Mr. Waris Ahluwalia has currently been in
the news across the international media. Ahluwalia is a jewelry designer, a
retailer, an actor and a model (which is quiet a varied mix…)! According to The New York Times, Ahluwalia is one of the most photographed men on New York
Social Circuit, with more than 1,500
appearances on the Billy Farrell Agency photo website. That’s more than Lady
Gaga, Salman Rushdie, Harvey Weinstein and Lindsay Lohan combined.
He has tried everything
from writing for The Paris Review to designing a pop-up restaurant in London.
Although Ahluwalia is not a technically trained jeweler, his latest
diamond-encrusted collection is with Forevermark, a De Beers brand. Although he
has no retail experience, he is starting a chain of boutiques called ‘House of
Waris Rare’, with the first opening in the Gritti Palace in Venice.
Although he is not a professional model, he is featured in Gap’s current ad
campaign, along with Cyndi Lauper, Adam Driver and Tony Bennett. And while he
has never taken an acting class, he has been cast in films by Wes Anderson,
including “The Darjeeling Limited” and his coming “The Grand Hotel Budapest,”
and he appeared in the 2010 Italian film “I Am Love” with Tilda Swinton, whom
he counts as a friend.
As all of us would be
thinking, Ahluwalia comments, “I’m as surprised as anyone about where I’ve ended
up!”
Then he says something,
which has caught my attention. He continues, “MAYBE IT’S BECAUSE I SAY YES TO
THINGS!”
It set me thinking – Do I
say YES to things, or is my response a spontaneous negative? Does my mind trick
me by giving excuses in situations I am not comfortable in and escape? If I
have decided to do something and it doesn’t go the way I thought it should go, do
I tend to shed away the responsibility on someone else?
When I see someone
needing help on the road, do I keep driving thinking I can’t afford to wait
even for a minute? When an opportunity
knocks my door, do I shy away convincing myself that it’s not my cup of tea? When I see a fellow
Indian walking past me in a foreign country, do my eyes invariably catch
something more interesting other than his face? When I see that someone
is working hard in the house, do I overlook the scene as if I haven’t seen
anything at all? When I don’t get the
desired results, there is someone or the other who can be blamed for it, isn’t
it?
I have learnt a great
lesson from Ahluwalia. I have decided to say YES TO THINGS! There will be
enough instances where it will demand me to go out of my comfort zones. There will
be enough situations, which would be totally new and I will have to learn new
things! There would be times when my potential would be challenged. Yet, I have
decided to be conscious and will say YES TO THINGS!
Thanks & Regards,
Amit Kothari
