ABG’s Impact On My Life_IMI New Delhi
Why The Aditya Birla Group is Big in my life?
Over the course of its inception from back in 1857 to now being a $44.3 Billion Fortune 500 Corporation, the Aditya Birla Group has become a household name for many of us across the globe. Today it is a force to be reckoned with, with over 120,000 employees, belonging to 42 nationalities and its overseas operations spanning 34 countries.
Closer home, it’s the leading(branded apparel) and lifestyle player , the leading telecom player, the 2nd largest player in viscose filament yarn ,the largest player in grey cement, white cement and concrete and one of the leading players in life insurance and asset management.
And although we can all agree that the ABG Group has created an impact on millions of people the world over , I would like to share the impact that the ABG Group has had on my life and why it is big in my life.
As a fashion-conscious teenager hailing from a Tier 2 City ( Lucknow in my case) , I had not been brought up spoilt for choices by various brands since only a few of them dared to venture into cities such as mine. I remember clearly my first purchase as a 13 year old from one of the only fashion oriented retailers (Read : Pantaloons) in my city at that time, and how surprised I was at how it brought affordable fashionwear right at our doorsteps. As time passed, and my needs and preferences changed, it seemed like the ABG group kept track of all my changing preferences, timely introducing a miscellany of brands such as Van Heusen,Forever 21 and Allen Solly in combination with pocket friendly fashionwear labels such as People and luxurious offerings such as Ted Baker to cater to my inner fashion foodie. The ABG group had the foresight and the risk appetite to enter to such small tier -2 markets at a time when not a lot of big names would take the chance. And while fashion remains my biggest impact story, an honourable mention would be The Vodafone Network, the only telecom network I can trust to deliver, while on a visit to much of western and southern India. And on this note , I conclude my impact story, knowing there’s always many more to come from the ABG group.
How I managed to overcome some of the biggest challenges life threw my way..
Today, we hear success stories all around us.”My son topped the JEE advanced” , “My daughter landed a job at one of the top firms in the world” , “My new business posted a revenue of 4 lacs this quarter”. So much that we are afraid to acknowledge our failures, even the ones that made us better versions of ourselves. In this farrago of opinions, we often forget the most humbling , eventful and insightful lessons of our lives, ‘our failures’.
So here is the story of my failures, and how they came to bring about the best changes that I noticed in me. It all started in the 9th grade. I had always been a bright student prior to this particular academic year. So what changed? Everything.
In the 9th grade, my parents decided to send me to one of the most elite schools of my town, seeing as how every kid in my community would join that particular School. However as a 14 year old that change was overwhelming to say the least. Suddenly there I was, in the midst of the richest children of my city. I didn’t wish to be the sole loner sitting in the corner, so I would observe the intricacies of everything my peers did, from how they styled their hair to how they constantly kept talking about their social media accounts. I realized that in order to fit in, I needed to know about the same things they did. And henceforth began my journey towards a negative academic slope. I would spend hours on social media, waste hours on facebook trying to be someone I was not, all at the expense of my academics. I remember as my rank slipped to 25 for the first time in my life. Suddenly, I no longer identified with the competitive self that I used to be before I joined this school. Year after year passed, my grades lowered, and so did my confidence. I remember the parent teacher meetings where I would sit red-faced as my teacher would bring forth my answer sheets to my parents. I scored a lowly 76 percent in my 12th board exams, due to which I couldn’t secure admission in any good college for my under-graduation. I remember being in Delhi at my Uncle’s place when the news broke about me being rejected by most colleges in DU. I happened to overhear my uncle warning his daughter to not end up in the same boat as me. I was labeled as the dull or the slow one amongst all my cousins, all of them avoiding me for the next few years to come. I ultimately ended up joining the state university of my home-state, where we barely had any opportunities to add to our knowledge base. I remember losing touch with my academic side completely, my grades slipping further as I started my own venture which was also not doing so well. So far my parents never rebuked me over anything. However the lowest point in my life was in my third year, when my parents, who had always supported me so far started telling me how I should now try to get admission wherever I can for my post graduation, since they were now uncertain if I could even manage to score decent enough to land a third tier college. This was like a reality check for me. From being a topper throughout my early school days, I had come to a point where my own parents doubted if I could score enough to get anywhere in life. For a month or so, I remembered being in so much self-doubt, I almost considered giving up on life. But no matter what happened I knew that if there was something I was not, it was a coward, I decided that it was enough. There was potential in me waiting to be realized, and there is nothing quite as unfortunate as wasted potential. With these thoughts in mind, I decided it was time to prove everyone wrong. I scored a 94.55 percentile in the CAT for management institutes and got admission into most colleges I wanted. I was my college topper in the CAT. I noticed how suddenly everybody’s demeanor towards me changed. It dawned on me how we often try too hard to impress all the people around us that we tend to lose our identity in the process. As minor as these few experiences might seem, they made me rediscover my self- confidence, helped me understand that I should not have to make an effort to blend in, but accept my individuality , and overcome peer pressure resulting out of unnecessary insecurities. I think today I stand at a much better place than I would’ve been without these experiences cause I wouldn’t know how to cope with the emotional turmoil that can result as a consequence of failures, it has also imbibed in me a sense of stoicism and optimism in the sense that I don’t fear failure, and give my best irrespective of how hard a challenge may seem.