Why Aditya Birla Group is big in my life.
My fondest memory of a time when I knew what Aditya Birla group was, will be the advertising campaign by Idea Cellular – “Ek idea jo badal de aapki
duniya”. It is I think “THE” fondest memory of any advertisement I have. Switching on the cathode ray television at exactly 9:00 pm, my father would browse through the news channels looking at the daily headlines. I would wait for an Idea advertisement and sing with it, watching Abhishek Bachchan act in the advertisement. NOSTALGIA!
This is one of the campaigns/advertisements because of which Idea Cellular enjoys top-of-the-mind brand recall and a great market share. My father works in BSNL so the dream of using Idea Cellular remained a distant dream. It is even now, but that might change one day.
Coming back to the question, ABG has touched my life through multiple products and services and even does to this day.
Right from Ultra Tech Cement which was used to build our ancestral house to the fresh wrap my mother used to roll in my rotis for school lunch, ABG continues to touch my life even now. I remember when our ancestral house was being renovated, I could see sacks of cement which had Ultra Tech written on them. I even remember asking my grandfather what that was and he explaining to me the use of cement in building a house. All the food that is packed in the aluminum foils or the cases by restaurants use “freshwrapp”. When I was helping my friend set up his café Urban Hippies in Pune, wrapping fresh food with aluminum foil was synonymous with fresh wrapping the food which meant using the foil. Even now all his food his packed using freshwrapp products.
Coming to how the products impact my life in a more general way, Birla Carbon manufactures black additives which are used in tires, rubbers, plastics, inks, and paint industries. Its use ranges from the conveyor belts to mobile phones to calculators to the strap my friend had for his St.Bernard.
Lastly, the biggest influencer in my life is none other than Aditya Birla Fashion Retail.
Right from mass high streets brands like Van Heusen and Peter England where I buy my formals to a luxury brand which I aim to buy from like The Collectives, I have been in the midst of Aditya Birla group all my life. Also, I have experience with the BestSeller Group wherein my fashion retailing journey introduced me to the world of Aditya Birla fashion and Madura Garments Lifestyle. It has played a significant role in my life and shaped me into who I am today.
Overcoming challenges to achieve my ambition.
I still remember like it was yesterday. It was the summer of 2007. My father had taken LTC from his company. We i.e. my Father, my Mother my younger brother who was just 4 years old and I (11years old) had just landed at the KOCHI Airport and had taken a white Ambassador to the hotel. On the way, all but me, fell asleep as we were tired and I being an inquisitive person kept looking out of the window. Mid-way I shifted my gaze from the side window to the windshield and suddenly I see that there is a red state bus in front of us and its coming nearer. In a split second, I realized we were not going to stop and I screamed at the top of my lungs which alerted my father who was sitting in the front passenger seat. In that split second he covered his face with his hands and we crashed into the rear side of the bus with the engine of our car below the bus body and the windshield was totally smashed. My father and my mother were drenched in blood and my younger brother slipped below the front seat because of the force of the impact and was safe. I was safe with only my leg stuck below the front seat. As soon as we reached the hospital, my parents were rushed to the operation theatre where my brother and I were not allowed and we got separated from them. While I watched them being hurried into the operation theatre, there were all these people who kept hounding us with questions. That was for the first time I felt so strongly protective of my younger sibling that I would not let anyone get near him. For the first time in my life, I felt scared and felt that I was going to lose my parents because of the way they were soaked in blood, unconscious. Meanwhile, with a thousand thoughts rushing my mind, I went to the reception and asked for a telephone. The only number that I knew other than my parents was of my paternal grandparent’s landline. I called them and explained the situation. After asking for some money from the reception, I took my brother who was only 4 at the time and I was 11, to a nearby restaurant in a strange city with no one who knew us, to help or look after. Eventually, we spent the night in the hospital. Next day some of our relatives reached Kochi and took us to the hotel that my father had booked, and we waited. Eventually, both of my parents regained consciousness and were discharged from the hospital after 10-15 days, but I learned two very important things through this for life:
1. Life doesn’t wait for anyone. It doesn’t train you for everything. Your parents cannot teach you everything. Sometimes life hits you where it hurts you the most and you must get up and keep walking. No matter the situation, you have to take charge and show situational leadership in times of crisis be it personal or professional and keep walking because like you, there are others who look up to you and you cannot show them that you are defeated or that you have accepted defeat.
2. There is no specific time to love your loved ones. There is nothing more important than to spend time with the ones you love. You must prioritize certain things and have your priorities straight. This taught me the value/art of prioritizing certain things over others.
#ABGLP #ABGWOOME #XIMB #ABGWOOMESEASON-2