Aditya Birla Group – A boulevard of hope -Ruchita Khanna, IIM Visakhapatnam

To me, it is big because it is my box of most treasured memories. As I reminisce of my most happy days, Aditya Birla Group has always managed to snuggle up and be a part of those – from accompanying my father to try his tuxedo at Grasim’s or filling all our life insurance forms, to moving into our new house recently, I have never failed to spot that ABG logo every time indistinctly near me. Such has been the grasp of ABG over my life and experiences.

Part B: Overcoming Challenges

“Non ducor, duco”, in Latin, means “I am not led, I lead.” As I treaded through school, these words kept repeating themselves to me over the years, whenever I walked through the main corridor. Little did I know that these would soon come in handy.  I was under the impression that challenges were hurdles, obstacles more appropriately and I was rather too comfortable to be facing any. Until told otherwise, by my own conscience, I would have never realized that the greatest challenge that I will have to overcome was my own self-clinging to routine and my inability to step out of my comfort zone and respond to my calling. I was comfortable with myself and my life, a little too much. Following my mundane routine, I was almost content with mediocrity, long forgetting the motto of my school, that had become one for my life also, “Excelsior: Excellence in every field.”

I was working a 9 to 5, rather too comfortably, thinking of pursuing an MBA for the past couple of years, and returning to office, failing to do anything concrete about it, until, I decided to take a leap, embrace the risk of staking everything I had achieved so far and follow the trail of dreams, the young me had left behind, in the woods of ambiguity and apprehensions.

I mustered every little bit of courage I had, to fight a battle with myself to realize a dream, I had long forgotten. To me, this has been greater than any challenge, I have ever overcome or any battle, I have ever fought, as this time I had only myself to lose, which is a big thing in itself, and I have been lucky enough to have won this battle. And thank the heavens that I did; for this has been a rebellion worthwhile. I haven’t felt the weight of everything I let go off, before it was set free. It is still surreal to say out loud, that I am here already.

I dared to make a choice – a choice that could have left me with shattered dreams and I realized this way too clearly to not back out, for it is better to have tried and failed than to have not tried at all. As they very rightly say, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. This is what I believed in and this is what led me here, to IIM Visakhapatnam. I would like to conclude by saying, “Courage never fails you. Nature loves change, for it is only change that is permanent.”