I am a proud member of the Birla family for the past 4 years, having done my undergraduate from the beautiful campus of Birla Institute of Technology and Science-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus. Being a single child and leaving home after 18 years, I was very nervous while joining the campus. In the very first day, IDEA Cellular Network had put up stalls offering discounts to students for prepaid and postpaid connections, which helped to connect with our families. Unlimited free outgoing and messaging services were given to people within the campus, which made calling to friends at midnight and talking to the faculties easy. Even though the campus is located 25 km away from the city, having been located far from the city would have meant poor network connection. But this was not the case with IDEA, and the campus of four thousand could connect with their dear ones anytime. The quality of services even at such location was indeed worth saying “What an IDEA, sirji”.
Now like any other college, mess food was not appreciable. It was again the “More” store on campus, which came for the rescue. All the products, right from fruits & vegetables, food, and dairy products, beverages at the store made our survival on campus better. Self-owned brands by Aditya Birla Group of Feasters, “More Life” which provided snacks, munchies, green tea and many more at a reasonable price compared to other brands. Walking down to the store every day brings down the fond memories of visiting “More” with friends, to get huge discounts through bulk purchase.
It was again the “Peter England” shirt and pant, which made me look smart during my farewell party in the final year. Also, going for the placements with the formal shirt and pant by “Peter England” are the memories to cherish forever. It would have been very difficult for me and thousands of others to imagine life without the Aditya Birla Group. Knowingly or Unknowingly, we have been in transition with them throughout our life.
Impact of events in my Life!!
One of the events which had a significant impact on my life was the period between my board exams and Engineering Entrance Examinations. Even though my performance in Joint Entrance Examination - Mains was not up to the standards which I would have expected, I was successful in securing a much better rank in Advanced two months later. The results of Mains were quite devastating for me as I thought my preparations of 4 years have gone into vain and I went into a mode of depression for almost 1 week. But having realized from the mistakes, I committed myself to work smartly than working hard. I kept a lot of perseverance within myself and kept studying by having different strategies for different topics. Never did I ever lose my patience and hope during this time. My rank in JEE - Advanced was much better than JEE - Mains and I were personally proud of the improvement that I had brought.
After joining my college, I got persuaded by peer group and my immediate seniors to not take studies very seriously and enjoy college life. I got involved in the PC game called “CS-GO” and spent hours playing the game and even bunked few classes. My grades had taken a hit at the end of 1st year and this is when I realized that I should utilize my college time in fruitful ways. I deleted all the files of the game from my laptop and from 2nd year, I started interacting with people. I involved myself in many activities of departments and NGO, where I learnt quite a lot of things about life. It helped me develop from being introvert to socially active. Also, my academics improved eventually and now, I can very well advise my juniors on how to use their college time judiciously. I can now relate my past failures and use them to work for better future. As famously quoted by my role model M.S. Dhoni, “What doesn’t kill you, Make you strong”.
