A page from the personal diary of Parul Chauhan Whenever I look at the hustle and bustle of Mumbai, I am reminded of my childhood and how my life has changed over the years. I spent my childhood in Lakhimur Kheri – the largest district in Uttar Pradesh and had a very simple living. My father was a government employee in Uttar Pradesh and we come from a very middle class family. I stayed there till I completed my plus two, after which I wanted to move to a big town to study engineering. Fate, however, had something else in store for me. I still remember how I decided to pack my bags and come to Mumbai to try my luck in the entertainment industry. We had gone to Rajasthan to attend a family wedding and I had performed to the tune of Nimbuda nimbuda there. My relatives were so impressed with my performance that they suggested that I move to Mumbai and try my hand at modelling. At first I did not take it too seriously, but when my family also encouraged me to take it up, I started considering it. Since my brother also wanted to make a career in event management, we decided to pack our bags (armed with all the savings of my parents) and come to Mumbai in 2006. That is when the nightmare started. Initially we stayed in a hostel and I started doing rounds of production houses for auditions. I got very bad feedback from all quarters. The entire experience was so frustrating that we decided to go back to UP within a few months. But my father was not someone to lose hope. He encouraged and convinced us to return to Mumbai and fight it out. My brother and I came back to the city of dreams and I made my portfolio afresh. Life was so difficult during those days that we used to starve on many occasions. There was a week when we had almost nothing to eat, but still we carried on hunting for work. I did not want to call my parents and trouble them. But my brother called them without telling me and my mother sent us some money after selling her ornaments. We managed to survive for a few more days with that. Just when we were again losing hope, I got a small role in Qayamat, which gave me some money to survive on. I managed to get my mother to Mumbai and once she came things started improving. Within the next few weeks, Bidaai happened. The rest is history. But I will never be able to forget the hardships I went through during my initial stay in Mumbai and my simple background.