The Aditya Birla Group, the third-largest Indian private sector conglomerate, has probably held the biggest part in my life, among the innumerous corporates present today. With its range of offerings – from UltraTech to Pantaloons – it has impacted so much in my life, as well as the life of all of you out there reading this. Writing about it is just so little I can offer.
To start with, let us consider with the latest example in my mind. ‘Pantaloons’, the fastest growing large format retailer in the country, had come to my rescue when I had to pack my bags and travel across cities and demographics, to start this new journey at TAPMI; all in a week’s time. I had received my offer letter just a week before joining and was in such a big mess. One trip to Pantaloons and I had ticked off ‘shopping’ from my ‘to-do-list’. (Writing this little article in my not-so-little t-shirt bought from the same place about 2 weeks back, does bring a smile to the face).
Another example that stares at me write back from my study table is the biggest telecom company in the country ‘Vodafone Idea Limited’ – a company whose monthly revenue sheets has me as a little contributor since forever. In fact, our entire family is connected to each other through their family plan, bridging our distance-barriers – all through a single bill generated every month.
Writing the above two ‘big’ paragraphs was never a part of my ‘big’ plan when I had thought about doing this. Guess, ills of being a ‘big’ fan! But finally, I would want to talk about a comparatively small offering from their vast portfolio – both in size and price – ‘FRESHWRAPP’. Not the obvious choice, but something I wanted to. To the uninitiated, ‘Freshwrapp’ is a power brand today in the aluminium foil category. It comes under the Consumer Products Division of ‘Hindalco Industries Ltd.’, which is a part of the ‘Aditya Birla Group’. A healthy and hygienic alternative to traditional food-packaging methods, it has been a mother’s favourite. The first recall? The cute little yellow smiley with its tongue out.
When we were all in school, our favourite class would always be the ‘break’ / ‘lunch time’, when we got to sit with our friends and have a true community lunch every day. I was no different. I used to sit in my group of 6-7 boys and we would have our tiffin together. One thing that made mine stand out from the others was the beautiful foil packaging in which my mom used to wrap every single item of my lunch. While others had newspaper or random pieces of paper, mine used to be like an ironed sheet of foil paper. This used to keep my food fresh and warm all through the class hours. I still remember how all of them would wait for my tiffin-box to be opened, waiting to see what lay inside that day. There also used to be such long fights as to who would get the small aluminium balls, made after crushing the foil packaging. (Not a purpose for which they were manufactured but they did hit real hard!). When I look back today, it brings back images of my mother who was always awake 2-hours before me (around 5 a.m.) in the morning, just to ensure my tiffin-box was prepared and packed properly – all a hidden treasure for me when that little me would unwrap each item to be surprised by the content, or disheartened sometimes!
I know this is too short to explain the ‘big’ impact the group has had on me and my life. All I would like to end with leaving you with a thought: How has the Aditya Birla group been #BigInYourLife??
