Why ABG is big in my life?

In year 1998, when I was in nursery, my mom used to wrap chapatis in a newspaper while packing tiff-in for me. While I was happy with the food and that newspaper packing, I wished for a luxury which, except me, everyone seemed to be blessed with. At the end of our lunch break, schoolkids used to play a game called “Maram Mitti”. They would crush their respective aluminium foils and mould them into various different shapes. After flaunting their artistic prowess for some time, they would start hitting each other with those same figures and imagine themselves to be soldiers of their imagined clans. While everyone would enjoy the game, I could only stare at them wistfully and wish to participate.

Days passed and I was still pondering over whether I should put this demand at home or not. Finally, on a fine Monday morning, I requested my mom to start packing chapatis in an aluminium foil so that I wouldn’t miss those “Maram Mitti” episodes. My mom smiled at me and assured me that she will ask my dad to get it for me. My dad came late that day and he had to leave for an official trip the next day. He was not there for another 7 days, but when he returned, ABG made an entry in my life in the form of FreshWrap aluminium foils.

At that moment, I didn’t realise that ABG would become a part of our family and will stay with us forever. While FreshWrap stayed, in my life, ABG appeared in a million other forms. Even today, when I adjust my Louis Philippe tie for a corporate session, a smile appears on my face when remember that day I played “Maram Mitti” for the first time.

How I overcame challenges to achieve my ambitions in life so far?

It was my dad’s wish to see me studying in some posh private school. Due to his aspiration, with every salary hike or a promotion he used to change my school to get me into a better one. By the time I started graduation, I had already changed 9 odd schools. Changing schools every alternate year has been the biggest challenge in my childhood.

The biggest issue was that I never got enough time to settle in a particular school. Before I find myself comfortable in one place, I was moved somewhere else. The toughest part was to make new friends every alternate year. To perform well in academics along with getting adapted to a new environment was another challenge.

However, accepting challenges is what you have to do when you have no choice. Experience teaches everything. Although It was difficult in the starting, but the qualities I have developed while struggling to adapt helped me to become a very flexible man. It made me good in building relationships, it made me adaptable and it made me a performance-oriented personality. Now I am not afraid of changes anymore. I can go anywhere and adapt myself to the new environment and culture in a few days’ time. In every school my target was to settle, make some friends and start performing. Uncertainty is another aspect of life which I learned from this experience. I have learned that becoming comfortable in the current ecosystem can be dangerous. You have to be ready to every possible change that may come.

#NMIMSMumbai #ABGLPWooMe

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ABG touching lives - Rajat Gupta, NMIMS Mumbai