I still remember the day when I got the news that I will be interning with “The Aditya Birla Group” and the thoughts of the Grandeur Welcome at ITC Grand started flooding through my mind. Indeed, it was a dream come true but what followed was something that I had never even dreamt of, presenting the story of ABG’s “Intern of the Year”.
I had set high expectations for my summer internship at ABG but the doubts of that being shattered always lingered inside my mind. Then comes the day, 2nd April 2018, Induction for the GIP batch of 2018. It was a one-day long affair and boy it was opulent! The expectations set by me were surpassed and by quite a margin. As soon as I entered my hotel room, I realized how beautifully everything I needed has been taken care of, a bag full of goodies awaited us which had everything that we would require during our 2-month long internship and believe me even the minutest of details were taken care of. The one day long Gala induction ended with a sumptuous networking dinner where we had the pleasure of interacting with the business leaders of the Aditya Birla Group followed by an exquisite party. The next morning all the interns left for their respective locations and while I was heading to my business location in Bangalore, I started thinking that indeed the induction was fabulous but now we would be on our own without any knowledge of the business we would be working in but I was proven wrong as soon as I stepped into the creative office space of ABFRL in Bangalore. Another well planned one-day long induction followed where we were informed all about the functioning of the business and how would we fit into the scheme of things. The next two months passed by without me even realizing, there were good days where I felt that I was great at what I do and there were bad days where I started doubting whether I am worthy enough of being here but there was no day an ordinary day. It was nothing short of a roller coaster ride with highs and lows, fun and fear and plenty more.
The periodic Social Media Task served as a great stress buster and kept all of us engaged and connected. But throughout the whole journey, one thing which was constant was the relentless support and guidance of my Boss. She believed in me when even I had started doubting myself and gave me complete autonomy over my project. This faith of hers made me own the project and I started taking care of it as if was my own venture. The value of Building your Own Brand which was taught to us during the induction started to come to reality. For amalgamating the components of my project, I came up with an idea of carrying out an event in Connaught Place, Delhi. I had just two weeks to pull off this event so that it could be executed before the completion of my internship, wherein usually, it takes 45 days to plan and execute an event of this magnitude. I and my boss had the intent and we went to the top management with the idea and got the approval for something which seemed humanly impossible because of the paucity of time. I didn’t even realize the magnitude of the task at hand and just had one thought in my mind that come what may I have to execute this event without bothering about its success or failure. The event was conducted on time with all the planned ideas being executed and it became a huge hit. The event generated record-breaking sales numbers and set up a precedent that could be replicated for the brand outlets around the country.
I realized my own potential while working on this project, I pulled off something which looked impossible to me even in farthest of my dreams. This is something that a Summer Internship experience at ABG does to you, you end up being an evolved person. This is not the end of the story though; the dreaded Confluence is yet to be unveiled. All the interns returned to Mumbai for the 2-day long confluence process wherein we would be tested on everything we stand for and everything we have accomplished in the last two months. It started with the presentation wherein I was heavily questioned on each aspect of my project by the CXO of Madura Fashion. The next day was the assessment centre wherein we hopped from one room to the other for multiple rounds of evaluation and it was taxing to say the least. To round off the confluence, the YTM team had planned for yet another opulent party wherein all of us can relax and bid adieu to all the amazing friends we met during the two-month long internship. But that was not all, the results for the Social Media Champ as well as the Intern of the year were to be announced at the party. I was expecting to be ranked 3rd in the Social Media Challenge but when the results were announced the expectations were shattered. I was dejected and wasn’t even in my complete senses when the result for the Intern of the Year was to be announced. But it turned out to be the biggest surprise of my life, Intern of the Year goes to Aditya Singh said Mr. Prateek Budania and I could not even believe my ears. From then until receiving the award, all I could think of was “is it me or it’s just a dream” but it was reality and I was on cloud nine. Never did I imagine that I would become the Intern of the Year at ABG but as they say if you have the potential we give the stage to perform and ABG gave me the apt stage to unleash my potential.