I wake up and start my usual course with a pen and paper, hoping to write a few verses on a shining letterhead, whose shine is ensured by Sulphonic acid. Then I go for my regular swimming classes where Chlorine keeps me from any kind of infections while common salt keeps me afloat. I then refresh myself with customary drinks, which mostly include fresh water – which is fresh in these times only for the effectiveness of PAC powder. Being a family man, the urge in me compels me to then call my mother using the evergreen network of ideas every morning before I take a shower using soap solution containing Caustic Soda in excess. Finally, I take a vehicle with the metallic body to my customary food-joint with my guitar whose strings are made of aluminum, and I play for long stretches under the robust roof made possible by Ultratech cement.
It is highly unlikely to realize so much around yourself, but it is simply impossible to ignore everything under the sun if you eagerly look around. And if you do, you actually see ABG’s presence in the technology you use, clothes you wear, magazines you read, and – if you’re still untouched by a severe electric shock – the insulators you touch all day. Without massively reflecting in the forefront of your lives, Aditya Birla Group has still penetrated it for better.
Much like in such a big conglomerate, I prepared for myself an early blueprint of life, which gave me enough confidence to shrug away small disappointments. So to say that I have seen hardships at such a tender age would be an overstatement and an insult to the fortunate life I have had so far. But -much like everyone else - I have, time-to-time, resigned to ultimately impotent expressions of frustration when I felt sequestered and looked for alternatives when there were none. The most challenging emotional moment came in my life when we had planned for the most exciting ones – we were on a trip to Goa looking for deep reflections before our paths diverged finally. One of the members of our squad met with a major accident- to an extent that even after more than two years he hasn’t been able to recover completely.
Today when I look back, I only see these moments as when I had to take necessary beatings in order to just let that roughness pass. Overcoming challenges and finding my own niche has been the guiding principle in shaping up what I am, and it taught me that if you are young, or at least if you think you’re young everything is an opportunity; every time you feel uncomfortable there’s an opportunity for you to grow as a person. And it is these tough moments I sometimes count as my blessings. Though I never thought that I can simply snap my gauntlet fingers and right every wrong, I still believe that I can right all my own mistakes and collect myself, when required, by standing upright every time I am brought down.