By Jilawatan

I am a largely spiritual person. In today’s fast life, especially in this place called Mumbai, it’s really difficult to keep pace with life

For youngsters, it becomes all the more difficult to attain that calm. So, it’s very important to remain grounded else you can’t convert your worldly successes into inner happiness. Whenever I get some break, I make sure to go back to my family.

I feel it always does you good to keep that connect with your roots — your native place, your birthplace — all that to me is a means to keep in touch with God. But if you talk of ritualistic spirituality, I am a strong follower of Buddhism. Wherever I may be, I ensure I take out at least hour for chants, as is prescribed in the faith. Besides, I do the gongs twice in the day. I have been doing this for the past four years now and all this has made me very positive and at peace with myself.

If I was not in touch with my spiritual side, I wouldn’t have been able to survive in a place like Mumbai, and in this industry where I am so new and there is so much of competition. I don’t blindly believe in lucky charms and superstitions, but I do wear my guru’s locket. She is our family guru and I go with the family tradition. Besides, if someone from my family suggests me to do something, I do it. Like, my mom has made me wear an opal in my finger. Two years back, she made me wear a sapphire and it hasn’t done me any harm. I am sure it must have helped me in my life and career.

Whenever I face a tough time, I just chant and that has always helped me out. Besides, I believe that tough times don’t last, tough people do. So I try to maintain my inner strength to sail through rough patches. I also strongly believe in karma — jaisi karni, waisi bharni — as my parents had been drilling into our minds right from childhood. In fact, I would thank mom and dad for giving me such strong value system, although, as a child, I used to find what they said very ‘filmi’.

So many times, I have felt that a Higher Power is looking after me at every step of life. For instance, I had rejected many offers and somehow signed Jannat . Sometimes, I would doubt my choice. But now that the movie is a hit, I think God made me choose the right thing. Buddhism has helped me tremendously in life. I started following it around four years ago and because of it, I am what I am today.