No one has a perfect life, but we decide our experience of life. An inspiring artist and budding engineer who learnt this lesson at a young age and made his experience beautiful.
Everyone is born with a special talent that has the power to revive him or her from any situation. While everyone discovers their special talent at different point in life, it is through rocky ways that their talent becomes a skill.Smoothing life’s rough roads with his paint brush, 19-year-old engineering student Jeraj Jain polished his art to earn his bread. Talking about his life, Jeraj said, “I have been painting since childhood and I feel rejoiced for no reason when I do that.”Painting has been an expression of his emotion and revival of his life in tough times. “Though we always had financial issues, my life was happy, but everything changed a couple of years back,” Jeraj said.Unable to beat the stress and due to ill-health, his father (businessman Jinendra Jain) passed away in March 2012. “My father was my best friend and guide, also he was the sole bread wiener in our family,” Jeraj shared.Losing Jinendra crippled everyone in the family metaphorically. “Everything fell apart and I could not even understand how it happened,” Jeraj said.He elaborated that a couple of months before his father passed away, their life was perfect. “Until December 2011, I had the perfect family and was enjoying fun-filled childhood,” Jeraj said.His father had varied interests and while experimenting on those, he always gave time to his three children. “He (Jinendra) was strict but equally loving and fun,” Jeraj said.
When his grandmother got sick in 2011, his father spent most of his time with her. “Grandma was paralysed and as a good son, my father did everything for her and in that due course, he neglected his health,” Jeraj said.After losing his father at the age of 13, though he had elder sisters, he knew that it was time to step up. “My mom (Raj), my sisters (Abhipriya and Mini) and I worked on small jobs and found a way to meet our monthly bills,” Jeraj said.In those tough times, painting became his strength. “I polished my brushes and hunt for commercial projects,” Jeraj said.Though it took time, but he was not only able to pay off his bills but also gather savings. “I decided to do engineering and found myself working harder,” Jeraj said. Over time, he was able to gather enough to pay his semester fee of Rs 85k and have a comfortable life.Sharing why he chose engineering, Jeraj said, “I pursue Art as my passion and engineering as a dream profession.”Discussing his life, he explained that as smooth seas never made great sailors, tough times and presents of hardest hits have helped him move ahead. “Teachings and principles of Dad made me hold the tradition of excellence and that is my biggest achievement,” Jeraj said.In the last couple of years, he has received five national and one international award for his paintings. “I was born on Holi, hence colours are inbuilt in me,” Jeraj concluded.