About Me

Sudip Banik

Date – 24th January, Day – Monday, Time – 10.37 PM, Year - 1983 and Location – Railway Hospital, Maligaon. I guess, data is enough for a well charted out horoscope, but on a second thought I wonder what is it that I would derive out of that horoscope. My future, nay not needed, for the foundation of a bright future was already laid on the night of my birth and my present stands testimony to the same. On that auspicious night, I was lucky enough to have been born to the sweetest couple I have known till date, Mrs Santi Banik and Mr Indrajit Banik. I was not born with a silver spoon but my parents never let me feel that and the icing on the cake being the constant pamperedness of my relatives having had the joy of witnessing the first of the second or third generation. On that eventful night, when things had finally calmed down and a sense of parenthood dwelled upon them, my parents took the pledge of providing me with all the cushions for my bright future event if it meant that I was the first of our family to have studied in an English medium school, even if it meant I was given a free hand to choose my career and pursue it till as long as I wanted, even if it meant that my father was in a huge financial crisis and my mother had to sell all her jewellery to fund my engineering course in a private college, even if it meant that they did all these with a smile just because they had pledged to provide me with a life better to what they had.

“Survival of the fittest” is a phrase that originated from Darwinian evolutionary theory as a way of describing the mechanism of natural selection. I am not too sure where my parents learnt their survival skills from, but mine is advertently attributed to my genes. I have constantly observed and learnt from close quarters the ‘never say die’ attitude of my parents and have imbibed it to such an extent that it becomes an integral part of me too. I was a tad unlucky not to have grabbed a campus job during my engineering days, and once you are on your own, life becomes a bit difficult more so when you are financially stuck. Some of my dearest classmates were absorbed by reputed companies which in one way added insult to injury but on the other way round gave me reasons to rejoice in. There’s an age old adage which says that when life gives you lemons, one should make lemonade. Well, with no job at hand and no money in pocket, I returned back home and started taking private tuitions to make ends meet. The fighter in me kept reminding to keep trying and as luck would have it, my eventual MBA college had advertised for two seats to be given to candidates from financially backward families but with a good academic record. Even today I feel that had I not got that opportunity, I would have till today struggled to make a mark for myself. One year to my course, I got my 1st big career break with Vodafone, an offer which I had to accept at any cost even if it meant letting go my MBA degree. However, my Dean Sir was considerate enough to spare me the mandatory classes and my batch mates helped me with the notes as I had the luxury of only attending the scheduled exams, at the same time become a full time regular MBA graduate.

Here onwards, there was no looking back as I conquered one hurdle after the other. Yes, there were hiccups but my fighting instinct helped me overcome all of those and in the process transforming me to be a much more strong will-powered and determined person to what I previously was. As I have already shared my formula of success in the hashtag ‘i do not want to be the Photographer’, I would just like to add that believe in yourself, create an identity of your own and take failures in your stride as whatever happens, eventually you shall find out had happened for the better. Even as I write this, one caption in my table calendar interests me. It reads, ‘Release your majestic mind, embrace your untamed inner spirit. Break free from captivity, avoid society… You are born to be free.’