Aditya Birla Group, the multinational conglomerate, has touched our lives in some way or the other.
I have lived in our ancestral home in Kolkata throughout my life. As far as I can remember, the first time I came to know about Aditya Birla Group was when the time came to renovate our house, my father chose Ultratech Cement. We shifted to a temporary rented place for a few months till the work got completed which I never wanted to. I wanted to stay in my room no matter what. But I had to give in. My father used to take me there with him sometimes during the weekends. He used to tell me that Ultratech cement is going to withstand everything and we will be able to live peacefully without facing any kind of problem in the days to come. It seems he was absolutely right!
I got my first mobile phone when I was in 11
th standard and I had to choose a connection for the same. I chose the most reliable one, Idea and I have been using the same even today just that its name has changed to Vodafone Idea Limited after its merger with Vodafone India. So, it is safe to say that in today’s world where anything and everything is connected through telecommunication and social networking, Aditya Birla Group has been with me throughout.
Durga Puja is a big thing back in Kolkata. My parents always used to buy me clothes from local shops due to unavailability of malls or supermarkets in the area we used to live. It was in 2008 when a renowned mall opened up near our place. I still remember the first time we went there to shop and we went straight to Pantaloons and were flabbergasted by the range of products. Not a year has passed till then when I have not bought my clothes from Pantaloons.
I have always been an introvert my entire life which makes it quite difficult for me to make new friends. I used to be academically quite strong back in school and so, people used to know me which made it slightly easier to make friends and talk with them on different things. But once school got over and I got admitted in college, it was an entirely different situation. I still remember my first day in college. It was the day of induction and I was surrounded with people who were strangers back then. They were interacting amongst themselves trying to know each other and make friends. And here I was, occupying the cornermost seat in the last bench, trying to talk but not knowing how to start. I came back home that day and told my mother about this and expressed my frustration regarding the same. My parents were really supportive and they helped me a lot through this. They consoled me and told me to initiate a conversation with anyone without thinking about the outcome. They said that no one is going to judge me for anything I say. It was difficult at first but eventually I was able to open up with people in my department and made quite a few friends in the process. This induced a lot of confidence within me which helped me later on as well as I got selected in the cricket and table tennis teams of my department as well as of my college which further helped me open up and be comfortable among people. Those whom I had labelled as strangers on my first day at college had become my friends and what made me even more content was that they considered me a close friend as well.