My fond memories of Aditya Birla Group is watching advertisement of their UltraTech cement. Not only that, even chanting their Idea tune, Walk and Talk or their tagline What an Idea Sirji! Apart from this, we are not in direct contact with other brands as such except retail branding. Be it going for shopping before my first interview or going to shop for brother's wedding, one or the other Aditya Birla conglomerate's brand came to the rescue. It offered variety to satisfy my choosy taste as I do not settle easily for anything. I also remember my friends getting excited when first Forever21 store opened in our city and my friends from other city called up and asked me to visit the store to buy things for them. Also I vividly remember, one vacation spent at Nani's home wherein in the end she took all the children shopping to buy clothes at Allen Solly . Other than this, I remember buying aluminum foils for our home, Freshwrapp :P
Coping up with my peers and friends in college turned out to be difficult in the beginning. I started feeling inferior as it was a complete change from school to college. I was more engaged in other activities outside classroom and losing out in academics. Things started getting difficult and I realized I had to balance both. I knew I had to do it and I paved my way, finally scoring an 8.5 PPI, which is one of best scores in my college. Being an average student no one expected me to suddenly transform that too at that point of time when almost everyone had given up. People especially my friends were surprised to see this change in me. With time, you develop a certain perception about a person and when someone goes out of his/her way to do things that one didn't think he/she can do, it leaves them spellbound. This reminds me of my favorite movie dialogue which says : "Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine" from Imitation Game. From this, I learnt to never give up, not underestimate myself and to always believe in myself. I then tried maintaining this performance and balancing extra-curricular activities along. I learnt its very important to get out of one's comfort zone and keep persisting harder. Efforts will bear fruit one day or the other.
This also reminds me of another instance while we were preparing for our MBA entrance examinations. During mock tests, I did not score well initially. I was not at par with my batchmates. But this did not stop me from working hard. I kept going on and working. With so many tests taken before the final exam, you kind of know where everyone stands and their capability. Many had lost their heart saying we know we cannot do it but somewhere I knew that I should at least give my 100% till the end. This will give me a chance to see my potential otherwise I would always be in the illusion next time that I could have scored better if I worked harder. And then after appearing for exams and interviews, not many converted their calls or performed as expected. What if I had given in to the opinions of others or should I say given in to 'what I thought others thought of me' and stopped? I would not be where I am and maybe would not be writing this.
Also it was sad to hear about one of the greatest visionary leader, BK Birla. Our heartfelt condolences with the Birla family.