I think my childhood experiences shaped my character. Everyone I knew believed in me, my abilities and judgments. They gave me freedom to make my own decisions and as a result I grew up being a responsible individual. Let me tell you an incident on this. When I was in 9th grade my grandfather asked me to escort my aunty (recently married) back to her house. That was a long trip and we had to change multiple buses. This was a big commitment for me because I was still a small girl and my aunt was wearing a lot of ornaments. When somebody questioned my reliability as a companion, my grandfather said, “It is OK for her to wear those ornaments because Nisha will watch out for her”. I was not a karate champion but just wanted to show you how much my family believed in me.

As a teenager, I read a lot of books in psychology and philosophy. They taught me the power of positive thinking and helped me believe in the existence of an eternal power (which I call God). My father-in-law was diagnosed with small cell carcinoma of the lung in 1999. Since his cancer was in the final stages, doctors didn’t have much faith in his survival. But he was a great believer in himself and decided to fight against the disease. It was a surprise even for the doctors when he defeated cancer and survived for 6 more years.

Unni is very different. He can concentrate on his work for long hours without food, water and even sleep. He is a perfectionist – may be because he is a Virgo! I have seen him redo everything from scratch after days of hard work when he finds “lack of perfection”. He taught me dedication and enthusiasm and perfection in life. I and Unni share a lot of common things too. They include willingness to help others and enjoy the company of our friends.