1. Why Aditya Birla Group is big in my life?

Unwrapping a Dream

“There’s nothing more powerful in the world than a good story”. A story with a personal touch, even more so. India has a great story to tell, but finely interwoven with it is the story of what began as a humble cotton trading company and emerged to become one of the world’s largest conglomerates, the Aditya Birla Group. From the Birla house, where legendary freedom fighters met to plan the downfall of the British Raj and where the father of the nation breathed his last, to Hindalco becoming the world’s largest aluminium rolling company, the group has been an intimate part of India’s heritage from almost a century before independence and stands tall even today.

I was the kid who would look forward to the lunch break in school, eager to unwrap the foil and share food with my friends over joyful conversations. I would visit my grandparents every summer taking a train from Mumbai. All along the route I would count all the large sheds I encountered until I fell asleep. Such small joys accumulate to make a big bundle of memories. In hindsight, thinking that the endless rolls of Freshwrapp foil, the electrical train lines and the aluminium sheds that kept me engaged are in some way linked to ABG is nothing short of overwhelming. Being a passionate musician, my dream was to reach out to a wide audience with my voice and song. I got a great opportunity, a singing reality show, Idea Super Singer 6. More than just connecting me to my friends and family, Idea connected me to my dream, and I will always cherish it. This is a small slice of my association with the ABG. And mine is but one of millions of such personal stories ABG would be a part of.

I greatly admire and relate to the resolve of the Birla business empire to strongly adhere to its core values. This is beautifully put by Mr. KM Birla, “If living by our values means, perhaps growing at a pace slower than we would otherwise have liked, so be it”. Their sustainable activities like recycling almost 40 billion cans annually and social responsibility activities in the fields of healthcare, education and women’s empowerment, the group is truly growing with India’s global ambitions. And with an intricate weaving into the stories of the nation and its people, ABG will achieve its aim to reach for the sun.

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

Why do we fall?

On April 17th, 2011, I was standing on the stage waiting to hear the result. And then, the result was announced, in front of 2000 people in the auditorium, that I was eliminated. That was the Grand finale of a singing reality TV show, Super Singer 6. The lesson I learnt that day was that sometimes it's the effort we put in to achieve something that matters more than the result. And when we do fail, we learn to better ourselves. I reached the finals in many competitions when in college, but failed to win any. However, I kept going and seven years later I participated in a state level competition. And this time I won the competition.

Another lesson I learnt is that I can appreciate my achievements only if I earn them, and that there is no substitute to hard work. When I was applying to colleges for engineering, my success was limited in the first few attempts. I kept going with resolve, I put forth my best effort to take the BITSAT and eventually secured admission to the mechanical engineering program in the coveted BITS Pilani Hyderabad. Even through my academics, it is this resolve to achieve that kept me going and achieve good results.

We face many difficult situations in life. When we resolve to tackle them head on, we challenge ourselves to become better and challenge to overcome the difficulty. I believe that this attitude of accepting and tackling challenges has kept me going in life. I believe it is okay to fail, but it is not okay to stop there. We must get up and get there. As the famous saying goes, “Why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up”.

Vamsee Kotaru

Aditya Birla Group - Unwrapping a Dream -Vamsee Kotaru #IIM Trichy