They say, ‘Poverty is the best teacher. It can teach you those things you never know you could learn. Jugaad Boy proves this. Just like need is the mother of invention, Poverty is the mother of learning.’ We become creative, innovative and try multiple things to fulfill our needs. That’s how it works for us.
This Boy Azaz Ahmed Sheikh grew up in an impoverished background and had limited resources to live his life. With time, he learned to adjust and create something worthy out of nothing. No wonder he is our Jugaad Boy. So let’s hear about his life experiences.
Jugaad Boy – My Story
I’m Azaz Ahmed Sheikh. I was born in the small town of Uttar Pradesh. I belonged to a low-income family as my father didn’t help in managing our finances. He lived in Mumbai with his second wife, so we didn’t have any relations. My two siblings (brother and sister) were younger than me, so their responsibility also fell on my shoulders.
Since my childhood, I have struggled to fulfill my necessities, whether from the education front or lifestyle. I’d ask for books and go without a uniform to school as my family didn’t have money to pay for it. I’d work on farms to earn for my family. Sometimes people would offer grains or other items to us. I studied till 8th class in Hindi medium.
I was a notorious kid, so I’d do naughty things as well to fill my desires. Once a relative had brought Laddoo to my place. When they left, my mother strictly instructed everyone, especially me, not to touch it. Although she had doubts in me, when she opened the packet, each piece was in place. She distributed equally among us without knowing I already had two by combing the little parts I took from each piece.
I was a very hard-working kid, so I never realized that my family was not financially stable. I knew it, but I’d do something to make it happen. If there were nothing to eat in my house, I’d eat Chapati with salt or oil. Anyhow, I adjusted with my family, and we continued to live. I slowly started towards being the Jugaad Boy!
When I grew up, I realized things are not easy as they seem on the front. Poverty is hard to deal with. At the age of 13, I moved to Mumbai for work. I didn’t have any relative’s support or connection in the city, so I spent two days on the road. Then, I began working at a grocery shop as a servant. I kept switching jobs. Later, I established a bag manufacturing factory. I gave its responsibility to my father as he had shown love to me. But he cheated, took over the work, and kicked me out.
Then I brought a taxi to work as an Uber driver. I had a hard time meeting my expenses. Then lock down happened, and everything went down. It was hard for us to eat two meals a day. During the lock-down, we’d stand in lines to get food. We didn’t get the ration from the government as the distributors were selling it in black. The Jugaad Boy was running out of options.
I sold my car to return to my village. Now, I’m selling clothes here to raise my family. We are seven people (my mother, two siblings, wife, and two kids), and I’m the only earning family member. It is challenging to maintain everything, but I’m trying my best. I have done it my whole life, so I’ll get out somehow. I keep trying to make it work.
What I have learned from my experience is that ‘Life is beautiful and all we need to learn is to live happily.’
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