Part A
Aditya Birla Group (or popularly known as Birla Group) is a legacy of the industry pioneers of India who envisioned an economically and industrially strong India. Some of my fondest memories regarding ABG start from my school days, where my mother used to “freshwrapp” my lunchbox so that it would retain the taste and flavor of home. We, as students, used to look forward to the recess so that we could unwrap the lunchbox (as south Indians we primarily ate Dosas, Idlis and whatnot) which would make a crinkling sound that whetted our hungry stomachs. The sound of a freshwrapp opening was a signal to our hungry stomachs to devour the food like no tomorrow, as kids are wont to do.
Growing up, my next big encounter with ABG brands was when I was in my college, and my parents thought it necessary that I should start dressing up as in formals. That was when I encountered Peter England, Van Hesuen and Louis Philippe for the first time. We as a family (my parents and my elder brother) spent hours looking in to the outlets in the malls of Mumbai. We bought a formal shirt each for my brother and myself form Peter England, and I still remember the feeling of awesomeness on wearing the shirt for the first time. This has not only boosted my confidence levels, but also shown me the importance of dressing up for important occasions. The feel of a Peter England shirt is something which I still compare to whenever I am trying out a new shirt, and invariably my purchases from any other brand leaves me wanting. The experience of ABG brand apparel is something to be cherished.
Part B
There are times in life when we feel lost and confused. We may not any control on anything that is going around us, and yet we strive to persist. The same happened to me when I was doing my engineering from Indian Institute of Technology- Hyderabad (IITH). I was academically strong since childhood, but entering into college made me lose my focus. I participated in various projects on Internet of Things (IoT), and even won the best paper in a national conference on IoT in my second year itself. But all this crashed and burned leaving me rudderless and directionless for the next one year. But then I persisted in my final year and tried to look out for jobs in the same time. After completing my Bachelors, I came back home where my family and friends all were extremely supportive of me as I was searching for a job which fit to my satisfaction. It became a repeat situation where I went to interviews for many companies and came back rejected. In the meanwhile, I was preparing for competitive exams like CAT, XAT and IIFT. The results came out and I scored decent percentile (99.06, for those who were wondering!) in CAT and XAT. My IIFT scores were good enough to warrant a call for GDPI, post which I converted the call to final shortlist in the first merit list. I am a student of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi now and I look forward to the new challenges that life throws my way, confident in my abilities but more importantly, confident in my family’s and friends’ support in me.