I have been an ardent fan of the character ‘Rachael Green’ from the TV Series “F.R.I.E.N.D.S.” for a long time now. She was this independent, strong and immensely compassionate woman who had an amazing fashion sense and worked at various fashion houses. One of the fashion houses, she worked for a significant number of seasons, was ‘Ralph Lauren’. Watching that, I always secretly wished to visit these high-end brands’ stores and have a gala time there. The collaboration of Ralph Lauren with Aditya Birla Group was the moment when I actually thought that one of those teenagers’ dreams, that I saw years ago, could come true. The Ralph Lauren store in Delhi has, hence, become my next bucket list destination which I plan to visit very soon.
Apart from the young dreamer, ABG has played a very crucial role for my personal life as well. Staying away from home for almost 6 years and indulging myself in my career and professional life somewhat drove me a little away from my family and personal life. I remember when I used to go to home for vacations, shopping at ‘Pantaloons’, scanning through the wide range of clothes was a bonding session for me with my mother where we would just talk about our lives for hours. I particularly remember the time when I bought a ‘Louis Phillipe’ shirt for my father from my first salary. It was my first gift to my father from my own hard-earned money and I saw the sense of pride and joy in his eyes. Even after years, it is still his favourite shirt and he flaunts it with style, just how the shirt was supposed to be.
The name Aditya Birla exemplifies integrity, quality, performance, perfection and above all character. And when I look towards the road ahead, I feel that just like these values have helped ABG emerge as the leaders in the business world, they can also serve as my own guiding light towards a future where I can impact lives positive.
How you overcame challenges to achieve your ambitions in life so far?
“If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.”
-Thích Nhất Hạnh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist, founder of the Plum Village Tradition.
Journey to anything marvellous in life isn’t an easy one. So wasn’t my journey to one of the premier universities of the country. Juggling between my full-time profession as an automation test analyst in a renowned MNC and my preparations for various admission tests was a treacherous ride.
Bangalore, the city that never rests, the city that never fails, the IT capital of India was my opportunity to gain immense exposure before I start on way to my ultimate passion of having a degree in Masters of Business Administration. But also, the city became a living nightmare to me when I got a project relocation to the client office which was about 20 kms away from the place I resided. 20 kms back and forth in Bangalore might actually take half a day in travelling due to unavoidable and extremely heavy traffic situations and that is exactly what happened to me in the month of September, the peak period when any MBA aspirant would have started full-fledged preparations for the D Day. I had two options in my hand –
Either
Give up on my dream and focus on what I had in my hand then, as the sleepless nights trying to compensate the missing study hours had started to take a toll on my health
OR
Push myself a little harder, stay motivated, make better plans and come out of this situation without making compromises on either thing in my hands.
So what did I choose? Well my roll name and university name attached to it kind of shows my decision.
It wasn’t easy to accommodate two very different work routines into my daily life. I used to study, go through video lectures during my travelling times, I would use the lunch and tea breaks to go through the formulae and review my mocks on a daily basis. But I am glad that I did go through that phase. It made me better decision maker and more confident on my attitude to work under stress which I am certain will greatly help me in my personal and professional life.
Lastly, I would conclude this difficult yet learning experience with a quote of Marilyn Monroe that “Sometimes things fall apart so that better things can fall together”.
#ABGLP #ABGWOOME #XIMB #ABGWOOMESEASON-2
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