Why Aditya Birla Group is big in your life?
Sitting at my desk while I was sipping my black coffee, my friend asks me “Vasu, do you know about the Aditya Birla Group?”, I could do nothing but smirk at his question. Aditya Birla Group that has been there for the last 162 years, an entity which had been an instrumental pillar in the building of India post-independence from a country trying to find its place in a new world to a nation of prominence in the modern times, my reply was “Is there even someone who hasn’t!?”. I remember the times when as a child I had always accompanied my mother on her shopping bouts to our local pantaloons store, the only store where she was ever able to find everything she ever needed or the time when I got my first suit from Allen Solly for my engineering graduation, it has never been the question when hasn’t Aditya Birla Group touched my life.
Growing up who were not exposed to the advertisement of Ultratech Cement and Idea’s brand ambassador at that time Abhishek Bachchan ‘What an Idea, Sirji?’ advertisement. While Ultratech Cement which was and is the ‘Engineers Choice' the fact something I can personally attest to as it was not only mine but even my father first choice as an engineer, as when he finally decided after years of working in the private sector to construct his own home pouring his life earning, it was only UltraTech cement that was worthy of his trust, an engineer trust and even now after over a decade and a half it’s the same Ultratech cement that holds that trust. It was also the Idea Cellular Network which later merged with Vodafone to form Vodafone Idea Limited which when I bought my first cellular phone back in 2009 was my cellular network of choice as it was the only one network that I could count upon for a reliable network coverage in my area. Over the last decade of me switching from one cellular phone to next phone to a smartphone, it’s always just been the Idea, now Vodafone Idea Cellular Network that has been a constant.
So, when you ask me, do I know about the Aditya Birla Group? I would reply an affirmative, as how can one not know the name of an entity that has been such a big part of his life and memories to go along with it.
My journey along with my struggles to a new self?
In the movie Forrest Gump Tom Hanks has a very famous line, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get”. Life is indeed like a box of chocolates filled with some sweet caramel chocolates and some bitter dark chocolates. It is never single chocolate that dictates how you feel about the box of chocolate but towards the end when you are finally done with them, you feel a sense of fulfillment of it being worth it.
Coming to my story, I grew up as a single child in a middle-class family who was a silent and well-behaved kid for most of my childhood but, I do not know when while growing up introvertism initially just a part had finally become my whole life. Being a single child with working parents also did not help as well. Even today after all this time I still can vividly remember the feeling of wanting to say so much but just not being able to, the feeling of suffocation that surrounded me sometimes which at time become overwhelming as well. But even during this whole time the thing that I knew best even as a 11-12-year-old was to abide my time and wait.
During my phase of my introvertism I always knew one thing i.e. ‘Things cannot always be like the way they are and I am aware that something is wrong as obviously I am not happy, how I will solve this problem I do not know right now but when I do I will transform for the better and till then I will stay patient’. So, with each and every day I was taking baby steps coming out of my comfort zone little by little, slow but steady moving just a little bit further towards my true self. I failed at times but mostly I succeeded but remember they were still only baby steps and nothing substantial.
So, came the time for my undergraduate, me a naïve 18-year-old finally left for my college in Vellore, Tamil Nadu the furthermost town possible for a boy whose hometown was Delhi. But as the place was new for me so was the beginning and the opportunities that came along with them. During the course of my undergrad I took part in various public speaking events, debates and technical conference but also failing miserably at them. But even after all these failures when time and time again after each and every defeat I was able to come face to face with my shortcomings, few of which I was never even aware off and I did what I knew best, work on them little by little, get out of my comfort zone and abide my time.
Finally, like how all movies that have start, mid and a finish, four year were up for me in and time was near for the final curtains to be brought down on my undergrad story. But just like the movie the hero was not the naïve guy like from before, during the course of my college all those little changes ended up making substantial changes to my life. I was a new person someone who remembered the lessons learnt from childhood but having a new outlook and behavior toward the life. I was a person who along with being a Mechanical Engg now was also someone who had won a few debates/conferences, ran a ngo for along with my fellow batch-mates and friends whose legacy still very much alive back in Vellore and ended up becoming the Vice-President of my college Radio Club being awarded best RJ a couple of times who also was now mentoring half a dozen upcoming RJ’s from my juniors, the same guy who just half a decade ago was someone who could hardly speak two lines in front of a crowd.
So yeah life is just like a box of chocolates, every individual box is filled with his very own set of up and downs and only when you are finally done with all the challenges, traveled the distance you were supposed to travel and overcame the obstacles is only when you finally understand the meaning of that journey. So yeah, all the chocolates, bitter or sweet make it worthwhile.
#ABGLP #ABGWOOME #XIMB