Another idol I have had in my life is my father. I still remember the interview question asked in the
seventh standard about my idol. Another thing I remember from that interview is not having second
thoughts about my father being the person who would always be my hero. Indian fathers are not
very good at expressing love and they leave it to the mothers to convey the message and emotion
for both of them. In every phase of life from college to b-school, I have come to notice that one of
the way fathers express their love for their son is by buying them formals and wanting to be a part of
that selection process so badly. Peter England was and will always be the father-son choice for the
quality of the clothes they make. The thing that makes Aditya Birla Group products stand out in the
market is how they touch our day to day lives in small but substantial ways and help us convey our
message to the ones we love. That is what makes it one of the most influential brand. India also has
the highest youth population in the world. With numbers comes a responsibility to stand out and to
look presentable. Aditya Birla Retail has not only helped the youth to gain access to popular global
clothing brands such as Ralph Lauren within the country but has also made sure the youth has access
to explore niche but trendy clothes through brands such as Simon Carter. Though the Aditya Birla
group operates in over 35 countries and employees over 120,000 employees belonging to 42
nationalities, I strongly feel that they have never lost touch with their roots as is evident from their
products.
I come from a middle-class family. Having defined my father as my idol early on in life, I wanted to
take up Science and later on engineering and make him proud. Having excelled in almost all the
subjects in Science, I had set my target to get admission into Indian Institute of Technology. With
inspiration in my mind, target in front of my eyes and a dream in my heart, I set out on my journey
to chase my dream. However, during the preparation process, I started feeling overwhelmed by all
the expectations my relatives had from me. Instead of enjoying the journey as I had always done
before, I started dreading each day. I faced days of humongous fear and depression at times and
finally reached my breakpoint. After taking admission in VIT, Vellore I felt like a failure solely because
I didn't perform to the best of my abilities in the IIT and AIEEE exams. I have always been taught by
my parents that more than the result, it is the answer to the question "Did I give it everything I had"
which matters. Sadly the answer was a big No. I was depressed and cried a lot, but deep down I
knew I still had some fire left in me. After getting motivated by the famous quote written by Babe
Ruth "How can you defeat the person who never gives up", I decided to set out on another journey,
this time to get into the most prestigious management institute the Indian Institute of Management.
I worked very hard alongside my job and made sure I never complain about the sheer effort I had to
put each day. Today as I write this article in my room from the Indian Institute of Management,
Raipur I am convinced that the outcome was only five percent of the treasure I had expected, the
real treasure was the experience and resilience I had gained from my failures day in day out. It was
about inculcating the attitude of "Either I am going to finish this task or I am going to die doing this".
This journey has motivated me to go head-on with life, to challenge life as a leader does, to accept
uncertainty, to feel fear but to keep going anyway and achieve that dream in my heart without
getting bogged down by my failures.
#IIMRaipur #ABGLPWooMe
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