The one question thrown at me everytime I am on a call with my mother and my reply had been constant throughout these days “As soon as I get some time.” I am an ambitious, industrious 21 year old young girl who craves to venture into each and every possible escapade life could unleash me to. Stating my conventional yet distinct journey on a fast forward mode, I completed my schooling with exemplary performance, pursued my graduation from a renowned college of this nation, appeared for CAT and got into one of the top B-Schools of this country anyone could have asked for. Life could not have been better but what I was erroneous upon was the fact that everything of this comes at a cost. The cost is your roots, your parents, your siblings, your innocuousness, your life that is left behind in this rat race to come first.

“The expedition from the tranquility in my mother’s lap to the recklessness on luxurious couches,

from the warmth and protection in my father’s arm to the torrent of disgrace from my superior’s mouth, from the unblemished nature’s beauteous halo to the wild thrashes of trodden roads,

from the soft sterile cocoon of life to the vicious cobweb of reality,

I am the aspirations within you,

I am the inspirations within you,

I am the contemplations within you, I am the budding youth sabotage by the incorrigible arena within you.”

But in all of this life’s conundrum and haphazardness what keeps me going is a few minutes conversation with my family on a call without any intrusion or obstruction. And this is turn is made possible by an unfathomable trust which my family rests in the brand “Idea Cellular” by the Aditya Birla Group. When others struggle to get in touch with their loved ones due to network issues, I get the leisure to relive my mother’s concern, father’s protection, sibling’s frenzies anytime and anywhere at minimalistic costs. The one quotidian value which I share with this medium of endearment is,

“Our values provide us with our roots and they provide us with our wings.”

– Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla

Life is what you make it

A person unleashes the best within oneself when struck with the greatest of adversities. Two months prior to CAT’18, my father was diagnosed with the risk of Colorectal Cancer after 15 years long battle with Ulcerartive Colitis. He had to undergo an emergency Colectomy Surgery which involved a complete removal of his large intestine. With my college exams and CAT preparation on one hand and my family on the other, I strived to manage both by looking after my father during the daytime and coping up with my studies at night in the hospital itself. Unfortunately, my father was readmitted to the hospital for a recuperative surgery. Coping with multiple surgical failures in my father’s health till date taught me the learning of Perseverance. Being a procrastinator, I had to mend my ways to inculcate the skills of astute and expeditiousness to face present as well as future financial, emotional and physical unexpectancy. My resoluteness paid off in the appearance of a meritorious CAT result. With a speck of sedulousness and readiness for hardwork in mind, an individual keeps going to unbridle the unparalleled for oneself.

rishika goel

When Will You Return? - Rishika Goel, MDI Gurgaon