WHY ADITYA BIRLA GROUP IS BIG IN MY LIFE
“Ajit! Don’t forget putting your tiffin in the bag!” A call I’d hear every single day before leaving for school. Be it the spicy roti rolls or the fluffy sweet dhoklas, recesses were filled with delicious preparations all kept warm in Freshwrapp! Ask a child the single biggest joy of his recess and he will tell you the importance of fresh warm food. Looking at it in retrospect, I realise, Freshwrapp did add so much value to my tiffin, my recess, my school days and ultimately my learnings. And this is what I will write upon. How Aditya Birla Group, with its various brands, has affected my life, in a big way!
I distinctly remember visiting Odisha when I was nineteen. My sister had wed there and I would be going to visit her husband’s family. 400 kms in the interior of Cuttack, lies a small village by the name of Salipur. Home to 100-odd members and a few milch animals, Salipur was the place I’d be staying for an entire week! Imagine the heartbreak of a teenager to realise his mobile showed no network! How would I chat with my friends? How would I update my Orkut account!? Things seemed pretty bleak until I found that Idea Cellular had its services there. Ask anyone of my time and you will hear, “If it’s an interior village, Idea will have its signal there!”
Fast-forward to the now and just a few months ago, I sat for interviews for an admission into a B-school wearing my grey coloured Van Heusen suit! Its surreal to even start thinking about the number of products of the Aditya Birla Group I have been using all my life which I realise only while writing this article!
Freshwrapp still keeps my tiffin fresh, I use Vodafone Idea cellular service, Pantaloons and Peter England and Allen Solly and Van Heusen are brands that I use almost daily and More is a store right opposite my house!
Uncanny, how I don’t even need to look up finance reports and CSR activities that it does to tell you of the far-reaching effects of Aditya Birla Group’s activities! The mere number of brands that the group commands and the expanded sectors that it reaches, makes the Aditya Birla Group figure massively in my life.
HOW I OVERCAME CHALLENGES TO ACHIEVE MY AMBITIONS IN LIFE SO FAR
A Physicist and a teacher by profession, I have been asked countless times in my journey to NMIMS about the reasons of joining the B-school so late (I am in my 28th year) and after such qualifications (I have done my M.Sc. in Physics and B.Ed.)
My dream to do an MBA isn’t new. I had decided to pursue it right after my B.Sc. in Physics (Physics, as I thought and still do, is a subject that opens up one’s mind to infinite possibilities and realities) But as luck would have it, right in the middle of my first year, an economic crisis hit my family. An otherwise secure future and plan which was to be executed in an effortless manner, found itself muddled in the questions of needs and wants. An MBA, even then, required a lot of money, which I found illegitimate to ask from a family already under such financial duress. It was then that I decided to earn as quickly as I could and support my family in staying afloat.
I started teaching Physics and English in local tutorials. I’d be a student from 8 am to 3 pm and then a teacher from 4 pm to 10 pm. 14 hours work days became a very normal reality and I kept going at it while I finished my M.Sc. and then my B.Ed.
Was it difficult? Yes. Was it fulfilling? Definitely. My family had gotten out of its financial crunch by now and I found myself teaching Physics as a full-time teacher in St. Xavier’s School and College. The need to keep teaching and not think about my MBA dreams had now become a habit and this lasted for 4 fateful years. Until, the dream woke up again rising from the old, grey ashes of wants. I decided to quit my job, take the NMAT exam and fund my own education. And here I am, writing this article, hoping that it is read and it inspires.
From neglecting my dreams to live for my family to embracing my dreams with the risk of losing it all, I have lived a life filled with challenging decisions. And as Frost said, I have miles to go before I stop, and miles to go before I sleep…
#NMIMSMumbai #ABGLPWooMe
