The quality of human life has evolved from a basic definition of ‘Food, Shelter & Clothing’ to myriads of parameters such as ‘Financials’, ‘Connectivity’, ’Social Engagements’ etc. In today’s world, the quality of these parameters has become utmost important− the better the quality of food you eat; the house you live in; the clothes you wear; the funds you possess− the better is the standard of living. Even socializing and staying connected to the loved ones & to the world has become an essential ingredient of a happy & healthy life.
Aditya Birla Group(ABG) has touched human lives in its best form at almost all aforementioned levels− manufacturing fertilizers that help in production of food; providing quality ingredients for building safer & stronger infrastructure such as Ultra Tech Cement & insulators used for wiring etc.; enhancing everyday fashion with world famous brands like Peter England, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Louis Philippe, Linen Club, Liva Fluid Fashion, etc.; providing financial services and offering superior voice & broadband connectivity across India via Vodafone Idea Limited
Even at an individual level, ABG has touched my life in
‘small yet big’ ways! As I walk down my memory lane, I recall listening examples of great achievers from my father, one of them being ‘Birla’. Since childhood I have aspired to inculcate qualities of leadership & a zeal to inspire lives just like great industrialists have. As per the chairperson of Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, Mrs. Rajashree Birla, the Aditya Birla Group through its CSR wing, aims to actively contribute to the social and economic development of the communities in which it operates & in doing so, build a better, sustainable way of life for the weaker sections of society and raise the country's human development index. Also, with respect to the topic of ‘Privatisation of Education for Development of Acute talent’, Kumar Mangalam Birla once said− “There are two roadblocks in the way of transforming India into an economic giant and one of them was education. I believe that if education is privatised at primary and secondary level, lot of our problems will be answered to.” Taking inspiration from these lines, I too involved myself in contributing towards the upliftment of the society through every possible way. One of the major step was joining an NGO which aims at uplifting the life of underprivileged kids by imparting them free of cost education & contributing towards enhancing the quality of life for the underprivileged.
Apart from this, from manufacturing the aluminium used in the cover glass of my smartphone to fulfilling the Copper requirement of Indian Railways− my major mode of transportation while travelling during vacations− to providing affordable trending fashion wear for all occasions, ABG has touched my life in ‘BIG’ ways.
My zeal to inspire lives has also given me will power & determination to overcome various challenges in my life. The challenges I have faced in life have ranged from being very silly to being very intimidating & even life-threatening. Most of the challenges occurred in my schooldays, earliest being in 5
th standard when my notebook used to be marred with red ink & my parents thought that I might be suffering from dyslexia. The major challenge was to improve myself in language courses such as Hindi & English & to pay closer attention towards details during calculations. My success can be gauged by the fact that I ended up being top scorer in a language like ‘Sanskrit’ which was introduced in later classes along with being a top scorer in Hindi & English.
Another challenge in my life is also one of the biggest challenges that students in Indian families face while selecting their course electives esp. during school days. My parents too were pessimistic about me being able to study Sanskrit as according to them it was a very difficult language & no one in my family had an exposure to the subject which made them worry about how would I be able to cope up with the subject. My challenge was to prove that as a 9
th standard student I was able to take decisions about my choices & gauge my own capabilities. My success was proved with time when my parents advised my younger brother to take up the ‘Sanskrit’ course on the belief that I will be able to teach the subject to him.
These challenges mattered to me as they tested my optimism about my own strengths. But the biggest challenge was when I met with the life threatening incident in which I lost almost 90% of my right arm’s skin. The challenge was to continue with my graduation− Engineering in Computer Science− as it was just the first semester & my exams were 3 months hence & the injury was in my right hand due to which I had already undergone several plastic surgeries in a span of 12 days. I gave my first semester exams with the help of a writer who as per norms had to be from a different stream & had to be a school graduate i.e. one education level below mine. I suffered back in mathematics but cleared subsequent exams writing with my right hand & ended up getting a B.Tech (Hon’s) degree. I like to call it as an incident and not an accident as it shaped my life beautifully & has impacted me positively. I discovered the power of my willpower & resilience & I became confident that I will be able to handle any situation in life with optimism & zeal. Even my final year project− an intelligent module capable of sensing accident-like situation & sending emergency message along with location to concerned individuals- was based on my learnings from the incident & an attempt to improve lives that maybe impacted in a similar way.
All these challenges have made me what I am & I carry on towards my goal of contributing significantly towards improving lives of people around me & learn from these hardships to become the best version of myself!