How I overcame challenges to achieve my ambitions in life so far.
Have you ever felt of being asphyxiated or someone chocking you under a pillow? Have you ever
been in a real-life nightmare where you are trying to breathe, but something is stopping you from
breathing? Yes, I have felt this not once, twice but numerous times. I suffer from Chronic
Asthma.
This is an incident from my childhood, I exactly don’t remember but have heard many times from
my parents. I was of the age 6 months, and I was screeching, crying but not breathing. I was
taken to the hospital with my parents too worried because I was their second child after they had
lost a twin. My maternal uncle, who is a doctor declared that I was suffering from Chronic
Asthma, which is hereditary and non-curable. There was a cloud of somberness over my family
members. This meant I had to live in a ghetto far from dust, pollution, smoke, and everything.
As I was growing older, I used to have Asthma exacerbation very often. Lungs filled with cough,
unable to respire, crying for help through the nights. My mom and dad would be sitting beside
me, and even then, I was helpless and had to trust Inhalers and Nebulizers. Oxygen cylinder at
my hands reaches I was always praying to just wake up from that ordeal. I would go to school
with a mask on my face, with a restriction on me from playing outside in the playground. My
friends would go to play in the evening, and I had to just stay at home doing homework and
watching Shaktiman. I had multiple Asthma Attacks during classes and would have to rush to the
hospital even during exams.
It was in 2012; when I completed class 10th, I was already exasperated from my lifestyle. As a
teenager, I had no sports experiences till then, no extracurricular in my pot. The only thing that I
had was a CGPA 10 from CBSE. And as a fat teenager, my chief solicitude at that time was
staggering back from my friends in many ways. Then I took a firm decision to get away from this
Ghetto of sterilized air, sanitation, etc.
I consulted my uncle, and he suggested me one man can help me only if I am genuinely resolute.
He was Dr. RN Mania, the Best Pulmonologist of SCB Medical Hospital and College. I reached
him, and he told me you must train your lungs and your body so that they will forget that they
were ever ill. That was the starting point of my fight against asthma journey.
He gave me Nebulizer of powder base that was made in Germany and gave me a chart of
exercise. And I remember my first day at the gym. I entered weighing 116kg, and I succumbed at
the end of half an hour. But I didn’t lose my hope. I started training my body to increase my
endurance to strengthen my respiratory tract. I used to go daily and do exercises and collapsing
for the first one month daily. My parents supported my decision, and my father started going to
the gym with me. The next thing I did was my first step towards extracurricular, I joined the
‘Bharat Scouts and Guides’ and became the captain of my school. We won the Rajya Puraskar
or the Governor’s Award. The next most significant achievement was that I was alone in West
Bengal rescuing children from the building. I was awarded as Rashtrapati Scout or the President
Scout by the 13th President of India, ‘Pranab Mukherjee.’
The boy who was not even allowed to go out, fainted in the classroom, always had the oxygen
cylinder at hands end, was now intrepid enough to enter any burning house with full of smoke,
sprinting to help and many more. This was the confidence that I got from the hard work,
dedication, and the way I trained my body. And here I am at XIMB, after eight years of my last
Asthma Attack. The chronic Asthma still remains in some corner of my body hidden but is out of
my brain and being strong-willed I think we can overcome any challenge that comes In-front of us.
Why Aditya Birla Group is Big in my life?
8 years back, dated, April 6, 2011 at the end of the show, ‘Talk Asia’ on CNN ‘Stephens’ asked,” What is
one golden rule that you would offer them?”, and the answer was, “Well I think the golden rule I can
think of is the fact that you must follow your passion and do something close to your heart and I think
that is vital well to be successful and happy.” This was the answer of the ‘Kumar Mangalam Birla’ on Talk
Asia. I was a kid in class 9th, and these words inspired me a lot.
It was then after the 10th board exams I was there in Rajasthan on tour and visited, the ‘Birla Haveli’ at
Pilani, Rajasthan. As I got to know more about this phenomenal business family, which changed the
course of the country, I got more interested in finding more about them.
And since that date till today I have found Aditya Birla Group playing a considerable part at every stage
of my life. There are innumerable occasions when I couldn’t even realize how this company has changed
the path of my life.
To begin with, I remember it was the summers of March 2016. I was the Assistant Secretary, of Society
of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering of VSSUT, Burla, Sambalpur, Odisha. We decided to organize
our first National Symposium, and we were already short of resources. And I was running in the
Sweltering heat of Sambalpur, and It was 51°C, sprinting from door to door for a Symposium that was
going to happen for the very first time. It was ‘Aditya Birla Aluminium, and Power Plant’, Lapanga,
Sambalpur extended their supporting hand and sponsored us a huge part of our budget even knowing
that this was the first time we were organizing a national event. Following ‘Aditya Birla Aluminium and
Power Plant,’ many small local companies helped us. And the symposium was a grand success. Without
Aditya Birla Aluminium and Power Plant’s help, I guess it would have been an ordeal for me.
The days of my engineering life. While at VSSUT, Burla, Sambalpur the first thing I witnessed every
morning, out of my window was the Hindalco, Sambalpur. Being a Metallurgical Engineer, I also got a
chance for an industrial visit at Hindalco, Sambalpur. That was a great learning experience as well as an
Industrial Exposure for me. When I was in the final year of my B.Tech, I also got a chance to do my major
project on a case provided by Aditya Birla Aluminium, Lapanga, Sambalpur, and this gave me a leap in
my career.
I being a guy of an unusual height of 6’5” Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, and Peter England came to rescue
by providing dresses of my size with the best build quality. As well as, I remember going to The
Pantaloons, Bhubaneswar, which is one of the prominent and fashionable malls in the City, that was an
excellent experience.
Even last year, when I suffered from ‘Appendicitis,’ ‘Aditya Birla Group, Health Insurance’ gave me an
aiding hand and helped me through my operation.
Recently when the severe super cyclonic storm ‘Fani’ hit Odisha, the only network that was up and was
helping people of Odisha connect even though all the roads were cut off was ‘Vodafone Idea.’
As I write this, I cannot even express how much Aditya Birla Group, the Biggest conglomerate of India has helped my life glide through these 22 years of journey.
