When we talk about a company, it is its tagline that comes first to our mind. For ABG, all the taglines are it "My world my way" or "your dreams our commitment," "Ek idea jo Badal de sab ki Duniya" among few are the ones I loved the most, and I must say which justify the product well too. If I talk about what importance the ABG group has in my life, I would say not much. But yes the house which I call my home has traces of ABG in it, the clothes I have in my wardrobe has traces of it, even the cellular connection at my home (now we have Vodafone connections after the merger) has traces of it. I won't use any technical words her in my write-up like my other friends to impress the readers reason being simple I just love writing about my genuine feelings and the most important reason is that I am a first year student with only one week experience of MBA classes, so I hope my write-up works without it. I am a very emotional person, thanks to my mom that I got most of my traits from her. When I first started doing Job, I was 22, and like any Indian, my first salary was the most important thing in my life. For a person coming from a typical Hindu family, the notion goes like- what the child has done for his/her parents with his or her first salary. I have no idea about others experience, but I am willing to share mine. I remember I was in Mysore, going out with my friends for the first time out of the campus. Generally in India, when a bunch of people goes out, they prefer to go to a mall, and like a typical Indian, I did the same thing too. Now my first visit was to Pantaloons. I know what most females will reply if I ask them what role did pantaloons played in their life? Being a female, I know the answer, but If you get the opportunity to ask any female about this, then do ask. You will get to know the impact it has on most of our lives.
Anyways, not diverting from the topic I entered the store, and it started with women's collection itself. By the way, let me tell you that I felt like shopping the moment I entered the store. While going through different sections, there was one Kurta that stuck in my mind and which I could not reach to as it was hanging at a height beyond my reach(don't know what the logic behind it). I ask one of the guys to get that kurta out for me. I just wanted to check kurta's fabric, and the moment I checked, I got a feeling content. Thank god, my choice is good. By the way to all those people who don't know, for females, the quality of any clothing has always been the priority. To my surprise, it was worth spending every penny. My mom is very much fond of wearing kurtas, and she is a hard one to impress, I must tell, so I even had confusion if this will impress her enough. But then I trusted my choice and purchased it. By the way, I just realized that the top is wearing just now while writing for this write-up is from pantaloons too, which I brought that same day. It's been four years, and I am still wearing it. After shopping for my mom and myself, I went to the gents section because I wanted to buy something for my dad too. I started going through the options remembering what kind of shirts does my father like wearing, and just then I found the right one.
A blue checked semi-formal peter England shirt; I knew my father would look handsome in it not only because it is my choice but also because he loves wearing Peter England brand and I knew his collectibles mostly contain peter England shirts. I never understood that if its the trust the brand has built up on its customers or if its the fabric they like the most. My father still wears that shirt, though I am not sure if its the quality of the material that has kept the product alive till now or if its the feeling that this is the first thing my daughter gave to me so I should save it for as long as I can(pun intended). Its been like that since and now my father has multiple shirts been gifted by me of Peter England in his collections. Let me tell you that before I joined B-school and resigned from my job the last shirt and T-shirt I purchased for my dad was of Peter England too. This is the kind of trust that the brand has created on its customer. So I always had an emotional connect with Peter England and indirectly with ABG, and it did start not long back, but I have always cherished it my entire life.
Talking about my challenges, I must tell I respect humans a lot (even though the kind of harm they are inflicting on the environment knowingly and unknowingly), but there is one special category that I respect the most, it is the physically handicapped category. And I don't categorize such people, but since the government of India has already categorized them, I don't think I would be wrong to categorize them too. I don't tell this to everyone, but today when I was asked to mention the challenges I have faced in my life, I cannot think of anything else. Before you people make any judgments, let me tell you that I am not a handicapped (and I am grateful to God), but I have witnessed their life very minutely. The challenges they face every day from the time they wake up till the time they go for sleep. Reason being my elder sister is one. I won't define her challenges as mine but being three years younger to her, playing with her, having food with her, going to the same school with her where I have seen her fighting each day with her shortcomings. I have tremendous respect for her and I love her the most but when I was asked about the challenges I would say this that it is not at all an easy task to lead a life and to lead a life with pre-given disadvantages is almost next to impossible. But the determination that this category people has is at par from what normal people have. For me, the challenges I faced started from my school time when I used to teach my sister(she is hearing handicap) in the language she can understand better. I have always seen my mother doing these things for my sister, and when I was young I always tend to think that my mom is biased towards her, but the irony is now my mom tells me that I am biased towards my sister when compared to anyone else in my family. My challenges were mostly to make my sister get through her exams as being a handicapped, and studying from a normal school might sound easy for most of us but believe me when I say it is not. I have learned many things in my life from her be it patience, perseverance, calmness which were the qualities I lack but today I can proudly say that my sister is a B.Com graduate from a normal college and now preparing for government bank exams which are quite tough to crack for people like her, but her dedication never fails, and I am quite hopeful she will succeed one day.