Why Aditya Birla Group is big in your life?

When I was in my engineering 1st year, we bought a new house. I had decided that this time I would ensure that my house was the best, so I used to go with my father to the construction site, to oversee the progress made. I knew that the very foundation of a house needs to be rock solid, so the first question that I had asked my father was which brand of cement were we using? He asked me ‘Which one do you want?’ I instantly replied UltraTech cement. When asked why? I replied ‘It’s the Engineer’s choice’. That is the impact of Ultratech’s advertisement; it elicits a feeling of comfort, safety, and love. And that’s exactly what I wanted in my house. I might have not known about the specific details of the cement but I trusted the brand implicitly. Why? Because Aditya Birla Group is a company that does not require an introduction, it is a company that has been in India before independence itself, 1857 to be precise. It is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai, India and operating in 35 countries with more than 120,000 employees worldwide.

Aditya Birla group has been a huge part of my life since the very beginning. I remember my first encounter with an ABG brand was the Freshwrapp aluminum foil which my mother used to wrap my Rotis in to keep it warm and even put it on the top of my Tiffin box to prevent oil from spilling into my school bag. ABG retail brands are the most famous and cater to every price range, demographic and occasion. If it’s men’s apparel, it has to be from ABG brands, whether it’s from Peter England, Louis Philippe, Van Heusen or Allen Solly, there is no one better than them. My father is a regular customer of Allen Solly. Even my brother-in-law bought his wedding suit from Louis Philippe. That is the amount of trust we place in ABG brands. Similarly, when it comes to women’s apparel, they have it all. I bought all my Kurtis for college from pantaloons for extremely affordable rates. Even Forever 21, an ABG brand, is not just aspirational, but pretty much a status symbol for me. And let’s not forget my favorite online website Abof, which has the trendiest collection out there. No wonder it was recommended to me by all my friends. And of course, how could I forget the idea that changed my life. Idea cellular was the telecom network that connected me with my friends far and wide. My first business suit was from Van Heusen. I had bought my first birthday gift for my father from Allen Solly and my first watch from Ralph Lauren. For all intents and purposes, Aditya Birla Group has been in every milestone of mine.

How you overcome challenges to achieve your ambitions in life so far?

This is the story of a girl named K Mary Archana. Ever since she was young her parents instilled in her the importance of education in life. She saw her parents work hard all day just to give her the best possible education, one, that sadly they never had the privilege of receiving. Seeing this she was even more determined to repay them not monetarily but by giving them what they truly desired for her, to get good grades and do well in school. Slowly, she also started daydreaming of wearing fancy suits to work, addressing a group full of strangers, leading and managing them. To turn her dream into reality, she started concentrating more on her studies and was pretty decent in her academics. The only problem was that she would always score fewer marks in English. She knew that if she ever wanted to become a CEO, she needed to have exceptional communication skills, especially in English. So what did she do? She started asking people for help. Everyone gave their views. She considered their suggestions and altered them to suit her interests. She started by reading novels, nothing too voluminous but simple novels from genres like paranormal, fantasy, and even romance. Because she knew she liked these genres, and that would compel her to start reading novels. And it did. Initially, she used to write every word that she didn’t know, find the meaning, and constantly memorize the cumulative list of words. She also started watching English shows and movies, first with subtitles and gradually she didn’t need them. Soon enough her grades started improving, she wrote better essays and was even appreciated by her teachers. She realized that not only had she improved her English, but she genuinely enjoyed the process of penning down her thoughts. But just as she was discovering her passion for writing, she had joined her Intermediate college. It was a whole other universe, where people hardly communicated in English preferring their mother tongue and those days she had to study for almost 17 hours a day. So, there was hardly any scope for her to write essays or even talk in English. Afraid that she would lose all the communication skills which she had worked so hard for, she forced herself to continue speaking in English even though no one else in her college did. She even encouraged her other friends to cultivate the habit of speaking in English. She didn’t want to let go of her habit of reading, but she also didn’t have time to read them, so she started listening to audiobooks. She listened to them while studying, traveling, and any other time she could think of. After intermediate, she took up engineering. Now that she had a little more time on her hands, she wanted to rediscover her passion for writing. So, she started applying for essay competitions online and eventually, her hard work paid off, and she won the 5th prize in a national essay writing competition. She also completed English certification courses from Cambridge University. For a short while, she even wrote for a student newspaper. Her journey continues here in XIMB as she enhances her communication skills to hopefully become a CEO one day.

Well, this is my story. The biggest obstacle that I could see in my path of becoming a CEO was my lack of communication skills. So what did I do? I decided to overcome my limitations. I grit my teeth together, worked hard and through sheer determination overcame it and realized that hard work is the key to overcoming challenges. Overcoming my challenges was neither an easy nor a short process (In fact I believe it is still ongoing). I was stubborn about not letting my challenges inhibit me. I did not see the results of my hard work instantly, but that didn’t deter me. I patiently waited, knowing that as long as I relentlessly work at it and did not give up, the ultimate victory would be mine. I also realized that after every challenge I faced, it made me better in some way, not only had my English improved, but my entire perspective had changed and broadened. I had become more confident. Sometimes just overcoming your challenges, not only solves your problems but brings additional benefits that you might not realize yet. Even if that doesn’t happen, it would be a hell of an experience, and a story to tell for sure. After all, isn’t life made of such experiences?

#XIMB #ABGLP_WOO_ME

K Mary Archana

Keep going, keep growing - ABG and Me By K Mary Archana, XIMB