Growing up in the family of farmers, I got the opportunity to see closely the hardships faced by the farmers of our country. The ever drought like conditions in our country due to less rainfall made survival of our farmers even more difficult. However, it was the green revolution during 1960s, which opened the new horizons of modern cultivation. Fertilizers from ‘Birla Balwan, Shaktiman urea’ emerged as the true friends of farmers, as they helped them to increase their produce manifolds. As a kid, I used to accompany my father to the big FCI (food corporation of India) godowns to sell the agricultural produce (mainly wheat, rice) at fairly subsidized rate fixed by government. Those days we had no choice but to eat stale food of our tiffin box, while waiting in long Queue for our turn unlike today when ‘freshwrapp’ is available with us to preserve our food. Furthermore, even after the rapid advancement of mobile technology, our village remained isolated for several years until ‘Idea cellular’ (now Vodafone Idea) setup first mobile tower in our village and connected us to the rest of the world. My village suddenly saw boost in its economy and employment with emergence of new mobile and electronic kiosks and e-recharge points. With increase in purchasing power of villagers, the mud houses which were around 90% earlier gradually started to take the shape of pakka houses made of mortar. I still remember my village cement godowns stacked up with those yellow colored cement sacks, which I grew up to realize were of ‘UltraTech cement’.
Now, after finishing my elementary school in the village, there came the time when I had to move out of my village to Patna (the capital of my state) to pursue better higher education. For a village boy like me, it was an enthralling experience to touch those shiny white, smooth walls of city buildings, thanks to the ‘Birla White’ putty used majorly by people of Patna. Coming to the city was an easy task, but facing the sudden heat of competition from city peers was challenging. Although I was good at maths, even better than my peers but the crucial thing which kept me from moving ahead of them was my weak English. For first few days, I got demotivated as I didn’t had any idea as to how to go about it. During those low days, it was my parents and teachers who guided me and showed faith in my capabilities. “Tum kar sakte ho !!!” (you can do it!!!) gave me immense courage and helped me keep moving forward despite the difficulties in my way. I worked hard and completed my engineering, and took up a job in one of best IT company in India from the campus placements. After working and growing in the organisation for 3 years, I started feeling the need for a post graduate degree to attain the managerial role in the organisation, hence, I started preparing for MBA entrance exams. Stealing one hour daily from my busy schedule at office, helped me reach IIFT Delhi, one of prestigious Indian B schools. Finally, at IIFT, when I was asked to shop for corporate style suits, I knew exactly where to look for it. It was none other than ‘Louis Philippe !!’.