Hetal Rohra - Vadodara, Gujarat

 

Hi! My name is Hetal Rohra and I am from Vadodara, Gujarat. I attended my first conference in June, 2015 – after completion of my Masters. When it was actually the time to decide career goals, I was more interested in spending time with my younger brother during those eight days. He got the reference about the conference from his friend and was about to leave India in a month. Another thing which interested me more was “NO MOBILE PHONES!!” which actually made me think about how life could be without using that device! And yes, I didn't want to lose an opportunity to meet people from around India.

When I entered Asia Plateau, I was totally mesmerized by the beauty of it. Well, I wanted to capture it in my phone but I realized that I have to surrender to it as per the strict rules.  I felt sad because I was seperated from my four friends. But that sadness lasted for few minutes because I easily got along with my new roommates. The day when the concept of “Quiet time” was introduced to us was unforgettable. In the beginning, I didn’t realize its meaning and was wondering why each one of us was separated. But while spending time alone during Quiet Time, I just wrote “MOM” in my diary and was crying without any reason. My mother -  person whom I never valued but always blamed for whatever happened to me at every stage of my life. I don’t know why and how but I recalled her during my first quite time. I got my answer for this particular question till the end of the conference.

As I mentioned earlier that I was there after completing my Masters; but I was still unclear about my career goals. The session taken by Bhisham helped me in matching my skills to my passion and I decided to go for it. I decided to be an Educator and joined my University as a lecturer. Another session made me realize the value of time and I was motivated to achieve my short term and long term goals in additon to repairing my relationships with my friends.

The day to emphasize more over here is a “Family Day”; an emotional as well as a Self Realization day because today we rarely value our Family and near ones. I also realized that because of my ego, I was hurting my dear ones! Thanks to a session at the conference, I was able to release it away via a balloon and I felt relieved from the heavy burden. That feeling is indescribable. I was blessed that day to have my brother beside me, and to whom I wanted to say sorry for taking him for granted as he always stood by my side whenever I needed him. ‘Sorry’ and ‘Thanks’ were the toughest words for me to use for the ones who really care for me.

Apart from these meaningful activities, Group Discussion was something unique in the conference. Friendly and caring coordinators were with us to boost us up. In addition, every member of the group was keen to know each other and were good listeners. And gradually these sharing sessions with strangers eventually helped me find new friends for a lifetime.

I found the four standards: Purity, Honesty, Unselfishness and Love, diffucult to apply and follow. But Viral Bhai gave the direction with respect to applying PHUL in the right way and this helped me delete the word ‘Impossible’ from my dictionary.

Reluctantly, the good days came to an end; but I took it as a new beginning towards a new life. The things I learnt there; the positivity I brought from the surrounding and the vibes of the fascinating place; the bad habits I burnt there; a relief of forgiveness that I experienced; a firm decision to rectify my mistakes; and most importantly a feeling of peaceful mind - was unbelievable. The way Viral Bhai respects every single person and profession in his life; I admire him for that too. I made a commitment on the last day to spread happiness in the true sense and help people around me to follow the standards to some extent.

Before coming to Let's Make A Difference, I held a belief that I’m a Fearless and Happy-go-lucky person who always had a big smile on her face. But during the conference I proved myself wrong and understood that I’m still an extremely introvert person and that I haven’t came out of a childhood incident yet! And that was the only reason to distance myself from my Mom. After Let's Make A Difference, I confessed everything to her without assuming how her reaction would be! To my surprise, this worked and our relationship became transparent and fruitful.  A letter to me has always worked as a powerful weapon to remind me of my goals and how much I have changed as a person.

After my first conference, I was unable to appear for the next two, but somehow I managed to go again in June, 2018. This time particularly I went to find the answers to my questions because I resigned from my post as a lecturer in a university after serving there for two years. I discontinued with the work that I loved the most. But, I had faith in Viral Sir and the team which brought me there again to find new version of me. However, this time I loved to be with myself than with others. I was looking for more than an hour for quiet time to realize that I needed it more. I was in need of a more meditation because I valued it more this time.

Currently, I’m enjoying my busyness. I am pursuing one certificate course in Health and Fitness Management with my favorite companions - my Mom and a childhood friend. Moreover, I have taken up one initiative to provide a practice platform for English speaking, which is a weakness that I recognized in my students while teaching. Along with that, I’m looking to take up volunteering work to educate needy students. I had a plan to switch to the fitness field and luckily I have been offered to take Yoga Classes in an academy and I warmly took up this opportunity. With this flexible timetable I was able to offer help to my papa in his business and my mom in her household chores. I also started taking their classes to improve their English. In the end, I’m proud to share that my mom has been a true backbone to help and guide me to make right decisions.

All in all, Let's Make A Difference journey has been full of surprises, enthusiasm, energy and challenging. There is lot to learn and experience from the people around me yet. And I would definitely not lose a chance to initiate a change and help others wherever and whenever I get the change.

Thanks to every single person who is associated with Let's Make A Difference to help me find my right track and to bring about a change in me.