Being one of the largest private sector conglomerates in India, Aditya Birla Group has touched the lives of millions in the country as well as around the world. Whether we are aware of it or not, the conglomerate impacts every sphere of our existence in some way or the other.
Aditya Birla Group has provided the means for development of infrastructure, to literally build the nation from scratch. Ultra Tech cement, a subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group is India’s largest producer of grey cement and needless to say, it has played a very important role in the life of most Indians. When my ancestral home in Uttarakhand was being repaired the contractor insisted that only Ultra Tech cement be used as he believed it to be perfect for the job considering the conditions in Uttarakhand. Apart from the homes that we live in, even the aluminum and copper appliances that we use in our mundane lives are somewhere linked to Aditya Birla Group through Hindalco, the non-ferrous metals handling subsidiary of the group.
In the summer of 2009, I was going to Nainital on a school trip and my parents bought me a phone as a means to contact them. The phone came loaded with an Idea sim card. At that time, I was too young to realize but looking back, I understand how Aditya Birla Group, through Idea, gave my parents the comfort of knowing they were connected to me.
Ten years later, in January 2019 I was elated on being offered a chance to appear for CAP interviews. Unaware at the time of how big the Aditya Birla Group was in my journey, it is only now that I realize that my first step towards IIM Ranchi was in a Louis Philippe suit, paired with a tie from Peter England.
During my undergrad, my team worked on a project titled “Brain Controlled Wheelchair”. As the title suggests, the wheelchair was meant to be controlled merely by thinking. The project was to be demonstrated during the National Science Day celebrations held at INSA on the 28th of February 2018. With the unwavering support of my team, I was able to finish the project with a week to spare. On the morning of 24th February, while carrying out the usual tests and performing the daily checks on the wheelchair, its control circuit malfunctioned and burnt out. With merely four days left for the demonstration, we were disheartened to see all our hard work go up in flames.
Throughout that day, none of us spoke much. As evening set in and the time to go home came near, I called a meeting of the team and tried to decide the best way ahead. Even though our chances of demonstrating the wheelchair were hazy, the one thing that was clear to me was that I would not give up.
The next morning, I took apart the control circuit and started pondering alternative ways to control the wheelchair. Inspiration finally struck but before yelling Eureka, I wanted to be sure that my idea would work. I spent the next thirty-six or forty hours building and programming a device to control the wheelchair without the need of a control circuit. This new device could be used with any wheelchair. It could, as a matter of fact, be used to control any device which used a joystick.
The sleepless nights and the hard-work finally paid off when the “Brain Controlled Wheelchair” was judged the second-best project at the National Science Day celebrations hosted at INSA! And as I burn the midnight oil in Ranchi, I do so with the conviction that these sleepless nights too will pay off!