Part A:
Aditya Birla Group, a mammoth conglomerate, through its legacy of decades has secured a place in several hearts. Be it Pantaloons in fashion, Idea cellular in telecom, Birla Sun life insurance or Ultratech cement. In any contribution of ABG to society - the magnanimity of ABG continues to expand in the newer horizons of ever changing socio-economic realities.
Here I bring my very first encounter with ABG. I am from a small town of Marathwada region in Maharashtra. The story dates back to my childhood days when mobile phones were not so common and having even a basic model was considered a luxury at least in the suburban areas!
Yes, you thought it correct! It was Idea cellular, my very first encounter with ABG.
The very first tower which was being set up in my town was of Idea and it was a SIM card of my dad’s first phone and interestingly he still uses it! I still remember very vividly how we used to go to STD booth or PCU unit to make a call to relatives or friends. I am very close to my mother and in those summer vacation days, she had gone to my uncle’s place. I couldn’t accompany her because of my vacation classes and really used to cry to talk with my mom. My father used return home very late in the night and most of the times the STD booths and PCU units used to close by the time he returns. This was very painful for me because I couldn’t connect with my mom and also talking over STD booth daily was also not that economically viable!
Then appeared the silver lining in the cloud! My father decided to buy a basic mobile phone and the SIM card of Idea cellular came as a lifeline in it. Knowingly or unknowingly idea cellular connected hearts and it surely was an idea that changed my life!
Second encounter with ABG was not really on terms of brands in the market but on something more important!
It’s about a grand and iconic Birla temple standing on the rocky throne with all its glory in white marble alongside Hussainsagar Lake in Hyderabad. Trust me it’s a wonderful place to visit full of energy, peace and divinity.
During my three years of stay in Hyderabad, the first place we visited was Birla Temple. As I heard the name, question popped in my mind - why the name Birla? When I searched on internet, I realized that there is range of iconic temples built across India by Birla family. This was a very unique example of preserving culture and heritage and upholding societal values and how you contribute to the society.
The fashion industry comes next. ABG’s brands in fashion industry are just wow. Pantaloons, Peter England, Allen Solly to name a few brands. The quality of fabric and comfort is awesome and one will surely fall in love with the brand!
Part B:
Going back in time, shedding light on the darkest of times I faced, I feel, I can share a couple of incidents of my life where I overcame challenges without succumbing to the situations around and kept going toward the desired goals and destiny.
One such incident was when I was in 10th standard. My father had a furniture business. That year he had huge financial loss and was even unable to pay the annual rent of the shop. Subsequently he could not manage enough capital to purchase new materials for the shop. This all had a huge economical and psychological impact and stress on every individual of my family. Despite having scored above 90 percentile in 10th, I was staring at very uncertain future. Taking a look at the situation, some of my relatives were kind enough to help me financially for my studies but this came with the responsibility of proving me as responsible and owning their trust. The next two years, I struggled hard to excel in my studies and with gods’ grace I could take admission in a reputed engineering college. This period taught me self discipline, resource management, being responsible, planning and patience! There is a famous quote in Hindi “Baki kuch jindgi me badle na badle waqt jarur badalta hai!”
Second incident - I was working with an Indian IT giant as a software engineer and was simultaneously preparing for MBA entrances. Time management, concentration in study, maintaining office work load and most peculiar thing the office shift timings were the problems I had in my plate. I had to prioritize things, again self discipline was very important when you make schedules and have to follow them religiously.
You also have to be effective and efficient when you work on any particular task so as not to drag it further and to be with the scheduled flow. Yes, I failed in my initial attempts, could not get calls of B-schools, work load and pressure was mind boggling but I never stopped! I kept going till I achieved what I dreamed of. I feel extremely proud for being part of such a prominent, diverse and unique institute and course as my destiny – TISS Mumbai (ODCL) it is!
ABGLP ABG WOO ME SEASON 2 ABG WOO ME COMPETITION