ABG - The Pride of India and Our Everyday Companion | Aditi Deodhar | COE, NMIMS, Mumbai

Even I have been using various ABG products for over 10 years now. I use Pantaloons clothes for daily wear, they are comfortable casuals. Allen Solly and Van Heusen for formal events and power dressing. My father uses Peter England shirts and trousers. Recently he has also got shirts from Linen Club. ABOF is a trendy clothing website loved by the youth. I remember growing up watching !dea ads (what an idea sirji!), those were very innovative. I also owned an idea sim.

In recent times I have purchased an Aditya Birla Health Insurance which is one of the best in market with reasonable premium and large cover. They have also introduced an app Activ-Health which helps its users to track their health. ABG executive call on regular basis to make sure that users are using the app and encourage users to live a healthy life. MORE stores provide wide range of food and beverages in stock from baked delights to dairy products, juices, ready-to-eat foods and others. It also offers FMCG products, general merchandise, apparels, consumer durables and IT goods.

My Uncle has been an employee in ABG and has all praises about the company. It is very employee friendly. When my grandmother was diagnosed with a fatal disease and was admitted in a hospital the company was kind enough to help our family in tough condition both financially and by providing emotional support which made the situation less stressful. ABG’s social corporate responsibility is also talked about with pride.

ABG has become a part of my daily life and also of several other families. It is a source of happiness, trend, health and confidence.

Overcoming Obstacles in Life:

Life is a series of constant challenges that one must overcome to grow persistently. We all have goals and wish to achieve them. But accomplishing our goals isn’t always an effortless task. One may require to struggle and put extra efforts to get through the situation. Throughout a person’s life, he/she is faced with different issues, obstacles and challenges of various kinds, and life is about overcoming them to get better and closer to one’s dreams. Some challenges are due to situations and some which we willingly take in order to do better in life. Coming out of one’s comfort zone is never easy.” A ship is safe in the harbor but that is not what ships are for”.

One such incident which was challenging for me was to get into an MBA college. I had decided not to quit my job. Studying for MBA entrance exams along with giving my best at office was tedious. My workplace was around 30 kms from my home. Mumbai traffic made the situation worse as it would consume minimum of 4hrs daily in commutation. There were some family commitments due to which I did not opt for staying as paying guest or into some hostel nearby my workplace. I wanted to do my post-graduation from NMIMS Mumbai, which was my first preference. Due to family responsibility I wanted a college located in Mumbai. I had tried giving NMAT 2017 last year and managed to get into NMIMS Bangalore with my score. A part of me said to accept the offer, but something didn’t feel right. I did not wish to settle down for anything other than ‘My Dream College’. Hence, I rejected the offer and decided to work for another year. I have been working after my graduation, over 3 years. My job expected me to customize banking products for clients, develop some software modules and provide support and there were several instances I had to go onsite, sometimes in Mumbai and sometimes out of the city to Pune or Bangalore. Client locations were more stressful and required higher inputs. All these scenarios made it pretty difficult to find time for myself, my studies or to pursue my hobbies. I had attempted NMAT in 2016 too but then I couldn’t manage to devote good amount of time to studies. I had thought that I knew the concepts and I would clear it. It was a speed-based exam and my score did reflect that the scenario was much different than what I thought it to be.

After failing for 2 consecutive years in 2016 and 2017 for getting into NMIMS Mumbai, taught me several things. I had read somewhere that Failure teaches you much more than Success and I could experience this. I had days where I felt my post-graduation would remain just a dream, I use to cry alone as I did not want people around me to worry. I used to get anxious and restless about my future. One fine day I did SWOT analysis of the situation and realized that I was improving with each attempt. I did thorough analysis of areas where I needed to perform better. I made a plan and having a plan made me excited and did reduce my nervousness to a substantial level. I started enjoying to study and realized that someone rightly said that “Happiness is not the destination; it is a journey”.

I am glad I did not give up. My exam went well and I was eagerly waiting for results. After few months I got to know that I had cleared the written exam and was shortlisted for CDPI process. In school, we have been taught to “try and try until you succeed”. This was the time when I practically applied this and my interview went significantly well.

Finally, on 7^th March 2019 I got an email stating that I was shortlisted for joining NMIMS Mumbai. I had tears in my eyes. I told my parents about this and they were proud too. I knew somewhere they had lost hope after my 2 years of failure and thought that I would not get a chance to pursue my further education. Not everyone will have faith in you, there would be times when you have to Believe in yourself and have confidence in your ability to solve problems and challenges every day. Believe in yourself, Don’t Give Up, Work Hard and Work Smart. And you are sure to achieve your goal.

I firmly believe that “A winner is a loser, who tried one more time!” .

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