Part A
It seemed like just another morning. The birds had started their morning chirping, the newspaper delivery boys were arranging the newspapers in order of household and the orange hues of the morning sun had started spreading through the sky. But nothing was normal in the Mishra household.
Suyash Mishra, a 26-year-old state level athlete had his national try-outs that day and it was imperative that he got selected for the national team. His family was in a frenzy. This could very well be his last chance to get into the national team seeing that age was not on his side and that he had failed to get into the national team on 4 previous tries. His mother had made his lunch consisting of his favourite sugar paratha and mango pickle. But as soon as she took out the foil paper box to wrap the parathas, she found it to be empty. She got worried. For her and millions of other mothers there was no other substitute for Freshwrapp aluminium foil. She thought that her neighbours would have some Freshwrapp, and sure enough they did. She quickly packed the tiffin and wished success for Suyash.
That day was extraordinary for Suyash as he not only won his event, he also broke the national record. All the years of hard work, commitment and passion for his sport had finally paid off. To recognize his achievement, the Ahmedabad Gymkhana decided to felicitate him.To be appropriately dressed for the event, he had to have a suit.
He thought about buying one and brought the topic up with his father. His father said that for this occasion he would give his old Van Heusen suit to Suyash. His father said that he had bought the Van Heusen suit when he first started working and as it was a big achievement for him, it was only fitting for Suyash to wear it to collect his award. Suyash got teary eyed. This was a big deal for him as his father had never allowed Suyash to even touch the suit let alone wear it.
These are the kind of emotions that the Aditya Birla Group wishes to bring associated with- a feeling of belongingness and commitment to one another. And this is just one instance. There are millions of such stories where Aditya Birla Group products have helped people come closer to one another. People do not often notice it, but the Aditya Birla Group has touched their life in so many ways, be it the Freshwrapp foil or their multiple fashion brands or the innumerable structures that have been built using UltraTech Cement.
Part B
Throughout my school life, I had done well academically. So, when I reached Manipal, my parents and I had high expectations from myself. However, in Manipal I was introduced to a whole new free world. Before Manipal, I did not play much video games nor did I watch visual media. But in Manipal, for the first time I had a laptop of my own which opened doors to a wide variety of distractions.
I did not study much in the first year and as a result had failed in one subject. I got the news while I was traveling with my family and had to leave my family mid-vacation to go back to Manipal for the make-up exam which I cleared with easy. But this failure hit me hard as it was the first time I had ever failed in an exam. I had made up my mind that I had to really work hard the next year.But the next year was no different. My grades had dropped even lower, and no matter how much I wanted to resist temptations, I kept getting sucked into the vortex. I felt that no escape was possible. I was at my lowest when I failed again in the 4th semester.
My parents acted in a very respectable way throughout this time. They never got angry at me for performing poorly again and again, although I could feel that they were disappointed.The next year, my parent’s support and my drive to prove myself drove me. This time, I properly controlled my schedule, did all the assignments myself, went to the gym regularly and spent quality time with my friends. I improved my GPA from 6.57 in the 4th semester to 8.05 in the 5th semester. This was a huge achievement for me as just 6 months before I had failed in another subject and did not know how to get back on track.
In all, the 5th semester was the best time I had in Manipal- both personally and professionally.The drastic improvement in my work ethic in the 5th semester built the foundation for the effort I put in preparing for my MBA entrance exams. This ultimately led into me getting admission into the renowned Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi.