MY FAMILY
Starting from my personal life to my professional career, I have had lots of mentors and I feel blessed that I learn a lot from each one of them. I strongly believe in two things – first, everything happens for a reason and second, there is always something good that just happened in your life. In short, we should look for an opportunity in every moment of our life and be positive to face it.
Of course, to start with, I would not be where I am, without my parents and my family.
With my family – from left – Rinku Sawlani (my sister), Bikram Ahluwalia (my brother in law and husband to my second sister Deepa), my mom (Shanti Sawlani), Me, my dad (Ramesh Sawlani) and Deepa (my sister).
They taught me the true value of life. Living life as it is and enjoying life in the simplest moments is what I have learnt to sum it up in short. Friends are always there but family is who we always come back to.
My Mom (Shanti Sawlani) and Dad (Ramesh Sawlani)
My mom has taught me the value of money even when I was younger and money was never an issue at that time, I still remember those days that she would give me a AED 100 note and ask me to give me an account of where I spent it in order for me to ask more. I would be so conscious about where I was spending, and used to always think - was it necessary to spend there and so on. She also taught me two important things – Always put your things back where you got it from and never leave anything for tomorrow. If you plan on doing something, do it now rather than leave it for later. Till date, I follow these teachings from my mom. Sometimes it is irritating and I feel that it is taking up my time during the day when it is not necessary to do it now, but I feel so good when I wake up the next day and have everything ready for me to get started fresh.
With my sisters – from left – me, Rinku Sawlani (my youngest sister) and Deepa (my younger sister)
My sisters mean the world to me and I do look up to them for being strong, independent and also for being there for me at every point in my life. Deepa, my younger sister, comes from the banking industry. She has worked in banks all her life and not only does she know what stocks are falling and rising in the market; she is also smart in her approach in handling things. I still remember our trip together in 2014 when just the four of us – me, Deepa, my youngest sister Rinku and my brother in law Bikram were going to Paris and Amsterdam before our cruise with the family. Deepa had planned everything to the T; starting from the flight bookings, hotel bookings, excursions like day trips, bike tours, places to eat at, places to go to were all planned so well that I didn’t have to worry about a thing. In fact, I was overwhelmed in the middle and was a little upset as I have always been the one in my life with my husband to plan everything. A recent time to remember was when she was planning to go on a detox, she shared with me tips and tricks to get me started and pushed me every day and checked on my progress, I must say I have been so motivated and because of her, I love my juices and I love giving myself time to plan my meals ahead of time and working out and keep going in order to be more fit. So, I really thank you Deepa for being a strong influence in my life.
Rinku, my youngest sister, is the sensitive and wise one. Being with her calms me down, makes me connected and grounded to my roots. She makes me feel the purpose of who I am and the reason for what I do and what makes me happy. Deepa takes the crown for being the practical one. Rinku is not the planned one, but she definitely will be able to tell you what is best to do at that time, what is good and what is not. She is very practical in her way of handling every day, spending money wisely, just like mom. She has motivated me so much as I still remember the time I used to cuddle her and call her my teddy bear as she has quite fat and chubby. Today if you see her, you will not believe a word of what I just said. Not only has she lost tremendous amount of weight, she also continues to maintain it. She is also very spiritual. She stops at times in order for her to value her life more. She spends time with the family instead of running around with friends and running behind work and life in general. Rinku, I want to say a big thank you to you for always keeping me grounded and connected to family and to life. I love you for the person that you are and making me feel positive and well balanced all the time!
Dad (Ramesh Sawlani) and my hubby (Dheeraj Rupani)
Dad and Dheeraj are the most important men in my life. They have been instrumental in supporting me encouraging me at very important stages in my life. Dad, thank you for all your advice and thank you for teaching me to be more patient.
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Dheeraj, we met as friends and then got married and became partners both in life and at work. Thank you for teaching me to appreciate the good in others and to value life.
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Please continue to be the same. I love you both to the moon and back!