Being a travel enthusiast, I always had the desire of putting on my 55-liter rucksack and wandering out on unplanned trips, the factor that makes it even more exciting. One such occasion was on May 2016, when I thought of trekking to Sandakphu, the highest peak of West Bengal, completely solo and booked a Tatkal ticket 2 days later. I had with me just the bare necessities to survive at -5 degree Celsius and some basic medication and toiletries.
Reaching the base point was nothing exceptional and I spent the day exploring the beautiful valley named Maneybhanjan. Waking up next morning as I was about to start my first ever solo trek it felt like I am still living a dream and it just doesn't end, a feeling of ecstasy mixed with anxiety regarding who will take care of me in-case I get ill midway. Nima Nima was there to accompany me as my guide and it is always a pleasure interacting with the natives. Everything was going fine up till the third day when I came across a mother, carrying his ailing child, who was suffering from high fever for the last one week. Nima Nima was talking to her in their native language and on asking him I came to know that she was helpless as there was no doctor, no medicines and above all no cellular network. There was no other choice for me except helping her with all the medicines I had and praying to God that Lakpa gets better. Reaching the summit, felt like an achievement per-se but the memories of Lakpa and his mother’s tensed face was not making me happy.
We started trekking down on Day 5, and I made sure to check up with them on our way down. It was destiny or sheer luck that I came across the best news that gave me a feeling of satisfaction which was unparalleled. Lakpa has recovered and on his feet, though a little weak and her mother’s smile made me feel like I have made an impact on someone’s life; someone who will remember me for helping them in their time of need.
This experience did create an impact on me as well. I always made sure to carry enough basic medicines whenever I am trekking to high altitude mountains and distribute them on my way down.
Why Aditya Birla Group is big in your life?
Being from a lower middle-class background I was very particular about how I am spending the money at disposal. When I started earning the first thing that came to my mind was how am I going to save for my future. A friend of mine introduced me to the idea of Mutual Funds and I took the onus of learning about it in greater detail. I realized it will be risky to invest in small or medium cap funds initially as I lack insights about the financial market but focused on large cap funds since it was impossible to restrain myself from experiencing how the market works firsthand. A few days into my research I did the obvious google search: "Which is the best large cap mutual fund to invest in India?"
I still remember how easy it was to zero down on Aditya Birla Sun Life Focused Equity Fund and start investing. This was followed by learning about Aditya Birla Capital Limited (ABCL) in greater detail and I came to know that ABCL has a strong presence across the life insurance, asset management, private equity, corporate lending, structured finance, project finance, general insurance broking, wealth management, equity, currency and commodity broking, online personal finance management, housing finance, pension fund management, health insurance and asset reconstruction business.
Looking back, I feel it was this decision that helped me to sustain my interest towards the financial market as I kept checking market trends daily. It was the stepping-stone for me into the financial market and today I can easily identify the root cause behind my aspiration to do MBA in Finance from MDI Gurgaon.
