Part - A
When we talk of industrialists who helped build the country, two names that always comes up are Tata and Aditya Birla. While I have seen the name Tata many times, be it my cousin getting his first job in TCS or the family car Tata Sumo, I never came across the name Aditya Birla much. So I was always confused why Aditya Birla was named along with Tata. My first encounter with the group was one day in 2010 when my father asked me to bring out some insurance papers. There I first saw the name Aditya Birla. Fast forward to 2015, I am returning from Durga Puja shopping with some of my friends and complaining about the lack of good Indian clothing brands. One of my friends looked confused and said that all the brands that we visited were Indian. He told us that Pantaloons, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Louis Philipe, Peter England were all Indian Brands. I didn’t believe him but thought to check the Internet to validate his claims. And to my surprise not only are all the brands are Indian, they all belong to the same Aditya Birla Group. Now I was intrigued, I started searching about Aditya Birla Group and lo and behold, I finally got my answer as to why Aditya Birla was placed along with Tata for their contribution to the nation.
Part - B
"
What Doesn’t Kill You, Makes You Stronger"
Adversity shapes us more than anything else in life. The first major adversity that I remember was in standard one. Being born in rural Bengal, I did my nursery in a local Bengali medium school from where all my cousins have studied (I live in a joint family). In class one my parents moved me to an English medium school despite strong opposition from the elders of my house. In school I was now suddenly in a whole new environment where everyone is a stranger speaking in a strange language. The teachers already knew the students, others already had their friend groups, I was an outsider everywhere. At home the situation wasn’t much better. My cousins felt that I snubbed them by leaving their alma mater in favor of some other school. They bullied me and trolled my school. My parents had my younger sister that year and could not give me adequate time. My uncles and aunts also did not intervene as they felt snubbed by my parents. Things hit a low point when I failed in English language in the half yearly assessment. That day I promised to myself that I will never ever fail again and prove my worth to all those who snubbed me. By the time I passed out in 10
th standard, I was one of my teachers’ favorite student, friends with almost all students and had a good percentage in my Board exams. Now I am a pride to my family and dear to all my aunts, uncles and cousins. Till date I have never failed again in any exam. But the best thing that this experience taught me is how to handle bullies and trolls.