'Big' Is A 'Small' Word For The Aditya Birla Group - Tuhin Subhra Samanta, IIM Ranchi

I was a child then. My curious eyes couldn't understand how our house was being built out of the bricks, but I could see my father spending all his hard earned money in it. Now after almost 15 years when I see my home standing strong and firm as gracefully, I know why my father choose Ultra Tech cement over any other. I didn't know back then who owns it, but now when I look back and try to figure out the ways Aditya Birla group has influenced my life, it is pure amusement and admiration that comes into my mind.

I have been part of this group for the most part of my life in one way or the other. The cell phone network of Vodafone which my family and I have been using since our very first mobile phone is an inseparable part of my everyday life. The Peter England suit my father bought for my 1st job interview reminds me of this deep connection.

Born and brought up in a small town, visiting brand stores or supermarkets was nothing less than a luxury for most of us. When first such stores came into our town, that too in the form of Pantaloons and More Supermarket, I could see how it touched and transformed so many lives so effortlessly. Even my parents whom I could never convince to buy a shirt from a mall started to visit them in every small occasion because of the staff behavior and the range of products they offered to every single customer. It has that customer-centric values that make every customer feel special, and everyone can actually see and experience it themselves. Needless to say, the Freshwrapp products have kept my food fresh in so many rough days during my hostel life.

Among all their offerings, probably the best I can pick up is the Aditya Birla Capital since I am a family guy. My family is protected under the Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance plan and I have been safely investing my month’s earnings in the Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund with trust and faith for a long time.

Apart from my own life, the Aditya Birla Group has touched and reached to countless individuals who are deprived to provide support. It runs 5000 medical camps and 20 hospitals, treated over a million patients, immunized 70 million+ children against polio, provided solar lamps to 450000+ students, provides midday meals to 63000+ students in 268 schools every day and this list goes on and on. If this is not big enough I don't know what is.

How Have You Made An Impact?

“hope is a good thing,

maybe the best of things,

and no good thing ever dies.”

Life has never been very easy or fair to me always. January 10th,2015 was a big day in my life. On that day, I got my 1st job offer from Wipro. It was a day when all my hard works finally paid off, when I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The first thing I did was to call my parents. Everyone was so happy. It was 1^st October 2015. I reached Hyderabad to join Wipro, leaving all my family and friends behind with so many hopes and dreams. The initial two months period was the training period also the honeymoon period for some of us. Then we got to know that there is going to be an assessment test at the end of the training and passing that test is mandatory to keep our jobs safe. It was a bit of stress at the beginning, but I managed to study hard and prepare for the test. But, not all of us in our batch of 30 new joinees were that serious or could understand the gravity of this. Some of the batch mates managed to cheat during the test. After the test, it was conveyed to us that the batch has performed serious misconducts during the exam without any further notice the whole batch was sacked!! We came to know that many other batches have been sacked across other training locations as well and it was very little we could do about it.

I was devastated. I did not know what to do, where to go. I was so depressed. But I decided not to tell my parents about it and fight against the odds on my own. I decided to stay at Hyderabad itself and started looking for a job. The struggle was real and the days were long. At night I used to cry in my bed and on the day I used to appear for the interviews. The days passed by. But I did not give up. On one usual bad day, on my way back to the hostel, I met with a senior of my college, and he was working with Oracle at Hyderabad. I shared with him my story, and he put his hand on my shoulder and said he would see if he could do anything. He referred my resume to his organization, and soon after I got an Interview call. This was the greatest opportunity which was knocking at the door, and I could not afford to let it go. I prepared my best and performed my best in the interview. Maybe it was my lucky Peter England suit that I brought all along from home or any other factor, I got selected. I was so happy that day that I could only cry.

That day, I learned a great lesson to never give up on my dreams and hopes. Maybe it was my determination, my hard work or my obstinacy that made this happen. The best day of my life happened, and it was big.

-Tuhin Subhra Samanta

  IIM Ranchi