Every call you make,
Every can you partake,
Every building’s base,
Every brand you chase,
ABG will be wooing you!
Yeah, that’s ABG for you!
As a little girl, clutching hard to my father’s fingers, walking through the bustling city market, I looked around, in every nook and cranny that my eyes could look into, and I could see around me big billboards of diverse brands and companies ranging from apparels sector to cement to mobile services to insurance provider. And one thing that was common to all of them was the logo of the ‘rising sun’. The logo of Aditya Birla Group! Since then, for me, ABG has been concomitant with the ‘rising sun’. Overwhelmed by seeing the ubiquitous presence of ABG, I asked my father, “Which is this company that owns everything and sells everything?” To which my father said, “The company that built the nation and led the nation to glory!” Back then, I didn’t understand what he meant but these words stayed with me and as the years passed by and I grew older, I realized what exactly he meant back then.
ABG has been around since the beginning of time. It was established more than a century before I was born and will continue touching lives for many more centuries to come. It is no coincidence that the name ‘Birla’ rings a bell with every Indian kid. We have grown up admiring the organisation and aspiring to be a part its heritage and legacy.
As far back as my memory can go, ABG has been a part of my life, and also the lives of people around me. It has been an ongoing journey for me, with ABG. As a small-town kid, ABG for me meant Ultratech cement. On growing up, another dimension got added to it - ‘Idea’. The more I learnt about the brands and companies of ABG, the more I realized about the colossal impact ABG has had on my life.
As a kid, I saw ABG built me my house.
As a teenager, it let me talk to my boyfriend for hours at a stretch, on phone calls.
As a fashionista, it brought colours to my wardrobe and to my life!
And now, as an MBA professional, it gives me the confidence to own the room I walk into.
Ultratech, Idea, Pantaloons and Van Heusen are much more than just brands to me. More than just facilitators, they became a medium for me to express myself fully.
Going through the Indian history, I further read about the contributions of ‘Birlas’ in nation making. I feel proud to be a customer of ABG and also a part of the revolution it brought along. The scale of impact of ABG is inexplicable and seeing a company whose value systems are aligned with mine, I derive a lot of inspiration from ABG, in my personal life. ABG is not just ‘
Big in Our Lives’, but makes our lives bigger and better!
A ‘STEP’ TOWARDS BEING BIG IN SOMEONE’S LIFE
Earlier this year, an incident happened in my life which had a huge impact on me and it completely changed the way I looked at the world. It is safe to say, that that incident single-handedly stands to define a big moment of my life. I got a new perspective through this particular incident and I realized how each one of us have the superpower to truly touch somebody’s life. It taught me that it doesn’t take long capes and bulky biceps to be a superhero, all you have to have is a heart full of empathy and the resolve to make anything happen, come what may!
Being the Toastmasters club representative of my club, I used to get calls from people inquiring about the meetings, the venue and timings. One fine morning, I received a call from a lady who sounded meek and shy, as if she was reconsidering again and again as to why she dialed up my number in the first place. Sensing her discomfort, I greeted her with utmost cheer and warmth, and started conversing with her. Gradually she started opening up and told me how she has been enamored by the idea of Toastmasters and has been wanting to learn the art of public speaking, from a long time now. She sounded so passionate, so hopeful and so excited to attend the meeting, when suddenly she asked me something that caught me off guard. She asked me, “Miss, is your meeting venue disabled friendly?” For a second, I couldn’t understand what she was trying to get out of me, but when I realized I am talking to a specially-abled person who might lose the chance of doing something she is excited for, just because our infrastructure doesn’t support it, my face turned pale. I couldn’t reply to her for a few moments. With her sweet and meek voice, she said, “It’s okay, dear. This is not the first time this has happened.” And she hung up. That whole night I wondered to myself that even if involuntarily, our society excludes the specially-abled people by the virtue of lack of proper infrastructure or lack of awareness. And that night, I made it my life’s goal to get this girl to attend the club meetings by one way or the other.
I did a reconnaissance of our meeting location and looked for a way to get this girl to climb the initial flight of stairs that led to our meeting room. The building didn’t have an elevator, it didn’t have an inclined ramp and no other alternative route that could have made it easier for people on wheel chairs to access the building. I wanted that girl to access the location with utmost dignity, and so, I pulled out the big guns. I contacted the owner of the building, sat down with that gentleman and made him understand, that installing a ramp will not just be limited to that one girl, but will open the building to so many other people too. After much debate, discussion and deliberation, the owner agreed to get an inclined ramp constructed. And since that day till now, Puja has never missed even one meeting. She actively participates in all the meetings; she lights up the room with her infectious smile and her laughter is something that every member looks forward to.
The first day Puja could attend the meeting, she had the widest smile on her face. The happiness in her eyes gave me a rush of contentment and accomplishment. All the struggles, debates and arguments seemed worth it, when Puja could finally do what she wanted to do. My resolve gave her hope and this the kind of impact on someone’s life that makes you realize the deeper pleasures of life.