At the age of 19 Gunasekaran had passed his 12th standard at a Higher Secondary School in Puducherry and needed to decide what to do with his life.
Coming from the poorer side of the village road meant for him no choice in studying Engineering. It would have been way too costly, but at the same time he realized that he really liked to work with his hands.
He considered different possibilities to do technical work and came across advertisements for AIAT and talked to people who had been there. So he decided to pursue education as a civil draughtsman.
Five years later: he is very happy about this decision. Directly after having received the NCVT certificate he joined an Auroville construction company, where he continued working until September 2017.
During this time he learned what it meant to be responsible for certain things, like coordinating the work for the different construction workers, doing the measurements for the building, reading the drawings to the masons, accurately filling the attendance list, making estimates, overseeing the material purchases, etc.
The time management was not easy to handle, but he said: “I survived because during my AIAT time the teachers laid a strong basis and gave me lots of knowledge on my way. To manage work stress I play badminton every evening. This also I had learned at AIAT and love it so much, that I’m now playing state level tournaments.
Two months ago I started my own construction company and put myself onto the next level of life’s challenge. Now I can be more creative and I feel freer, but I still need to learn to handle hard competition in finding projects to work for. I have to learn to do good marketing for my company, to contact homeowners and architects and make myself known to them. With that I have to overcome quite some fears.
I’m now responsible for my own family – so I felt it is the right time now to try it out. I love the freedom of being the one who decides what is the next step, but I also know that I have to handle this freedom with care.
