true success, contentment.
‘Yoga kshema vahamya hum’, in this shloka from the Bhagwad Geeta, Krishna says, for those who have sought My shelter and have surrendered their actions and fruits thereof to me, I take charge and help carry their life라이브 바카라 load. I’m often reminded of it as I look back and see that despite the mountains of difficulties, a higher power has quietly always protected me, maintained my reputation through calamitous times, helped me stay positive and provide towards my private and personal responsibilities, gave me an honourable life, and kept me from falling and failing through all odds. And that whilst the world might have abandoned me many times, He never did. He never let go of my hand.
Look, no one has an easy life. I had a pretty hard deck of cards dealt to me which I played as best as I could. And I was fortunate to have found a Divine presence to help me through it, maintain my equanimity, dignity, and peace of mind.
At a time when we are surrounded by so many voices that talk about anxiety, depression, and an overall feeling of inadequacy, perhaps my story will offer a glimmer of hope. And ‘Fatteh karo’ will acquire a whole new and happier meaning.
Preeti Vyas, Founder and Chairwoman of Vyas Giannetti Creative, is a doyen of the Indian Brand Design world, crafting standout creative solutions for blue-chip clients. An artist, writer, mentor, and advocate for charities and startups, she also delves into academics and researches Hindu philosophy.
Excerpt published with permission from Cursive
