I still remember the time when my shyness had turned me into an introvert personality. Although fun loving and curious as a child, I couldn’t converse openly with anyone. It wasn’t until my graduation that I learnt that my introversion was hindering my active participation in college activities. It was a turning point in my life when I decided that I will work as much as possible outside my comfort zone. Hesitant at start I tried getting involved in many social groups which had been formed in my college. Over a period of time things started getting easier. I realized that my fear of active conversation was gradually fading but my speech and speech pattern was still at its infancy, I needed some professional advice and methodology for improving myself and also, I was so involved in getting better at 1 on 1 conversation that I had completely forgotten about my fear of public speaking. So, I joined the toastmasters club. It is here that I was able to get a professional platform to improve my speech. I have improved to a great extent and am no longer the same shy person I used to be.
In academics, languages were my weakest part. I found myself struggling through my schooling years with the English subject when my peers were excelling in the same. Although I tried to getting better, it felt as if the harder I tried the worse I performed in school exams. I couldn’t explain to my teachers as well as my parents what was the reason as I myself couldn’t understand. Exams went by, me clearing just with average marks. My real struggle had begun during my preparation for B-school exams. It was here that I had completely changed my daily routine as per advice from various sources on how to improve my English. My day started with reading the newspaper along with 2-3 articles on recent issues and writing a short summary of each. Along with this I tried to read and finish one novel every month. In one year, I was able to crack the NMAT exam with highest marks in English to my surprise. I had proof that no matter what my weakness was, hard work with an objective in focus I would be able to overcome anything. Dedication has been my mantra ever since.
Why the Aditya Birla group is big in my life?
I am sure most of us can relate to my dilemma in fashion. Clothes were a mystery to me and still are to some extent. But the fashion industry has evolved over the years and the evolution has brought with it a new form of innovative customer experience. Peter England one of my favorite go-to store for formal wear has influenced my fashion sense in a way which I cannot describe, the staff has been immensely helpful in deciding and selecting the kind of clothes that I can “Pull off” as the saying is nowadays. With this new found knowledge and experience at the Aditya Birla Group owned store I was amazed to think that it’s not just Peter England, but all of my apparel selection stores, be it informal or formal were a part of the Aditya Birla conglomerate.
Forever 21, planet fashion, Van Heusen and even Ralph Lauren. From luxury to necessity there seems to be nothing in my wardrobe that does not belong to the AB Group. Has this been a subconscious decision? Or just coincidence, no one can possibly tell. But the fact that my entire fashion world is directly dependent on one conglomerate is somewhat scary. But that’s not all, fashion aside the more I thought about this the more I realized that throughout my life AB group had some kind of an involvement. For example, most part of my higher secondary life as a resident of Goa my objective was to get into the prestigious BITs Pilani Goa campus, the best engineering college in Goa. My first job in telecom had involved lot of dealings with Idea as well as the recent Vodafone -Idea merger. My 2 years life in Bangalore was entirely at the mercy of AB group owned More mega stores which was walking distance from my place of residence, even my investments include Aditya Birla mutual fund and the list goes on. Basically, from a pack of Freshwrap aluminium foils to the cement in my Native home has the AB group signature. So, without any doubt I can say that Aditya Birla Group is big in my life.