Why Aditya Birla is big in your life?
Well, I would like to shed some light on the first instance I heard about the name ‘Birla’. It was when I was around 7 years old when my grandfather was telling me the story of Lord Shiva, and we came to the ‘Birla Temple’ at BHU, Banaras (now Varanasi), better known as the ‘New Vishwanath Temple’. He told me it was being made from 1932 and got completed around 1965, the time when he was posted there. He mentioned that the dome was so big that people coming from very far places, were able to see it, and realize ‘Kashi’ is in sights. The temple took around 35 years to build which was more than the ‘Taj Mahal’ and was built by Birla Construction Group.
Building a house, or the better term will be ‘home’, is equivalent to marriage in India, because of the myriad of emotions attached with it. It’s a dream, for some near-sighted, for others far-sighted, but it’s a dream. Aditya Birla Cements, Ultratech, helped my father in fulfilling those dreams.
Then I moved to Ghaziabad for my further studies, and in those days ‘roaming’ was there. I had to buy a sim, and upon investigating found out ‘Idea’ was the best. I am still using the same ‘Idea’ number. I still remember the recharge of Rs 205 I used to do, which gave unlimited data for 28 days, and it was the best for a college student, who are always short of money, for them at least data was not a concern.
Today, the mall culture is very popular and if one can see there are 2 places where one can find the maximum footfall – first is obviously the food court, and the other most probably would be ‘Pantaloons’ – a network of 275 stores, and the go to shop for everyone who goes to a mall. Apart from this, names of mostly all the brands one must be normally hearing- Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England, Planet Fashion, Ralph Lauren, Louis Phillippe – are directly or indirectly related with the Aditya Birla Group. I can, for me, say that Aditya Birla group commands around 80% of my wardrobe.
In lines of Ananya Birla (‘Better’):
‘You make me, you make me better’
How you overcame challenges to achieve your ambitions in life so far?
I always had a dream of going to one of the best colleges in India. Coming from a middle-class family like most of us, where we see education as the only option to be successful (though I DO NOT support this), I was also a bright student who got 95% in my 10th and 93.5% in my 12th. I also opted for engineering as was the trend then, but just a month before the exams, I was diagnosed with hepatitis B– 2nd stage, and had to be in hospital for around 16 days. These 16 days made me realize the importance of life, and the small moments of happiness. Being there bed ridden for 16 days and on saline, the happiest moments were when I used to go on a wheelchair to see the sunrise, see the sky. Happiness comes in small pockets, and we must be ready to grasp it.
I took admission in a regional engineering college in Ghaziabad. My parents were not ready to send me far, as they thought if some health problem comes, they will be able to reach within a night. I wanted to be independent, so I wanted to get away from home. Now the journey of Saurabh Dubey started. It was a wonderful journey of 4 years. The most important decision I took was when I decided I want to do MBA next, and not GATE, as is the most preferred option. There was a lot of commotion at home for the same, but by this time I had learned two things- firstly, I knew what I wanted or what I aspire and secondly, how to deal with these situations.
Though I couldn’t get much in my first attempt, securing a meagre 78 percentile and none of the other colleges – and it was 7th semester. In 8th semester, I carry forwarded the momentum but with a lot more vigor, and achieved 99.21 percentile in MHCET and also landed a job in Capgemini. But this 99.21 percentile were not enough. The long dream of studying in one of the best colleges in India was still a dream and used to pinch me.
I decided to join Capgemini and thought of doing MBA after work experience, as from the sources on internet, one can infer that brownie points were there for the experienced candidates. Joining Capgemini, I worked for 26 months over here as an automation engineer in server domain. It was a wonderful experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also kept on studying side by side, from whatever time I got. Working, along with studying, making use of every minute, and stealing time from here and there, were the most important learnings here.
I got a job offer from other company with a pretty good package, and got SBM, NMIMS Mumbai, the same day. Now the thing being, if I was ready to take the leap?
Money is always an important factor, one place I will be earning money and living comfortable life; other place I will be burning midnight oil, getting out of my comfortable position every other day, fees and so many other things. Was it worth?
I had a dream, and of course it was worth for the dream I had, I will make it worth – and I joined SBM, NMIMS Mumbai for the year 2019-21, going to explore how is it to be among the best and of course, LEARN.
#NMIMSMumbai #ABGLPWooMe