The rush at Pantaloons during the sale seasons. Those visits to Allen Solly for getting your birthday dress. The perfect wedding suit you ever got yourself for someone else’s wedding – Louis Phillipe. Little does one realize that it’s all under the same umbrella or maybe not, they do. Sheltered and nurtured by the Aditya Birla Group (ABG), these brands and countless more have been an integral part of our lives with their own distinctions, sometimes subtle while obvious at other times. A part of our emotions seems to latch onto these products, irrespective of the occasions. Be it those school-time paranthas in the Freshwrapp foil or it’s crumbling into a ball to play cricket, ABG has lived along with us. Being a mechanical engineer, I understand the importance of Ultratech cement – ‘The Engineer’s Choice’ which is also our country’s numero uno cement company. While an idea can change a life, the diverse business verticals set up by ABG have given us a plethora of ideas of how successful conglomerates can be, even across different regions around the world, when they have sound business practices. When companies of such stature engage themselves in sustainable practices across their industrial lines as well as lending hands to different sections of the community to facilitate inclusive growth, it is more than just a blessing. For most of us who dream to work in big business corporations, the story of ABG, with its small start is an inspiration. Its success is a testimony to the business expertise of the Birla family and we hope to understand and imbibe as much as we can from their lives. The most challenging situation that I encountered in my professional life was when I had to take a decision on whether to continue or quit working for the startup that I co-founded with my friends at college. It was at a time when we had just received incubation support from our University’s Incubation Centre. Just before my decision, I was juggling my final year project work and a technical -sales paid internship at a construction equipments company along with the demanding work at the startup. Since the work involved my presence at a different city, I had to resign from the internship after completing a two-month project. Thereafter, when I finished my final year project and spent a few weeks with the startup alone, I realized that this entrepreneurial learning curve was not suitable for me. I needed a different theoretical based, more analytical approach for further enhancing my skills and capabilities. The major lessons I learnt all through these pursuits were that of risk-taking and acceptance. Giving up a paid internship role (which was convertible to a full-time position) for your own startup, demands a lot of courage and strength. And again, quitting the startup that you’ve religiously worked for one and a half years requires an abundance of fortitude. You need to accept that at times, you are not at the right place and you need to change your direction. With barely a few months left for the MBA exams, I managed to work hard and secure admission into one of the premier B-schools of our country.