While sports in general continues to be looked upon as an unconventional career option in India, bodybuilding as a profession remains appealing to an even smaller proportion of the population. However, Bhuwan Chauhan's journey proves that it is indeed possible to make a sustainable career even from something as niche as bodybuilding. In Delhi for the International Health, Sports and Fitness Festival (IHFF), Bhuwan had a candid chat with ABP Live regarding his journey and how he took the road less travelled by, despite being a petroleum engineer by qualification.
"I come from the same typical middle-class family background where the mindset is to get education and education typically involves either becoming an engineer or going to a medical school or going into those professional fields. For me, it was always engineering before I was even in my first grade. So that was the goal," he told ABP Live at the UFC Gym, which hosted a press conference for the IHFF Sheru Classic Delhi, 2023.
However, the first Indian to win an IFBB Pro Show said he wasn't exactly aware what awaited him in life after engineering. "While I was doing engineering, I always had a passion towards sports and that passion towards sports became passion towards fitness. And when I graduated and had a job, it became very boring," he added.
"What's the reason of waking up? First two months are really exciting. New job, new company, dressing up in a shirt and pant. I was so excited. But after two months, I wanted something more. I wanted another reason to push myself physically. So that's how I started to compete. Gym had already started in University but this was when competing started. Gradually, I realised what my passion was," Bhuwan said.
The bodybuilder and fitness coach further revealed that it was when he turned Pro that he was clear that he wanted to pursue his passion as a career. "... I used to watch these fitness models and people and I was like that's a pretty great life. You get paid to go to the gym and travel the world and that's it, that's how easy it is. So I was like, it would be nice to have a life like that one day and then when I turned Pro, I wanted to give myself one year of not managing a full-time job and losing my sleep and what not. I just want to wake up, go to the gym, eat my meal, chill, do some planning... If I am not able to sustain, then another job, another company...But somehow I never had to go back," he said.
Bhuwan said while his family was supportive of him going to the gym, they were not very encouraging when he started spending way too much time into it. They wanted him to focus on his engineering career and then when he told them his decision to compete as an engineer, they thought that he was completely sidetracked as this is not something that people do. "I think they really saw the potential and how passionate I was. And I was able to make a living out of it. Then when people started recognising me, they started recognising my parents in India. And you know it was at that point, they were like we like it. Your cousins are talking about you, people are recognising us. So then they accepted it," he said.
In his message for youngsters, Bhuwan said: "Everybody should ask themselves in the morning what's the first thing they think about when they wake up. If it's not your job, if it's not that you are excited about then it's time to think about what your passion truly is. And if you don't have a passion then it's time to try different things and find that."