The alarm was going off incessantly. It was 6:05 and I had to be inside the school grounds in 25 minutes, spick and span for the morning assembly. I begrudgingly got up and got ready to go to my school, Aditya Birla Public School. Meanwhile, my father got ready to go to his job at the Grasim Industries limited. I gobbled up everything put in front of me on the breakfast table while my mother wrapped my lunch with Freshwrapp foils so that the food wouldn’t go cold. Being a 9-year-old boy in the small industrial town of Nagda, I never realized how much of an influence the Aditya Birla Group was in my life.
I had joined then recently opened boarding school by the Aditya Birla Group, Sarala Birla Academy in 2005 and formed bonds over the next 6 years that will probably stay with me throughout my life. Those 6 years were the most formative years of my life and I can definitely say that they not only helped shape the person I have become and but also helped fulfill my dream of joining IIFT. Sometimes I would ask my father why did he dedicate almost 2 and a half decades of his life to the Aditya Birla Group and he would simply reply that it couldn’t be explained with words, it's just a feeling. Before joining IIFT, I was shopping for the apparel I was going to need for the new journey I was about to embark on at a Pantaloons store, trying on the Louis Phillippe and Van Heusen shirts or the Allen Solly and Peter England trousers, it hit me how big Aditya Birla Group actually was in my life.
As the flight touched down at the Old HAL Bangalore Airport, I was barely able to keep a lid on my feelings. I had just left my parents some 1000 miles behind and joined Sarala Birla Academy in Bangalore. A small and shy 10-year-old boy, I had left the comfort of my home, my parents, my cocoon to join this prestigious school a world and a half away. I had no idea what was going on, what I was doing and what was the purpose of all this. I just went with the flow. Filled with fear, apprehension, grief and a little excitement too, I stepped into the school grounds. The buildings seemed majestic, something out of the world. The people seemed so warm and friendly like they had known me for years. But I still couldn’t get over the fact that I was so far away from everything I knew and loved.
Little did I know that this was going to be my ‘Home Away From Home’ and I was going to make friends for life. I have to admit that the initial days were difficult and sometimes all the roommates would get up at odd hours in the night and cry in unison, badly missing our loved ones. However, once I got over that, I realized that over the years I had transformed from the quiet, small-town boy to a smart, confident and independent person who was not afraid to dream and aspire to great things. After overcoming the challenges, I followed my dreams, worked hard, joined an NIT and now I have joined IIFT. Often I look back at my time at Sarala Birla Academy and contemplate that without that experience I definitely wouldn’t have been able to achieve whatever I have.