Part A - Why Aditya Birla Group is big in my life
It is the final day of the month and I wake up in the morning in the comfort of my home, a building
made strong and safe with
Ultratech cement. I check my inbox and catch up on the news on my
phone. This made possible through the fast and reliable network of
Vodafone Idea Ltd. Being a
brand conscious person who loves to have high-quality clothes in my wardrobe, brands like
Van
Heusen and Peter England ensure that I am spoilt for choice.
It's monthly performance review day today and
Louis Philippe's formal range ensures that I look
sharp for the meeting ahead. As expected, the review goes well and it's time for celebration. However,
I forget to do my laundry and don't have clothes to wear for the party. But thanks to the network of
"People" and
"Pantaloons" outlets, I can choose from a variety of highly fashionable clothes. I get a decent
Allen
Solly outfit from a
Planet Fashion store which makes me stand out in the party.
After a great night, I wake up and receive my Monthly salary and realize I should save some of this
money for my future goals. I find out about a great investment scheme by
Aditya Birla Sun Life
Mutual fund and decide to invest to fulfill my dream of buying my own car.
Aditya Birla group's presence in the life of a person like me and many others is hard to ignore. Be it
Everlast aluminium roof temporarily sheltering a group of bikers during the rain or mom's love
wrapped with
Freshwrapp, Aditya Birla Group has been an influential brand in the country for over
150 years and continues to be so.
Part B - Overcoming my biggest Challenge
Since I was in 11th class, I had a dream to get into an IIM. Being someone who is weak in
Mathematics, I barely passed my 10th class Maths exam and completely lost touch with the subject
after that. To achieve my dream, I knew I had to clear the 80th percentile Quantitative Aptitude
sectional cut off in CAT. I knew many who had cracked the exam and were about to join their dream
college, all of them at least had Maths as a subject in 11th and 12th. They advised me to go for
coaching but after attending a trial session, I realized even coaching will not help me as my basics of
the subject itself was not clear.
I was in the final year of my Bachelor's course and only 3 months were left for CAT. My mock scores
indicated that even though I'll get a good overall score, I will not be able to clear sectional cut off in
Quant. For the final 3 months, I bought a few books for practice and solved it for an average of 6
hours per day. During weekdays, my classes had me busy but during some weekends I practised for
around 14 hours a day.
My mock scores started improving as time passed. I don't remember being any more nervous in my
life than the day of the CAT 2016 exam. Luckily, the Quant section was easy and I was able to secure
97th percentile in the section. But maybe I concentrated too much on Quant and was not able the
clear sectional cut off for DILR (Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning) section. I was heartbroken
but my score in Quant gave me immense confidence for my 2nd attempt. This time I was able to
clear all cut-offs and got calls from many IIMs, converted a few of them too but not from the ones I
preferred.
Everything goes well in my third attempt, I convert IIM Raipur in the first list and have truly enjoyed my
first month here in the beautiful new campus at Naya Raipur. Three years ago, I wouldn't have
believed that I, who did not even know the basics of Mathematics would end up where I am now.
This experience has made me believe that anything is possible through grit, hard work and
perseverance.