When I think about the impact of a brand on my life, then Aditya Birla Group is the first thought that comes to my mind because of its virtue of omnipresence. Be it the house I live in, the wire that supplies electricity to my house, the roads I travel on, the mobile network I use to connect with people, the one-click payment platform by BHIM and even the clothes I wear. Every one of them has the dependable brand of Aditya Birla Group conjoined in some way or the other.
I remember that during my school days, on my way to school I used to cross a big area bounded by huge white walls with its red and yellow logo painted on those walls. It was the most beautiful and cleanest plant of the whole district, Howrah (West Bengal). It was a lot later that I came to know that it is Hindalco Industries and that it provides employment to so many people in and around our place and was so keen on cleanliness even during those times when environmental awareness was not so commonplace. That impacted me. I was inspired and wanted to give back to the community in some way or the other as soon as I am capable to do so. Just the thought of making a difference to so many lives inspires me to work hard and reach that position of capability in the future. This is how the presence of the Aditya Birla Group is. We are knowingly or unknowingly continuously interacting with those brands almost daily. At the same time, Aditya Birla Group is building our country and simultaneously addressing its needs and answering its limitations only by growth.
The other memory of Aditya Birla Group I have is the most vibrant TV commercial of a man running to the different parts of the world with an Aditya Birla Group flag with all enthusiasm and zeal. I was always in awe with that advertisement only to learn that it was the most expensive TV commercial at that time. It depicted its tag line of “Taking India to the World”. It would be a privilege to be associated with such an initiative that focuses on making India the face of the globe.
How I overcame challenges to achieve your ambitions in life so far?
"You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again." this quote from Benjamin Franklin is something I learned the hard way in my life. But then again I am happy that I learned it before it was too late as has been the case for me in almost everything in my life till some years ago. I was a certified procrastinator during my graduation days. Be it preparing for exams, submission of projects, reaching college on time or just joining my family on breakfast I was always late.
This happened to me during one of the treks where it was due to my casual attitude towards the time that my whole group got late to start the day's trek and ended up risking their lives by trekking late even after the sunset. Time management is very important, especially while trekking as we just cannot take mountains and the weather up there for granted. It turned out that by the time we should have reached the campsite we had at least one-fourth of the distance still left to cover, and this last segment of the journey felt much longer than all we had traveled that day. As the sun moved closer to the horizon it started to get dark and trekking in dark on mountains in the forest is not a situation anyone would like to be in. To add to that it started raining arresting our already slow, tiring, fearful speed. We all were too afraid of the whole scenario and had resorted to praying to reach the campsite safely. I was feeling guilty about the situation my group had to face. Though we somehow reached the campsite risking our lives but setting up the camp in the dark while it is raining in such tiring conditions tested our limits. Everyone was so fatigued, afraid of what has transpired that no one bothered to scold me for the fearful evening, at the same time I too didn’t have any courage to talk to anyone knowing that I am the reason behind the whole situation. After this incident, I realized that living in the mountains for a few days is the best way to dry run your attitude towards life.
When I came home after the trek and gave a thought to the incident, I decided to defeat the procrastinator inside me and realized that the best way to respect someone is by respecting his time. I started with taking a gradual approach to finish any task at hand, created and strictly adhered to to-do lists, even though I still failed several times but even trying to be punctual helped me a lot like just the small change of waking up early in the morning gave me so much extra time and slowly but effectively time management started gluing into my lifestyle.
Punctuality has helped me every day. Being on time gives me that extra cushion of a relaxed mind in executing any task whatsoever. I started realizing the criticality of time, by the time I completed my graduation only a year had passed after that guilt-filled trek but I was a better person, I learned more about time and life in that one year than I did in two decades I lived before the trek. Soon after completing my graduation I joined as a full-time employee in the IT industry and I cannot thank life more for teaching me the lesson beforehand hence I was never late nor did I miss any deadline in my entire professional carrier. Effective time management did wonders for my work-life seamlessly. Punctuality was enough to gain a teammate's or even the client’s confidence at my workplace. It was my changed attitude towards the time that I was able to explore opportunities, prepare and get through the process of joining a premier B-school all without compromising on my work or hobbies.
#ABGLP #ABGWOOME #XIMB