The earliest memory of a product of Aditya Birla Group, which comes to my mind is of Freshwrapp, the aluminium foil food packaging product which was and will be the most used household item, at least in my family.
Both my parents are working, and just like the song “Duniya ka naara Jame rahoge” from “Taare Zameen Par”, the morning scenes were exactly the same. My mom packing my lunch and the hot chapattis in Freshwrapp foil is a memory which won’t ever fade away.
Freshwrapp wasn’t just a foil, it was a symbol of a mother’s care about her son/daughter and hence this product really brings back all the memories from the past.
Right from the childhood till now and all the way into the future Aditya Birla Group is the face of many emotions I have gone through.
Be it my childhood apparels from Pantaloons , be it UltraTech Cement used for building our first home , be it the first ever gift to my sister from Forever 21 and a handbag from Ted Baker , I really am amazed at the diversity of the conglomerate and how deep it has impacted my life.
The most recent memory and the most powerful one is the one brand which actually gave me a sense of confidence and self-belief, the brand none other than “Van Heusen”.
During my interview process at SIBM Pune, I was fully prepared with what to say and how to present myself, but doing all that wearing a suit was something I was not prepared for.
A 21 year old boy accustomed to wearing casuals all day long, suddenly has to wear a suit and go for one of the most important interviews of his career, it couldn’t have gotten tenser than this for me.
But then, shopping day came and I was with my grandfather as my father is posted in Srinagar.
He straight away took me to a nearby Van Heusen store and I got my first suit in 30 minutes , the fitting , the comfort and the trust that my grandfather showed in this brand , gave a big push to my confidence and the brand completely lived up to its tagline “Power Dressing”.
To be really honest, I didn’t realise this until last couple of years that all these impactful brands were under Aditya Birla group and hence this article is not just an entry but a “Thank You” for impacting my life on such a large scale without me even realising it.
One specific brand , I would like to mention here I “Ralph Lauren” , I haven’t used this brand , but this brand was extensively portrayed in the T.V sitcom “F.R.I.E.N.D.S” , which happens to be my all-time favourite show , and hence a sense of attachment automatically comes to this brand.
Coming on to the second part of the article, I will be talking about a situation or to be more precise, a family exigency which really changed my whole viewpoint about being proactive and prepared for the worst.
The story dates back to 2007, when I was in my 6th standard. My mother was posted in Udhampur and my father was posted in Kathua, both are remote districts of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
My mother is a teacher by profession, and she was escorting a group of students to Bhubaneswar for the National Sports Meet.
I was living alone as I had my school and would go to a nearby teacher’s house to sleep at night.
My father is a diabetic, and while my mom was in Bhubaneswar, I got a call on my landline saying that my father was found unconscious in his room in Kathua.
I was in a total state of shock, as I couldn’t perceive the information due to sudden trauma.
But, I gathered my courage and called up my neighbour and convinced them to drive to Kathua and take me with them.
In the meantime, I called my grandparents and informed them about the situation and told them about me going to Kathua.
I reached to the local hospital and was there day and night with my father doing every little thing to make sure he was doing alright.
In the next 6-8 hours, my grandparents arrived and the situation was in control.
It’s not such a big or an impactful story, but this happened to me at a stage when I was least bothered about my responsibilities and this incident acted as an eye opener for me.
What I took away from this incident was that, one should always have a sense of responsibility and should be self-dependent.
In the end , I would like to thank the Aditya Birla Group for playing such an important and impactful role in each of our lives and I hope that you with the help of your products and brands continue to keep doing so.