BENGALURU: The popular quote which says ‘do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life’ is quite familiar to many of us. But it’s not always easy to leave behind a structured 9 to 5 job and make a living with one’s passion. However, some young Bengalureans have braved up the challenge and pursued their passion, especially after being tired of the hectic work life since the pandemic. Srividya G Venkatesh has been practising yoga since she was 17 years old but she never thought she could make a living out of it. Now 31 years old and having worked in the finance sector for six years, she realised that the pandemic has made her a ‘couch potato’. The only activity she did was classical dancing.
She says, “I love my work in the chartered accounting firm but I wanted to upscale from there. I honestly had no plans for taking up yoga as a full-time profession but I quit my 9 to 5 job to actually learn more about the accounting work, but the pandemic had other plans for me.” She couldn’t enrol for the course as the dates were postponed every month. “How long could I sit around and wait for,” she asked. So, when the second wave hit, she took to yoga. “I enrolled myself for the Samyak Yoga course which is a residential training programme to be a certified yoga instructor.
This really helped me cope with a death in the family as well,” says Venkatesh. After the month-long programme and a license in hand to train anywhere in India, the US and the UK, Venkatesh started getting clients from across the globe. “I started 10 Elephants Yoga where I take individual and group classes, and workshops too. I felt it was a great time for me embrace my passion as people now are more conscious about their wellbeing and want to take care of themselves. Yoga is a great way to do just that,” she adds.
Another fitness enthusiast who quit his corporate world is Nikhil Sanjeev. He worked as an item data specialist for two years but that wasn’t his cup of tea. Coming from a sports background, he found the desk job too monotonous.
He says, “I wanted to quit a year ago but when Covid happened, I stuck around for another year. Meanwhile, I started participating in powerlifting events at my gym and started getting recognised there, something I wasn’t getting at my corporate job. That was such a morale boost and helped me realise where I really belong.” He started looking for jobs at gyms, but due to the lockdowns and layoffs, he had very little luck. Nevertheless, he waited patiently.
When he finally got the chance, he quit his corporate job and became a personal trainer. Sanjeev says, “I helped a 70-year-old woman, a cancer survivor weightlift. I’ve also helped many of my friends lose the pandemic weight.” Though he’s working as a freelance personal trainer now and through online training, he hopes that things will get better soon and can go for more physical workouts. He says, “Financial stability plays a huge factor when you leave a structured job but I’ve been getting by alright. This field has great potential and things have definitely been picking up. More importantly, I chose my mental health over having to sit in front of a computer all day just for a monthly paycheck.”
Twenty-nine-year-old Unni George found his passion when he joined his cousin, Ajay, for an ice cream pop up event. A former F&B professional quit his job before the pandemic and had joined an edtech company, but George was clearly not enjoying his work.
“When my business partner asked if I wanted to join and help out the company Ulo Ice Cream, I took it on,” he says, adding, “And I manage everything from making the ice cream to its marketing work.”
Though he’s loving what he’s doing and calls it a “labour intensive job”, he does miss the structure a 9 to 5 job normally provides. “Maybe it’ll get better soon and we hope it will but Ulo is still a startup and we’re figuring things out. But at least I’m doing what I love and that’s satisfying enough,” says George.