Who says whats-in-a-name? My life and my journey has been a story of hope and thats what my name signifies in Hindi.
I was born in Mauritius to a sixth generation immigrant family but larger part of my early life has been spent in England. I was always a dreamer with a social conscience and have enjoyed creative work since childhood. My first working stint in media and advertising industry didnt last long as it came nowhere close to my vision of contributing back to the society. In that social quest, I landed up in Holland to work for a charity organization. My stay in Holland was very satisfying to me as I learnt some creative art techniques like oil painting and sculpture. I had also enrolled myself into very demanding martial art lessons directly from a monk.
It was when I moved back to England from Holland and befriended many Indians, I was startled by the warmth and friendliness of the Indian culture and society. The new found love for India made me move to Gujarat where I worked for Mother Teresas organization of Missionaries of Charity. After Gujarat, the beautiful city of Bangalore happened to me and thats where I have spent few of my best years growing professionally and personally; thanks to some of the finest people I worked along during this stint.
Post my first Bangalore spell, I have been tried different things in different cities with that hope to find my true calling. In London I worked as a soul mid-wife then I went on to setup my own cup-cake business and then I moved to Mauritius where I worked as a healer and then finally heeding to a dream I moved back to Bangalore as a culture consultant.
Now I am working on my own startup where we would offer innovative and empowering etiquette courses to both youths and adults. Currently I am excited setting up everything along with my team.
I believe the purpose of life is to evolve, to learn, to enjoy both the happiness and the suffering part of it. Anyone who is successful had to suffer and without suffering there would be no feeling of the joy which success brings. My advice to the younger generation would be to not expect things handed to you in platter. There is no shortcut, there is no instant gratification. Work hard towards it and then you realize so much joy.
(Asha Ramsurn is the co-founder of Eticlass, where she provides business etiquette, emotional and cultural intelligence training at corporates. She visits Dialogues with her team regularly and has reviewed Dialogues as a hidden gem in the hustle and bustle of Bangalore.)
