ABG – Big In My Life | Swetha Sabu, IIM Visakhapatnam

Making my first mutual fund investment was a huge challenge for me. There were too many options and all these options projected similar returns over few years. With an intention of doing some research on my own, I invested equal amounts with a number of investors. Frankly, Aditya Birla Captials’ Tax Relief fund has never disappointed. Being an admirer of zoozoos and pugs, I am a fan of all those distinctive advertising ideas of Vodafone. One of my favorites is the Vodafone International roaming ad - always put a smile on my face! Sitting back in amazement like a little child gawking at the beautiful long stretch of concrete over the Arabian sea is what I do every time I travel by the Bandra-Worli Sea link. This gigantic stunner wouldn’t have been possible without UltraTech cement. The line of apparels under ABG captures major diversity across the retail market in India that a person like me would appreciate greatly. Forever 21, Allen Solly and Van Heusen are brand names that my life wouldn’t be complete without. A trip to Goa with my girl gang during my graduation was a dream come true. Hadn't it been for Birla Institute of technology's annual tech-fest Quark, convincing my parents would have been out of the picture! I am grateful to ABG for bringing such happiness in my life and surely, picture abhi baaki hai mera dosth!

Throughout my life I have encountered various challenges. For me, the biggest takeaway from all of them is the boost in self confidence with every struggle you overcome. The earliest one I remember is trying to learn to ride a bicycle without balancing wheels. The fear of falling off kept me from trying it for a long while. After a point I decided to learn to do it at any cost. Along the way I have hit my head, scraped a knee and cut my arm but I came out as a pretty decent biker. Some of the other skills that were synonymous to unattainable in my head were learning to swim and learning to drive a car. By mustering up enough courage I constantly pursued them until the prospect of going for a swim or driving a car excited me instead of pulling me back. The most important aspect in life is our attitude. When life gives us lemons we should be able to happily make lemonade with it. As long as we strive to keep a positive attitude towards the obstacles that come our away, as long as we believe the learning we obtain from it outweighs the hardships, we are set to face the roughest of them. Once we have this outlook we start looking at challenges as opportunities for self-betterment.