PART A
If I were to say that Aditya Birla Group is big in my life, it would be understating the over arching presence that Aditya Birla Group (ABG) has had in my life, or for that matter in the life of billions of Indians. ABG’s presence is seen through its brands like Allen Solly, Forever 21, Freshwrapp, Louis Philippe, Pantaloons, Peter England and the list goes on. ABG is active in fourteen sectors and for anyone to not realize how big ABG is in their life, that person has to be living under a rock!
For ABG, it is not just about profits but also an active participation in corporate social responsibility. Novelis is an ABG company which is the leading aluminium recycler in the world. Through initiatives such as Recycle for Good, ABG is building houses for people. This noble initiative of giving someone a roof to live under is truly inspiring. A great scheme by ABG to empower women in spirit and not just in words is setting up micro manufacturing units for garments near village areas. It was an outstanding initiative by the Madura unit of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail. This initiative works on multiple levels by providing livelihood to women, making villages an economic hub and reducing the cost of manufacturing for garments.
ABG is big in my life because of three things- fashion, connectivity and social responsibility. The company that helps a college student like me to keep up with the constantly changing trends is nothing short of a lifesaver. Then comes connectivity, as a young girl in love with her freedom in a city like Delhi, staying connected with my family members is possible only because of the excellent services of Idea. Finally, in times like these when the world is cynical about the motivations of the big giants, ABG is helping people believe in the good motivations of big businesses through its corporate social responsibility.
PART B
Achieving something in life is a very personal experience. Sometimes we are driven by external factors and sometimes something from within tugs at us. For me, it was a mixture of both. I come from a middle-class family where marks have been the defining aspect of my existence. It may sound cliché but when you find yourself cornered by everyone on under-performing you tend to downplay even a decent score. In my class 12th, I scored 91%. It is a good score but I expected more and wanted more for my undergraduate choices. This disappointment was quite difficult for me to handle and plunged me down the road of despair and hopelessness. The impact was such that I wasted a whole semester mulling over it and horribly performing in my semester exams scoring 6.73 on a scale of 10. I had no excuses but an utterly sad realization that I had become a victim of my sadness, instead of standing up to fight for myself. That was my moment of realization that it was time to buck up.
For too long, I had focused only on the end result and forgotten to enjoy the process. The hackneyed and cliched quote about enjoying the journey, instead of waiting for the end made sense to me. Then, I just focused on the task at hand and told myself that if I looked back, I would be lost. It took a lot of patience to break out of the old ways and habits I had acquired over a long time in my life. But, it worked out when I scored a 9.18 in the following semester. I did ask myself if I would have considered it a success even if I had not scored well. The answer for me is yes. I say this because it was the qualities of patience and resilience that I had acquired through this journey that will forever stay with me.
