never-give-up-by-kunal-bansal-chandigarh

Today, I am an enthusiastic writer and an ambitious traveler, however, it wasn’t always like this. I was born in a poor house with a father who was struggling to find a high paying job and a mother who was a housewife. I lived in a slum in Chandigarh as a child and often used to do small chores for people to get money for food or ice cream. Yeah, things were that desperate. I didn’t go to school until the time I was nine years old but I really wanted to learn.

So, I started saving up money at the age of eight to buy books for myself to study from. I was always fascinated by two kinds of books, Literature and Geography. Just knowing more and more about the different places in the world and their languages made me fantasize about living or at least travel to those places. By the age of twelve, I had gained enough knowledge to pass a scholarship exam for a good local school. I scored above 90 percent in that exam and I was awarded 100 percent scholarship as a result.

I was very happy to be enrolled in a good school and finally getting a proper education, however, one of my biggest nightmares was about to come true. I was bullied… a lot… and the reason for me being bullied was… the financial condition of my family. Shocking, right? Well, the bullying really started leaving a mark on me because I had NO friends. I assumed the reason to be them not being able to get a scholarship as I did. They might have thought that a poor kid doesn’t deserve such a privilege. Then again, it’s just a guess.

Anyways, in spite of all the bullying and loneliness, I managed not to lose my focus in studies because I knew that my sheer determination to learn and thrive was the reason for me being in this school in the first place. I know it can be hard to fathom a twelve-year-old boy with such a way of thinking but when life hits you hard from the beginning, you have to hit back… hard. And in order to do that, you need to prepare yourself. And by keeping my full attention on studies, I was doing that.

Just as I started to think that things are gonna get better for me, another hard-hitting obstacle that felt like a dead-end when it happened, my father passed away. After that, I was left heartbroken and purposeless. I felt like there was nothing good left in my life and I started avoiding studies and many other things. My mom had to work because there was no source of income after dad passed away and as a result of that, I had to go to school with no lunch. Somehow, I managed to eat enough to keep me going.

Time passed and eventually, I grew past the loss of my father and started to focus on only and only my education. I passed with excellent grades in my 12th and went on to get a scholarship at a local art college. I completed my degree in journalism and literature in three years and started working as an editor at a local newspaper. However, I soon got fed up with it because it was a boring job and the salary was insufficient for me to get where I wanted to in my life.

So, I left my job after working there for just and year and went on a trip to Australia with the money I saved up. That trip was more than 15 days long and it made me realize what was my passion. I came back from that trip and I realized that I had a pure passion for traveling. Further, I thought of converting it into something productive and it led me to write travel blogs. I started earning money this way which enabled me to travel even more and then I started writing about those experiences.

Now, I am one of the best writers in Chandigarh and I keep growing day by day. It is not important for you to be naturally good at something. The person we become is the result of the choices we make. If I can achieve my dreams after having such humble beginnings, I am pretty sure anyone can. Now, I am living the life that I want to and my mother doesn’t have to work. I consider turning my mother’s frown into a smile one of my greatest achievements. I was able to accomplish all this because I never gave up. So, I end this article with a word of advice… fail but whatever you do, never ever give up.