Why Aditya Birla Group is big in your life?

“Pujo Maney Pantaloons”! Yes, being 14-year-old kid and seeing big hoardings of beautiful people decorated in beautiful ethnic clothes aroused in me that feeling for which we Bengalis used to wait for around the year. Yes! Durga puja is coming! This may sound funny to my cousins now a days because they now shop clothes all around the year so that excitement has mellowed down. But it was not the same case for me.

2010: This was like an achievement for me. Hearing about pantaloons from one of friends in school, I was determined to woo my parents with this noble idea of going to shopping to pantaloons as coming to Kolkata from Shantiniketan for shopping would be a mini festival for me. I was successful in my attempt. I had my day planned well in advance. 1^st target-pantaloons, checked! 2^nd target -Peter England outlet because my father used to think that the outlet in Esplanade, the one of busiest streets of Kolkata, have the best collection in the world. 2^nd target checked from bucket list.

A small break is a must in between all the shopping to relish on the chicken rolls wrapped in Freshwapp bought from the famous kathi roll shop “Nizam’s” in Kolkata. I was the happiest teenage girl that day. Now I am back to my small adobe in Shantiniketan and next agenda is to broadcast about the newly added things in my wardrobe. After the boards results, I was lucky enough to persuade my father for a Nokia 6230. Next thing was to get an idea connection in my phone. So all my prerequisites are in place. Now I can call all my friends and boast about my shopping spree .

2019:9 years down the line I am yet again on a shopping spree. No unfortunately this is not for Durga puja ! This time its for something big. My MBA experience in XIMB is starting in 1 month. Standing in the long queue outside the trial rooms of Allen Solly shop with piles of most decent light coloured formal shirts and trousers lying in my shopping bag, wondering hard “When will be the next time I will be shopping for Durga puja again?”

How you overcame challenges to achieve your ambitions in life so far?
Challenges are surprise quizzes that pop up in our lives in the most unexpected way. How much prepared you are to face them they surely shook you to the core. Coming from a very small town in West Bengal to studying in one of the most reputed B-Schools in India, one thing that kept me going is patience and perseverance. My father worked in a sub-divisional hospital in a west Bengal and we used to stay in the doctor's quarter. I still remember he used to attend multiple emergency cases at odd hours of night always keeping his responsibility ahead of anything else. That spirit motivated me the most to get out of my comfort zone. When I came to Kolkata, it was the first time staying alone all by myself in a metro city. I was fortunate enough to able to adapt to the new challenges in my life with the same lesson patience and perseverance inculcated by my father. One of the biggest challenges to achieve my ambition of getting into XIMB was to leave my grandmother in Kolkata as I was my sole support after my grandfather passed away. I am happy that I could control my mind and could listen to my heart at the same time. Perhaps I could do this only because of mother. I made all the preparations before I left for Bhubaneshwar. I know its not the end rather the beginning of new challenges. But I know the qualities that I have gained from my parents will help me with each step of my life.

#ABGLP #ABGWOOME #XIMB

Taniya Chandra

How I overcame my simple but memorable life hassles?|Taniya Chandra, XIMB