I remember my earliest memory of Aditya Birla product was seeing the loads of bags of Ultra Tech Cement used in the construction of our house. Though I was a little child to grasp the brand and product, but I was fascinated by the rising sun logo of the Aditya Birla group on the cement bags.
My next memory of Aditya Birla product was using the Hindalco Aluminum foils for packing our school lunches and later balling them up for catching practice. The transformation from newspaper to aluminum foil to pack our food items made our school lunches much fresher and tastier. This small change also signified a step up in the economic ladder for us where we could consider the option of keeping our food fresh and I am glad to say that Aditya Birla had a product for us.
I also remember whenever we had any wedding or function in the family, it was a tradition to gift clothes. I vividly remember the Grasim clothes being gifted by the relatives to each other. It was considered an honor to be given a gift pack of Grasim and we would always insist on getting our clothes stitched as soon as possible.
Later we had our first men’s showroom opened in our small town and it was from ‘Peter England’. We marveled at the stylish range of products and design. I remember our family buying a lot of clothes from there considering its pocket friendly prices. My first branded shirt came from Peter England and I am proud to say that I still possess it. Aditya Birla was one of the first brands to grasp the aspiring needs of our town.
My family shifted to a Tier 1 city in my college heralding yet another economic step up for us. This city had sparkly malls everywhere. During our visit to one such mall we landed up in Pantaloons, yet another Aditya Birla product ready to serve us with its diverse range of clothes for every gender and age.
After entering corporate world, I started hunting for the right formals. I was now looking for quality products which are more aesthetic pleasing. Hence my go to stores for such shopping were always Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Louis Philippe stores. I love the dressing and styling option it presents which are from the latest trends around the globe.
My life with Aditya Birla products has been intertwined and so are the lives of millions of Indians. Aditya Birla was present at every stage of my life, with a wide variety of options at various price points. Looking back, it looks like the company grew with you, giving you the right products when you needed them. Thanks Aditya Birla!
How I overcame challenges in my life
Life didn’t throw a noteworthy challenge at me until I decided that I wanted to pursue MBA from one of the prestigious MBA colleges in India. The decision struck to me as an epiphany on April 2018 while sitting at my office desk and looking at some spaghetti code. This should be easy I thought since I already have most of the prerequisite knowledge. But seldom was someone so wrong which became abundantly clear to me later and I went on a roller coaster ride which I could never forget.
In our office I was part of a 4-member team that managed our product. On May 2018 after just 10 days into my MBA preparation, I was informed that our team’s Subject Matter Expert (SME) is leaving the organization and I need to fill in for him till they find another replacement. In another world where I didn’t want to do an MBA this would have been a great opportunity - covering up for 20 years experienced professional with just 3 years work experience in your kitty makes you fill with pride. But alas the times were different, I needed to devote at least 3 hours daily for my MBA preparation and my schedule had upended from a typical 9 hours work to now a rigorous schedule of 12-15 hours work. I was now leading multiple meetings with client and all the time thinking on what to study next, how that quantitative problem would be solved etc. This was becoming overwhelming for me until self-realization happened that I need to go easy on myself. I was trying to mimic the level of knowledge that my Product Manager had and was doing the tasks on the same timeline, which was impossible. I then set out less strict deadlines for myself. I also completely avoided doing unscheduled calls and meetings with client. I used to set out agenda for both my office and study hours at the start of day and stuck to it. This gave me a sense of certainty over my schedule and I was now able to relax and study. Though the replacement for our SME never came and I still clocked 12 hours in my office, I became much calmer after ending a day’s work and looked forward to my jam with Quant and Data Interpretation problems in the evening. This had a vastly positive effect on my studies and as it turns out I am typing this article from a B-school of my dreams – IIFT.