Why Aditya Birla is big in your life?
As I sit to write this and take little pauses looking at the photo on my wall, a second of breathlessness and a clear picture comes to my mind of a man standing under the sun, sweating in the hot and humid weather of Odisha and watchfully keeping a count of the number of cement packs unloaded at the construction site of our home. As I stand back to him unnoticed, I see him taking out his phone; he dials a number and says, “One more trip of cement, only and only Ultra Tech”. He then gently smiles at the contractor and says, “I give you the best material, so I trust that you too give me the best house”. They both share a peal of light laughter and I blink my eye and realize that today it has been 23 days since he has left for a better world. The man was none other than my father.
The memories of him seeing me for the first time in a business formal and looking at me with a slight smile and a pride-swollen chest and holding me by the shoulders and saying “You look corporate-ready”, brings a smile on my face and tears in my eyes. Wherever he is, I know he still feels proud when he sees me in the Van Heusen suit.
These are now memories and I am glad that somehow Aditya Birla is a part of it and it is going to be with me, forever.
GAVE ME WINGS
How you overcame challenges to achieve your ambitions in life so far?
I come from a place in Odisha which is yet to see an inch of railway line laid in the district, industrialization is still a far off dream and open defecation is a scene which catches your eyes when you enter the town. It is a place where most people settle on small dreams and are victims of bad political games. Even I wasn’t exposed to this big wide world until I passed my 10th grade and joined a college in Bhubaneswar.
Coming out of the town as, a lean, under-confident, introvert girl was tough. I had to work on my speaking skills and personality development. Slowly, I realized that it’s all inside you. You are what you decide to be. Then came a day when I had 4 job offers in hand at a time and consequently the first girl from my village to work for an MNC when girls of my age and some of who were from my school had got married by then and had started to take responsibility of the household.
Then came a day when I took admission in XIMB, an ambition of mine was fulfilled at a time when my friends had started sharing photos of their kids on the first day of their schools. Still, both of us are happy in our very contrasting worlds
It wasn’t just my passion or determination because of which I am here. It all started with the man who saw my dream as his own and gave me the wings, was proud of my little irrelevant achievements, backed me when higher education of girls in an outer city was considered disrespectful towards elders and I believe we all are blessed with similar angelic parents to whom we owe everything in our lives.
#ABGLP #ABGWOOME #XIMB
