This week’s episode focuses on the story of Sylvia Chawla – A single mom and an entrepreneur!
Born and bought up in Delhi, Sylvia’s life was surrounded by family and friends she cherished.
When she was 15 years old, her parents decided to move to Australia. For Sylvia, it was a very difficult moment, as she did not want to leave her friends, school and the city that she loved.
Sylvia had no idea how life would unfold in a country where she knew no one…
While, Australia caught Sylvia’s fancy, the western way of life was something new and interesting, but at the same time, it was also difficult to mingle and integrate, especially with her new school mates.
Sylvia felt that most of the times she was discriminated on the basis of race and also many of the students had poor understanding and impression about India and Indians, and therefore, she would often be ridiculed.
The terrible experience in school led her to feel more isolated and secluded, she would bunk classes and prefer being alone at home.
She would often cry and ask her parents to send her back to India. Sylvia recalls, “during 2002-03, the internet connection was not great, especially in India, and it was hard to connect with her friends. It was the time where you could only connect via emails, there were no social networking sites then… also mobile phones were too expensive. She would often ask her dad to buy her a mobile phone, but back then mobile phones were a luxury.”
Sylvia rues, “I am a typical Delhi girl! I always like having people around me to talk to or chat, but the school here turned me into a loner. Often she would be asked - Are you from a village? Why don't you dress up like us?”
Once, Sylvia, started University, things started looking much better... she made good friends and was pursuing things that she wanted to.
It was during the University days that she met someone special and fell in love… before she realized, she went ahead and married at the age of 20.
Sylvia says, that she simply went with the flow... as everything felt so right at that point of time.
But, the honeymoon did not last long… differences in their marriage started creeping up soon.
Though they both tried hard to make the marriage work… they even had a daughter, but that also could not salvage the marriage.
Sylvia states, “After 9 years of me being in a bad relationship, there were lots of misunderstandings and lots of fights. I left my house with no money, no job. I just packed by clothes and came to my parents’ place. My parents didn’t accept that I had left my husband specially when I have a daughter.”
The fallout of the marriage was that Sylvia ended up being depressed, and lost hope on many fronts… but then, she could not give up thinking of her daughter’s future and mustered up enough courage to rebuild her life with the help and support of her parents.
Source: SBS
Now Sylvia proudly calls herself a single parent… and is happy with the way she has been able to get back on her feet and found the job she likes.
She has also started her own business as a make up artist.
However hard her life and her decisions might have been, Sylvia is happy to be where she is now.
Source: SBS
Independent and strong, Sylvia believes whatever happens, happens for good.
No matter what may come, Sylvia is now ready to face the world with all the courage she has gathered. She strongly believes in the saying, 'Believe you can, and you're halfway there.’
Sylvia, says in a pensive manner, “there is nothing in the world which you can't achieve… and dreams do come true.”
Sylvia feels, being a single mother in Australia is much more easy, compared to India.
As no one judges you, or creates problem for you… unlike India, where there is a huge struggle for single mothers, socially they are looked down upon, economically finding jobs and houses can be problematic, and even at times family does not support… each day can be a big challenge!
Sylvia wants to inspire women around her to stay strong and believe in themselves.
Her advice for women in similar situation like hers is - “Stand up for your rights, respect yourself, and don't be afraid to be alone... As there's nothing more beautiful than you!”
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