I was very young when I heard of the word “Birla” for the first time. My grandfather would often use the term “Tata-Birla” to relate to rich, royal families. As I grew up, I became familiar with the term, as I started becoming a consumer through the brand of Louis Philippe which I
desired much to my first Idea Sim Card. ABG has undoubtedly become an indispensable part of my life. My emotional connect with ABG is my father’s Louis Philippe shirt which he bought 23 years ago. I treasure the shirt in his reminiscence. Though the white shirt has lost its lustre, the buttons and stitches remain intact, along with the memories it carries. At this juncture, it is important to point that a product so dear could not solely be due to itself, but also the story of the product’s origin as well. However, beyond the personal front, the 3
rdlargest conglomerate in India has made us proud by becoming No. 1 in rolled aluminium, carbon black, and their strong foothold in the textile industry. ABGs involvement in the insurance sector and of course, Idea, the telecom wing, is a star on their lapel. Birla has effectively contributed to the development of our country, being stalwarts of the Private sector. Their presence is massive such that we have a sense of national belonging when it comes to “Birla”
“Challenges are the opportunities to improve ourselves”
The major challenge that I have had to overcome was to push away conservative thinking which I grew up in, and embrace alternative thinking and inculcate fresh thinking. My ambition kept changing as the size of my shoe also changed. I always wanted to do things which I found interesting. Initially a guitar player, to wanting to become a historian, my interests were always challenged by the conventional thinking of my family and friends. Though I succumbed to it initially, down the line, I made sure that I switched over to Commerce after school. This was after I realised that doing engineering with an intention later on to pursue MBA meant an injustice to the science. So that become the first challenge I overcame-convincing my family to let me change the course I was in. Next, I knew I had to overcome my shortcomings in language and quantitative methods to get into a B-School of my choice. I couldn’t clear the exams on my first try. The struggle of bearing the advice from everyone I met, was equally disturbing. This also pushed me to work harder and eventually I cleared the exam and made it to IIFT. Though still rejoicing, I am inspired to work hard and give my best shot every time I try, and achieve excellence, because without excellence, there’s no real success. My next challenge is to select a niche for myself during the course of two years, and specialise in it and master it. This is because I feel it is time to move on from being the Jack of all trades to becoming a master of one. Challenges need to keep evolving, and we need to keep pushing ourselves away from conventional thinking, and embrace alternative thinking to stimulate our growth