Sahla Parveen: The power of self belief

Only one child in that school in Erattupetta had failed that year. It was a ninety nine percent victory, and all praise fell on the winning students when Sahla Parveen was on stage that day. She went to the mike and said, "I like that one student who failed, because the biggest difference will be made by that child." After the programme, when Sahla was leaving the school, the child came running to her, crying. "I was thinking of dying. I am so glad to hear your words; I will make a difference," the child said. Sahla went home, touched, touching one more person's life, as she has been doing for the past two years.

Today she is a noted motivational speaker, having conducted at least 300 training sessions so far, an entrepreneur, an artist, and on July 1, she is releasing her first book, The Beauty Purpose in Life. "I have written about my own experiences in life," Sahla says in an interview. It is Eid and she is at home in Cherthala, a place she had come to, eight years ago as a teenager. Sahla went to school in Dubai, little understood by those around her as a child. She had difficulty learning, fell back on her studies. Her sister, two years younger, would pick up things faster. Comparisons were made. Sahla who loved to draw, had dreamed of being an architect. But she was told she couldn't do it. Her teachers asked her not to opt for Science and bring more shame to the school. She was also at the time, dealing with being overweight for her age.

Two incidents changed everything for her. One was watching Taare Zameen Par as a 15-year-old and recognising her problem. "There were similarities. I could relate better to pictures too."

She used pictures to study, to overcome her learning disorder. She did it all on her own. As a child, when she drew, her tools were taken away so she would focus on studies. But those tools later became her way out. The second life-changing episode came with her reading about the power of visualisation. "That if you believe you are beautiful, you become beautiful." So Sahla believed. In one year, she lost 15 kg. That experience became so crucial to her, because now she could tell others this was possible, it has happened to her.

After 17, her life changed. She did her BBA in Thrissur and then her MBA in Kochi. By her final year, she had already begun taking sessions. "In the first year, I had trouble sitting in class. I couldn't concentrate. So I would take part in inter-collegiate festivals. And three times I won Best Manager at national level competitions. This created a certain image for me." That she was coming from the Muslim community helped too. There were oppositions from some quarters, on why a Muslim girl should work. "Religion is a way to god. But now that way is becoming a block. If god is in your palm, then the five fingers are five different ways to reach god. One finger thinks only that is the right way, and the others are wrong."

These mature thoughts are coming from a young woman who is not yet 25. "I wanted to bring out my first book before I turned 25." In The Beauty Purpose in Life she has written 25 chapters, each dealing with a certain emotion. There will be on one side, an anecdote of a little girl (herself), say about her fears, and on the other side will be an insight, on how to deal with it."I like writing. This is a small book, only 140 pages, and I have kept it to the point. I hope it will touch the lives of many people." Sahla was 20 when she read her first book, Paulo Coelho's Alchemist. "Till then I despised books. But then he wrote dreams can become realities and I was a girl of dreams." Books became her friends after that. And she started believing in her dreams. At a time she was not so popular, had a thousand friends on Facebook, Sahla put out a simple video that was in two days viewed 1 lakh times. She realised she has insight. At her college she took a session on laws of attraction, and that became a huge success. She started going to speak at other colleges and soon got invitations from other states, and other countries.

At 23, in her final year, Sahla attended an interview at a training organisation. They were impressed by her answers but refused to take her on, because she was too young. Sahla began her own company afterward, Give and Grow Global Foundation, conducting training sessions, during each of which she asks participants to smile from beginning to end. "Once there was a session for top management people and they were not smiling. At the end of my session, filled with humour, one man passed a note that said: 'Dear child, after six years in my life, I am smiling from my heart'." Sahla did not become an architect like she wanted. She says she had instead become a heartchitect, creating beautiful feelings in people's minds.