The Biggest challenge that I have faced is while preparing for the CAT to get into one of the most prestigious B-Schools of India. The challenge started in 2017 when at the beginning of my Final year I decided to try and crack CAT and thus started my preparation with just around 5 months remaining in hand at the End of July. I knew and heard a lot from people that it would become very tedious with the studies of Engineering and that too Final Year. Plus, Due to my college location, I had a total of 3 hrs traveling from my home to college and back each day. It was actually becoming difficult to manage everything, from engineering studies to practicing for CAT to attending classes in the weekend. The Timetable was hectic. But I was determined to do whatever I could to crack CAT. Somehow I started giving mocks, did everything in my position that I could. Finally, the day came, I went into the exam room and was patiently waiting for the CAT 2017 paper. And finally it started and it was a complete Bomb. Verbal went good but the LRDI section was completely gone. So was the Quants section. The lack of time and with it the lack of preparation was showing. The result came and I knew I had faltered completely.
But yes I did not lose hope. I still qualified SNAP and went for an interview at Symbiosis, Pune. While traveling from the Interview Location to back at my hotel, I somehow made a conversation with my cab driver. I was casually eating a sandwich while I spoke to him. I inquired about his family to which he replied he had two kids around 12-13-year-old and wife was a Homemaker. Now I spoke to him about driving the cab, how much he earns. What he said was moved me completely. He told me he starts his day at 4.30 in the morning as there are a lot of bookings from Airports and he gets to earn during that time as there is almost no traffic. He drove until 10 in the night. When I inquired as to what he eats during the whole day he answered there are times when bookings are so much that there is no time to eat as well just as today I have drunk one cup of tea and few biscuits in the afternoon. I was stunned hearing this but still, I saw that he was all smiles and said that he was yet happy with this job because he can send his kids to a good school. This incident literally struck me.
I came back to my hotel room and pondered over my chances and sadly that year I remained in the waiting list of SIBM Pune. But I thought of giving another shot at CAT 2018. I prepared with utmost dedication for an entire year and with my B.E. ending in June I got a whole day to prepare. And with everything proper, finally, I went in on D-Day and gave my best. With the results in January, I did know that I have cracked CAT and fast forward to now I have a total of 23 converts from all leading B-Schools and finally a part of SJMSOM, IIT Bombay [2019-2021 batch]. But the Biggest thing I learned from this Cab Driver is that Challenges keep on coming in life. But these challenges are for you to learn something from and overcome them by your grit and determination.
Coming to Aditya Birla Group and why it is important for the nation and the Globe?
The mere fact stated on the website that it has offices in 34 countries of the world with more than 1.2 lac strong workforce belonging to more than 42 nationalities speaks volumes about the tremendous contribution it makes to the world GDP as well as the varied culture than the organization has and how it makes the blending of Various cultures around the world possible. Apart from that the effort that Aditya Birla Group takes to preserve out Mother Nature is completely commendable and something everyone should learn from. True to the statement,
"With Great Power comes Great Responsibility", Novelis even after being the largest Aluminium beverage can sheet producer is also the world's largest recycler of used Beverage cans, thus maintaining the sustainability of Nature.
Also with the amount of CSR work being done by Aditya Birla Group Speaks for itself. Giving back to the community and of service to the nation is something which is being shown by ABG with just a simple fact that it provides midday meal for 63,000 students every single day for children from 268 schools. Apart from that leading from the front in every sector be it from fashion to telecom while always being true and loyal to the customer's expectation is what makes the Aditya Birla Group an asset to the Nation.