Aditya Birla Group is a name that is known to each and every Indian family. Being a multinational conglomerate, the success story of Aditya Birla Group is unknown to none and motivates other new companies as well for future prospects. Their whole fashion business group is a competitive market in itself with various brands under it such as Louis Phillippe, Peter England, Van Heusen, etc. Coming from a middle-class family and being raised up in a rural place like Khurda Road, I hadn’t been faced to much of the outside world or the competition that comes along with it. I used to be very happy when my family used to go for an outing to the city. With time, I came along to meet many people in my life with whom I interacted and shared ideas. There was one such instance when I had been to Pantaloons with my family and met one of their salespersons. A short person in his early 20s, he was a very sweet and gentle person with a calm nature who seemed to be very content with his job and the responsibility that comes with it. With successive visits, I became friends with him and came to know that he was a good student but couldn’t carry on further as his family’s financial condition wasn’t that great for him to study further and he had to drop out of his college to support his family. I felt sad for him as being a talented guy, he could’ve achieved better but he made me realize that he was happy with his current position as he was supporting his family and most importantly, his family was proud of him. I took it as a learning that whatever problem we may have to deal with in our life, we should never give up and stay positive.
How you overcame challenges to achieve your ambitions in life so far?
Challenges are a part of life that comes along with it. They can’t be pushed away, they need to be dealt with as that makes you grow stronger and believe in yourself to face the upcoming future. Coming from a small town, I had not been a talkative person but a bright one, as my teachers used to say. We had a family of four- my parents, my elder sister and me. I used to be good with numbers and puzzles since my early days. It was in the year of 2004 that my father got diagnosed with renal failure. It came as a shock to the whole family. My father was a businessman and was the only earning member of our family. Many relatives came forward during the early days to help and provide assistance but with time, they had their differences and eventually backed away. As surprising as it may sound, it came to such a condition that I had to look after our shop from the age of 12. My father used to have his Dialysis twice a week and I used to sit in the shop alone after school on those days. The customers used to get surprised seeing such a young boy running a shop and studying whenever having any free time. All of us knew that it was affecting my scores but we had no other option. This continued till my Class 12 exams. After that, I had to shift to a hostel for my Engineering. That was the toughest phase for my family I would say, as my father had got alone and he was facing a lot of difficulties but even I couldn’t help as I was far away. Whenever I got my vacations and came to help him. In August 2016, he succumbed to his disease eventually after 12 years of struggle and pain. I have seen a fighter like my father ever in my life and he will always remain as my inspiration.