‘My mom told me to follow my heart,’ says Ananya Birla

Daughter Ananya Birla, 23, is a singer, entrepreneur, mental health awareness campaigner. A youth icon. A virtual powerhouse of ideas, blazing ahead, shaping millions of lives through her initiatives in MPower, Svatantara (a fin tech company offering loans to women in rural and semi urban area to help them set up their own businesses), and her songs, Ananya is simply Unstoppable. Insights from a brief interaction with Neerja and Ananya Birla:

Name one way in which both of you are alike, temperament wise.

Neerja: When it comes to our work, we are both quite passionate and impatient to reach our goals and targets. I have also noticed that Ananya too tends to be guided by her intuition, quite a lot. But when it comes to letting letting our hair down and taking a holiday, our temperaments are quite different. She is happy to do something more relaxing, while I would prefer something more active or sporty!

Ananya: My mom is very fit (her exercise is sacrosanct, she is known to enjoy her treks in the mountains) and I take after her. I work out five times a week, my workouts being a combination of performance training and bootcamp. I often take off with my friends for a beach break in Maldives. Junk food has never been allowed at home. Mom has ensured that we have healthy eating habits since our childhood. I don’t even have aerated drinks. My team (looks at Lola and Kausar, her ‘minute by minute core team’) tells me I am a good judge of character. I am vibe oriented and am able to read people right most of the time.

Ananya Birla with family (Source: ananya_birla/Instagram)

(laughs) I love having Girnar chai with toast (or with Nice biscuits). I have seen my mom having it since I was a kid, and have developed a taste for it. It doesn’t have milk, only masala and sugar, and since I have the irritable bowel syndrome, the absence of milk in the tea suits me fine.

How challenging has it been, raising a singer in a traditional industrialist family?

Neerja: Ananya has had her own set of challenges in wanting to be a singer in a traditionally industrialist family. On one hand, she has had to face a lot of raised eyebrows where people were doubtful of her path. On the other, when she did start achieving one milestone after the other, she had to face a lot of scepticism from people who would rather just attribute her achievements to her lineage. For me, it was all about being there for her through all this, and to support her on this brave new trail she wanted to blaze.

Ananya: My parents have brought up the three of us equally. My mom is very open-minded and has made Dad open-minded too. Extended family, distant relatives have sometimes been a pain. But now that I am successful, the turnaround has happened, as expected.

My mother has been playing the santoor since as far as my memory goes. That is how I took to playing the santoor at nine. My father has a golden voice and sings beautifully. So does my brother, and my sister pursues dance as well. Love for the fine arts runs in our family in some way or the other. I belong to the sixth generation of a hardcore business family, a traditional Marwari setup. The fact that a girl from our family decided to pursue a career in entertainment came as an initial shock to many. Also, I agree, my debut (single ‘Living the Life’) was not the best but perhaps I was not given a fair chance because of my surname as well. The Birla surname brings with it tremendous responsibility as well. I feel proud and blessed to be who I am.

Is there any piece of advice that your mother gave you that you have chosen to instill in your children? Why?

Neerja: There was a lot of emphasis on hard work and simplicity when I was growing up, and I have tried to pass that on to my children as well, because I really do believe that there are no shortcuts to success. I also think it is important for us to teach our children to not take themselves too seriously, and to be able to laugh at themselves. It brings a sense of lightness and joy to everything you do, and that is something you definitely need in life!

Ananya: Honestly, when I decided to pursue singing as a career, my mom told me to do what I wanted to do with all my heart. That is what I do. Music is my life and I give it all.

What is your biggest learning?

Neerja: Over the years, I have had the joy of seeing each child blossom into their own unique personality, with their own needs and challenges. I have had to switch gears and adjust my parenting style to match each of their needs and that I think has been my biggest learning.

Ananya: Like mom always says, do your best. Initially, when people posted hate comments online, I was upset. But my love for music runs too deep to let myself be pulled down. Dad (industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla) and Mom always say, success and failure are two sides of the same coin. Every single cannot be a Platinum. As a singer I have learnt, don’t ever settle. Life is too short, so follow your dream but do not obsess over results. You were born unique. Always stay unique.

My brother and sister: the three of us are an army. We can do anything for each other as well as for our parents. As siblings we fight, but we have each other’s back. No one should mess with us. I feel lucky to have a younger brother (we are four years apart) and a baby sister she is 10 years younger than me).

Ananya cherishes your honesty. The pride shines in her voice and eyes when she speaks of you. What makes it all worth it at the end of the day?

Neerja: When I see that she is happy with what she is doing in life, it makes it all worth it. When someone recognises her work and talent or praises the impact she is making on the youth that makes it all worth it. The joy of just seeing her ‘be her’, that is what makes it all worth it.