Part A – Why Aditya Birla Group is big in my life
When I think of Aditya Birla Group, the first thing that comes to my mind is the more than a decade old advertisement that I often watched as a kid, in which an Indian man, bearing the Aditya Birla Group flag reaches to various major countries across the globe, and ends with the tagline - “Taking India to the world.” I did not understand the complete idea of the advertisement as a child, but when I looked back at it now, I realized that in my mind Aditya Birla Group is the first brand that made India a major global player.
As a school going children many of us have various fond memories of our lunch-breaks, and I am no different in that aspect. Freshwrapp by Hindalco is a vital part of my school life. Not only school lunches but also the theplas that my mother packed when my family traveled via train would be in Freshwrapp. It is the first aluminum foil that came to my household, and I am more than certain that if I were to look for it even today I would find a Freshwrapp box in my kitchen. It has become an inseparable element of my life.
After my graduation, I worked as an instrumentation and control engineer with a company which was undergoing expansion. I was often deployed at plant construction sites, and Ultratech Cement bags were a common sight there. If someone visits the plant today, the construction activities are completed and the plant has been commissioned, but it is impossible to not see the massive presence of Ultratech brand. It is an integral part of the whole process plant.
Pantaloons has always been a one stop solution provider when it comes to apparel. Be it gifting a pretty dress to my sister on her birthday, getting ethnic wear for my mother, or getting smart casuals for my brother, my father or myself, Pantaloons was the first place I would visit. Also, while I was looking for formal attire for my B-school admission process, I found the perfect fit at Perter England. Having a set of comfortable formals during interview processes indeed helped me to be at my best.
Part B – How I overcame challenges to achieve my ambitions in life so far
Challenges are an inextricable part of everyone’s lives. In overcoming these challenges is where one finds oneself growing and learning. For me the first challenge was survival. I was born with a couple of heart disorders: Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) and Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). In 1994, this was quite a big deal. Due to these defects, oxygenated and de-oxygenated blood would get mixed up randomly and would lead to rapid exertion. I underwent open heart surgery at the age of 11 months and recovered faster than it was expected from a 1-year-old child. Though this was a bigger challenge for my parents, the doctor did mention that I was quite resilient as a human baby to go through the whole scenario.
The next challenge in my life came in the form of a ruptured ligament when I was in school. A week before I fractured my leg while playing football, my friends and I had planned and booked a week log trekking trip in the foothills of Himalayas. Having missed a trekking camp three years before this trip due to jaundice, I was more than determined to attend this one. After the doctor confirmed that my left ankle’s ligament was ruptured I had a little over four weeks to recover. I judicially attended my physiotherapy sessions and performed all the exercises that the doctor had prescribed to ensure that I could get myself ready in four weeks. The doctor said that if I could pass a certain medical test at the end of four weeks, only then would she have allowed me to attend the trekking trip. I also used to attend extra physiotherapy sessions whenever I could and all of this perseverance helped me regain my strength and pass the medical test. When my group completed the trek, all of my friends had ascended one hill, but I could feel that I had ascended two!
Failure is one such challenge that shakes you thoroughly. In college, when I got a backlog in one subject, it came as a big blow to me personally because up until that moment I had never failed in any academic course. Also, the placement season was only a couple of semesters away. I was well informed that in order to be eligible for placements I not only needed to clear the backlog subject by the next semester end, but I also needed to obtain a good score in the following semesters to pull my cumulative score. For someone like me, who was heavily involved in sports and extra-curricular activities, I had to sacrifice a few things which I never thought I would be able to. I put in a lot of effort and hard work, which ultimately paid off. I was placed in a company which was supposed to be one of the top recruiters for my department.
I would like to quote a couple of lines from a recently popular Bollywood song from the movie ‘Gully Boy’ -
“जीवन जीवन दरिया दरिया,
इक जो पार करो दूसरा दरिया मिले”
These lines are an assurance that challenges are like different seasons, which come and go with their own differences in intensities and impacts, but the only thing common about the various challenges is that they teach us how to overcome them, and in the process, to grow as a human being.
#NMIMSMumbai #ABGLPWooMe