As a child I guess we all remember carrying lunch boxes during our school days, some of us do it now as well. Besides keeping my food warm back in 2000’s the Freshwrapp product also served as a cricket ball adding on to my memories to be cherished for the rest of my life. Today when I look down the memory lane, I really miss those days when I could play cricket with a Freshwrapp foil ball without any fear of being judged by people around me.
Being a civil engineering graduate and having worked in construction industry as a quality engineer, Aditya Birla’s Ultratech Cement became an integral part of my life during the 23 months long journey in this industry. Since concrete is something which fills a structure and cement is something which binds all the components of concrete mix to ensure integrity of a structure. Integrity of a structure ensure safety of its users and that’s how the brand has not merely touched my life as an individual but has also been an integral part of all the clients I have had worked for.
Similar to cement, Aditya Birla has been constantly making attempts to bind all of us together, one such example of its attempt is Vodafone Idea Cellular network. Living in this era of people obsessed with Jio, millions of people out there including me are still glued to the services of Vodafone Idea Cellular Network. This network service has been any day more preferable over others, since the past 7 years. The reason behind the same is the consistency in network coverage, being in construction industry I have been to places which one might not even see through naked eyes on the map of India but still unlike most of my other colleagues I never had to switch my cellular network since Vodafone Idea helped me in keeping in touch with my friends and family even in such kind of places.
It is often said that challenges form an integral part of your life’s journey. Just like any other person I too faced a lot of challenges in my life. I honestly believe that those phases of my life had made stronger and wiser. As an individual we all face challenges during our entire life span, but there are some challenges which are faced as part of transitional phase of life like admission to an institute for plus 2 or undergrad or post grad whereas there are some challenges, which impacts your life deeply.
Being a carefree, fun loving and light headed person, I too had aspirations of getting a job in my core domain after completing my undergraduate degree in civil engineering. Luckily, I was able to secure a job in my dream company and this demarcated the beginning of the roller coaster ride for the next 23 months. My journey in my dream company had been full of ups and downs. Stepping into the corporate world made me realize that competition that one has to sustain to grow in the corporate industry and hence I decided to prepare for MBA entrance exam in parallel with my job which demanded at least 12 to 14 hours of daily shifts 6 days a week and sometimes on Sunday as well. So, I was juggling two very heavy balls in my hand, one being my job and other being my preparations both were equally important. After completing my regular work shifts, I had to do late night studies so as land into one of the best B-Schools in the country.
Life at construction sites is quite difficult especially when one works in Quality Control department besides, getting into conflicts with the site engineers to ensure the quality of the work, one also has to keep an eye on the suppliers to ensure that there are no loopholes in the supply system. Naturally, working for more than 12 hours daily to justify my duties and doing late night studies post that took a toll on my health. 15 days before my entrance exam I fell sick but somehow, I managed to take my exams.
Things turned worse post January 2018 when I was relocated to new site, where the systems had a lot of loopholes with regards to material supply. An instance came where besides my mental ability being tested during the admissions process, my ethics were challenged at the workplace when I was offered a bribe for clearing the materials which did not confirm the quality standard. One thing which I believe I share with Aditya Birla Group is my moral values; without giving a second thought about the bribe I escalated the matter to my manager in the head office and got the supplier’s work order cancelled. This incident was a defining moment which gave me an experience which I would carry with me in all the walks of my life. A company or an organization can touch your lives in many ways, it need not be necessarily only through its products or services but sometimes it can be through its vision and mission as well.
