“What an idea Sir Ji!”
This was my very first conscious interaction with the brand. And it was around the time when I was in my school days! Idea campaign was one of the most successful advertisement campaigns in the last decade! Days pass by, we all grow up. I was born and brought up in a small town, Jalpaiguri which is exactly what you call the Chiken’s neck in India’s map. Basically, from Assam to Bhutan to Nepal, all were in proximity. Our town was green, peaceful and it was yet to experience urbanization. Our family moved to a new home just after I finished school. The tradition there was to build one’s own house instead of buying an apartment. Soon, UltraTech would be a very familiar brand. It was pretty much a norm that if you want to use the best cement for your house, it needs to be UltraTech. My personal favourite was this yellow-coloured diary by Ultra Tech which we got as a token of appreciation from the supplier. Part of the reason was his awareness of my love for writing. Later, that very diary would be a host to a bunch of poems. Till this day I have kept that diary cherished with love. After moving to college, a sense of fashion and clothes grew up. From Louis Phillippe shirts in social nights to Allen Solly formals in final year interviews, ABGL was there consciously or unconsciously. After joining work, I became a customer of Aditya Birla Sunlife Insurance. In today’s India, it’s almost impossible to be in a space where you can claim that you have never used or associated yourself with an ABGL product or service.
Where do I start? I was this timid kid who used to have a crazy fear of height! While growing up in a joint family helped me in ingraining the values I have today, no one could help me in overcoming this. And as a result of that, I would not take joyrides, I would not enjoy birds eyes views and most importantly as a kid, I would never understand why people wanted to be like birds and have wings. I could never do that! The very idea of a bird’s view would create panic in my mind! From that kid to today a person who always does the web-check In earliest to get a window seat mostly to have a view, the road certainly has not been easy. When I was in college I enrolled for this mountain biking tour, and to be frank it was not a comfortable decision. I thought of backing off at the last moment, but I didn’t. And although all of it was not a pleasant experience it certainly pushed my boundaries. Sometimes, to know something you need to have a first-hand experience of the same! The very next year I enrolled myself for a week-long Rock Climbing Course where my instructor was a mountaineer who had already been reached the summits of Mt. Everest and Mt. Kanchenjunga. Those seven days were indeed not easy. There was even a time when I cried and demanded to go home but eventually I didn’t give up and this single trip has been crucial in helping me break out of fear of height. After that, I went to one expedition and did paragliding as well! And there’s no going back since then. I strongly believe that we all are born with some quality which we are not good at but it’s up to us if we want to let it be like that or we want to take charge and break free.