ADITYA BIRLA GROUP: The name that resonates with my daily life_IMI New Delhi

                                                               During my engineering entrances, I wanted to get into the coveted BITS Pilani. Little did I know that Pilani was the place where the foundation for the Aditya Birla Group was laid in the 19^thcentury. From a broad perspective, the contribution of Aditya Birla Group to our country’s GDP has been immense and with it being a US $24 billion corporation, its presence is not restricted to our country by any means. Going back to my early years, I went to Birla Planetarium as a child to quench my thirst for astronomy. My hometown being Kolkata, I have fond memories of visiting Birla Temple and gazing at the Birla building while passing through Lal Bazar.  Even in my daily life , Aditya Birla Group has had a scintillating presence. The  aluminium foil which keeps my food warm during travels, is manufactured by Hindalco, the leading Aluminium and Copper manufacturer. The aluminium foil is also used in pharma products for packaging of capsules and tablets. We are able to trust the veracity of the medicines because of such impeccable foils. I have worked in the Telecom Sector in which I helped in maintenance of Idea Network. The Louis Philippe blazer I owned projected me as a classy individual at business meetings. I often visit Pantaloons to upgrade my wardrobe. The variety of apparels they have can put even the best fashionistas in a dilemma.  The contribution of Aditya Birla Group in my life is massive. And adding to that is one tagline which is surely used in many corporates and people in their daily conversations, “What an Idea Sirji”. An Idea has certainly changed our lives.   

 

CHALLENGING THE CHALLENGES

  Yesterday, I read about a story Harsha Bhogle likes to tell over and over again. It is about a Sri Lankan batsman who keeps on scoring ducks but with a resolve of steel he never gives up and finally shines and goes on to captain his country. Not a cricket fan by the way, but somehow the story stuck with me and reminded how I had to do the same in years to come because let’s face it, anything that is worth won’t come easy on a platter. When I look back, my school life went smooth and even I didn’t set any challenges for myself either, but in 3^rdyear of college everything changed. My mother suddenly passed away and I had upcoming examinations in college. This situation tested my mental strength to a great extent but I knew that overcoming this would also help me in developing the mentality to achieve my ambitions. And so, without looking back, I gave the examinations without postponing them. And after the results indicated that I had done reasonably well, I realized that I had built the psyche I had dreamt for in the first place. This incident helped me later in my life when I had completed 1.5 years of my job and was contemplating whether to leave my job for MBA entrance preparation. Everyone advised me to juggle both but I again took the risk which I was prepared for. I quit my job in July, gave MBA entrances, where along with the pressure of performing, there was this small voice saying that I was unemployed. But, my faith in myself helped me sail through those anxious moments and finally I landed a decent percentile in CAT. My next step was securing admission in a top B-School which I did and now being a first year PGDM student of International Management Institute Delhi, I realize that those risks I took, paid off. I know that in future there will be challenges and of course huge obstacles blocking my career path but as Elon Musk says, “Don’t procrastinate, Just do it”, I will also face them and take challenges as they come.