I remember my old home, torn out from every corner it was a clay home with coal shade and no bricks. I remember going out to play, watching my neighbor homes all newly constructed and beautifully crafted for living. As a child, all I wanted was a new home. One day when I went out to play, I stood in front of a house, watched it, admired it for many hours. After a month, while playing with the truck my father bought me from a fair, I saw my father and uncle carrying yellow sacks in large numbers, they placed them side by side in large numbers. I remember some grey power puffing out of them, a dust odor and a something like “
Ult” written on them. Out of excitement and curiosity, I rushed to my father and asked “What is this Papa ?”, and he replied, “These are
Ultratech cement sacks my son, we are building a new home”. That moment was happiness for me, I stood there and started crying and shouting “I’ll have a new home”. Some weeks later, the workmen started to come and it began. I took my small truck and helped them by disposing of clay, I was running here and there, collecting sand, cement, clay, and whatnot. My father watched me do all this, he was happy as I was happy. My father knew what I wanted, just like the
Aditya Birla Group, who knows what the world needs and wants and is helping many in achieving their dreams.
The first step towards overcoming fear is Acceptance. I had fear of heights and I accepted this at an early age. School terraces, high altitude temples, giant wheel rides, etc. all seemed out of sight. But, as the great Daniel Carnegie says “If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit and think about it. Go out and get busy with it”. The second step for me was to go out and fight my fear. During my early college days, with immense courage, I went for the Ralamandal trek (a small trek at Indore). I climbed, reached the top, looked down and made my mind. It was an overwhelming experience, and it was the beginning. Next, in my third year, I did the Great Kashmir trek (Altitude 14000ft) and during my final year, I did 3-4 more treks. By this time, I was firm about trekking and climbing and I knew there's no going back from this point. As I started to enjoy trekking and climbing, my fear of heights started to disappear. For work, I moved to Pune and there I met the adventure diaries (an expedition group), and together we completed many Sayadari treks, Kalsubai (10000ft), Harishchandragad (8000ft), Torna, Ghangad and many more. I also tested myself and succeeded in the relatively tougher and high-altitude northern treks like Kheerganga, Spiti, and Triund. My fear was far from me, but I knew some parts of it still remained. So, before joining the IIFT-Delhi MBA program, I signed up for a Bungee jumping expedition: 200 feet jump with just a rope behind my back. The moment came, I was standing at the jumping site, the workman started to tie the ropes around me and then he counted 1….2…., and I shouted and jumped. All my fear, feelings, the things I did and the things I missed, conquered my mind. I went down, overjoyed, and overwhelmed. I realized the importance of will power and fighting spirit. A small boy who couldn't watch down a 2-story building has just jumped from 200 feet. The boy took 16 years but he eventually won.