I am Shekhar Vijayan. I was born and brought up in Delhi. I have been staying in Bangalore for the past 17 years. I live with my wife and my golden retriever – Sunshine. Today, I share my story to motivate people who find it hard to fight back their problems.
I started my career with a Financial Services Firm as a networks engineer where I got the first taste of the corporate culture. I also got to experience first-hand the colourful vocabulary used by the Indian Boss. In one instance, I stood up for myself and for other junior level employees in a skip level meeting – I told the senior level management about the language being meted out and how the employees were being treated. At that moment, I realised the value of communication and the kind of bullying all employees go through.
I moved on to a tech firm post that where I answered and solved customer queries for customers in the United States. That experience came in handy after which I worked with many top notch companies such as Convergys, Hewlett Packard and Accenture.
But somewhere, I felt that I should do something more other than working in the corporate sector. I wanted to take up a profession which utilised my full potential and passion.I took the strong decision of leaving my secure job and doing something I loved. I learnt acting from a theatre production, acted in two paid plays, started writing and also worked with a media production house as a show producer/radio jockey. I developed the quality of talking about anything under the sun and weaving an interesting conversation around it. I decided to become an international entertainer and host events across all genres in India and overseas.
During this time, I was also on the heavier side and weighed around 125 kilos. I could never find clothes of my size and ended up living in track pants and over sized t-shirts. But I was mentally very strong and knew what it took to get back to physical fitness. I got just the right kind of impetus when I accidentally broke a plastic chair at home and a commode at my in-law’s place. That’s when I realised that I really needed to lose weight.
I did not join a gym. I decided to walk 2kms daily initially.My dog Sunshine used to accompany me on the walk. Initially, Sunshine would lead the walk while I would sweat and pant. Slowly, I picked up the pace and started running 10kms daily and then to 15kms a day. I also do planks for more than two minutes every hour irrespective of the place.
I also made changes to my food habits. I stopped eating everything white (salt, sugar, milk, idli, dosa, mayonnaise sauce, maida). I stopped consuming aerated drinks and any kind of junk or fried food, replacing red meat with grilled vegetables
I started fitting into clothes which I had worn when in college – moving from 46 inches on the waist to 32 inches and from 125 kilos to 85 kilos all in one year. My weight loss story and career choice has been termed positive, inspiring and cheerful by many, many people
I was bullied in school as a kid. I was body shamed when working in the corporate companies. But I never allowed that to affect myself. Rather I worked on maximising my potential by using my communication skills.
My story is a perfect example of someone who had no interest in extra curricular activities during his school and college days to ending up as someone who can entertain people across the globe
Currently, I am an international entertainer, host, anchor, tv presenter, cricket and movie analyst on television, writer, blogger, a stand-up comedian and a motivational speaker. I am currently working on a book on my weight loss journey and there is a Bollywood production house which wants to bring this story to the big screen
Your DOST celebrates the brave spirit of Shekhar! Do you have a story inside you of struggle that you overcame with your brave spirit? Share it with us! You never know who can connect with your story and get the courage to keep moving ahead!
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