Aditya Birla Group,since 1857,has made big in the business world. It has always believed in the power and reach of the people when they stand united. It has interests in varied fields like viscose staple fibre, telecom services, textiles, fashion, metals, chemicals and many more. As in every Indian’s life, Aditya Birla Group has played a major role in my life too.

My journey with the brands of Aditya Birla Group began with Ultra Tech Cement. It was the time when my house was being renovated and truck loads and loads of cement and other construction items were being carried to the front of my house for offloading. Being a child of around 10 at the time, seeing all the dust and big packets of cement I got excited and soon when the renovation work started,I was always found playing with the cement, either making small drawings on the ground or just mixing it with water for no good. Our house was built strong and big and so were my dreams. Stepping into the teenage shoes, my next encounter with one of the brands was when my parents bought me a mobile phone with an !dea sim already in place. I was very happy with the network and till now I have the sim in use and still haven’t faced any issue with it and this was indeed true, ‘what an idea sir ji!’

Trying to learn and grow, I developed traits that they are say so particular to girls. So being the small town girl, I went for shopping with my friends to the mall and there was a new store which had just been launched, Forever 21. It was one of the most exciting stores in the entire mall and attracted most of the customers. We went to the store and had some amazing shopping done. As I believe, ’Happiness is not in money, but in shopping’. It proved true that day. Me and my friends also bought matching t-shirts from the store and enjoyed a lot.

In all my happy life till date, there came this extremely sad moment too, when my mother was detected with breast cancer. Her operation was scheduled just the day after and to the relief of my father, Birla Sun Life Insurance agents were there and they provided us with quick assistance and we did not face any problem in doing the payments for the hospitals and other bills. That day,I realised how a small girl who played with cement was big enough to understand the responsibilities of the people around and her family. And in this girl’s journey, Aditya Birla Group has definitely played a major part and made a big difference.

Achieving Ambitions and Making it Big

During my Senior Secondary School days, after finding solace in mathematics, we all had our dreams to clear the competitive exams and go in some of the country’s best colleges like IITs and NITs. I especially had this dream very near to my heart because this was the one thing my mother had always wanted for me and I wanted to make it big for her.

But during the preparations, I could not see the loopholes in my practices and hence, on the doomsday, I just could make it to the second level but could not go through the final level. This made me very disheartened and I thought that life could not get any worse than this. After this, I decided to give it another try and this time I made up to all the shortcomings in my study practices of the year before and was very confident about making it through this time. But on the exam day, I panicked and was so nervous about writing the exam, for which I have prepared the whole year with all my heart and soul, I made silly mistakes during the paper and did not even clear the cut off this time. That day, I remember,I thought to myself that I was up to no good and I am a failure. Depression creeped in and made my life more miserable. I joined an engineering college in my hometown and with the constant support of my family and friends, started with the routine life of a student. After some days, I realised that I was not made for the type of engineering jobs which were being offered at my college and found the right opportunity to make my parents proud of me. I started with my MBA coaching classes and prepared using every means possible. To build up my lost confidence, I gave regular online tests at All India level and gauged my performance in these tests. I sat for hours trying to solve my own doubts and difficulties and practised with every material available. Slowly, with time passing by, my confidence built up and I was all ready to give my MBA exams and kickstart the slate of my happiness again. I got through because of all my hard work and support of my family and friends and this hard work only has built my self confidence again and finally I made my parents proud and happy.I made up my mind with the thought that ‘If you want to achieve big,you need to work for it and if You really work for it,you will definitely achieve it.’

Deeksha Bhale

ABG-Advancing towards the Better Growth|Deeksha Bhale,IIFT