PART A: Why Aditya Birla Group is big in my life?

A little confession – When this challenge was floated, I was utterly embarrassed of being clueless about one of India’s biggest conglomerates. I was completely oblivious to the extent to which the Aditya Birla Group has been touching our lives ever since its inception almost 100 years before independence. Call it my ignorance or just plain lack of awareness, but it took me a fair bit of research to discover that few of my favourite brands come under ABG’s ambit.

ABG has played a huge role in the overhaul of the Indian fashion industry. I remember a time when I had to visit at least ten different outlets before I could get apparels of my choice. This was either due to lack of choices available or simply because of inferior quality of products. ABG has taken this completely out of the window with premium brands like Louis Phillipe, Allen Solley and Van Heusen. Among these, Louis Phillipe is a personal favourite. Be it party wear, formal wear or just plain casual wear, Louis Phillipe has never disappointed me. It has earned such a reputation that I can walk into any of its outlets and be confident of walking out satisfied.

ABG has its presence in such a wide range of industries like construction, telecom, financing, insurance, retail, etc. that it has become a part and parcel of life of an average Indian consumer. It is safe to say that ABG is that friend with whom we may not always be in touch with, but deep down we know that they will always be a part of our lives.

Part B: How I overcame challenges to achieve my ambition in life so far?

Throughout my life I have always been an under-achiever with a lot of “potential”. Well at least that's what I have been told by everyone who has ever known me. Frankly, to me the whole 'potential' thing has always been up for debate. Be it my class 12th exams, my engineering entrance exams or my entire engineering, I have always managed to make a mockery of the expectations that were thrusted upon me. So, after I completed my engineering, it came to me as no surprise that I was placed in an IT firm that recruited in masses. In fact, with the kind of skill-set that I had at that point of time, I was pleasantly surprised to even land a job. And so began the infamous IT job, one of the very few things for which Indians are highly sought after across the globe. After all, where else would you get such inexpensive labour that would work no questions asked even on weekends, because, well, the workforce has employees like me who would rather work here than be a part of another unemployment statistic. I became just another cog in the wheel of the Indian IT workforce.

A year into the job, I realized that I had reached a dead end. Up until now, whenever I got stuck, I kept telling myself stuff like “things will get better”, “I have a whole life ahead of me”. Basically, I had reached what you call the level “Pro” in the world of procrastination. But life hit me hard once I was all on my own living in a city that I hated, working a job that I despised and looking ahead at a future that looked bleak at best.

There is no better feeling than being independent but trust me when I say this, “take it with a pinch of salt”. With independence, for the first time, comes the realisation that there’s nothing to fall back on. You’ve got to have your own back and take care of yourself. Every great thing needs a trigger and this was mine. I did a thorough research on the career options I have, the kind of roles I’m interested in and it all came down to one thing…CAT.

What followed was 3 months of rigorous preparations and an awful lot of paranoia. A guy who would rather “Netflix and Chill” after getting home from work, now solved LRDI sets before dozing off. There were days when I would slog 12 hours in office, get home at 9 and go straight for a 3-hour mock test without sparing even 5 minutes for dinner. From being terrified of reading comprehensions to solving them for fun, I came a long way in those 3 months. It’s amazing what helplessness can make people do and it was at this point in my life that I found the relevance of the famous Hindi proverb – “Doobte ko tinke ka sahara”. So anyway, all these efforts did justice to my CAT score and I could finally realise my unfulfilled dream of being an IITian. Better late than never, right?

That’s my story of getting out of a pit that I had dug for myself. I like to tell myself that this is only first of the many challenges that I’ll ~~face~~ overcome in life. It’s not like my MBA journey has been a cakewalk so far, but that’s a story for another day.

soubhik94

Aditya Birla Group: The Silent Companion - Soubhik Basu, DMS IIT Delhi