The year 1857 will forever be associated with the ‘beginning of the end’ of the British Raj in the Indian Subcontinent. Coincidentally, a giant was born in the same year, the Aditya Birla Group. Founded by Shri Seth Shiv Narayan Birla, ABG has snowballed into this massive conglomerate, with presence the world over, giving employment to over 120,000 people. One among these fortunate 120,000, ABG itself being a part of the famed Fortune 500 list, in my maternal uncle Mr. Sandeep Kumar. So here is a story of a boy with a wish to travel the world over and how ABG got him ‘moving’ in the right direction.
But all of that in a minute. Addressing the point how the Aditya Birla Group is big in my life, I don’t think there is much to address. A firm with the stature and presence like ABG’s, is bound to make inroads in not just mine but so many other lives. A group with presence in varied industries such as chemicals, finance, retail, cement, fashion, telecommunication to name a few has made its intentions clear, hasn’t it? “To deliver superior value to our customers, shareholders, employees and society at large.” I say ABG has done pretty well as far as execution of the mission statement goes. Talking about it’s presence in India, one probably can not walk a mile without finding ABG’s presence in one way or the other. India’s largest and most trusted cement brand, Ultratech, largest telecom operator, Vodafone Idea, one of the largest financial service provider – Aditya Birla Capitals, along with premium brands such as Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Peter England to name a few have all ensured ABG’s presence in the Indian households like common salt. The first ever suit that I bought was from Allen Solly, and so impressed I was with the product that it is unlikely that I’ll ever switch.
To travel is to live, said Hans Christian Andersen. I can not imagine a life of confinement and I am a firm believer of the proposition that adventure (read travel) can hurt you, but monotony will kill you. Ever since this world started making sense to me, the one thing that has always fascinated me is journey to newer pastures. Last year I had the good fortune to travel to Thailand, to the province of Rayong to be particular without realizing that it was ABG that set the ball rolling. My uncle, Sandeep, has been associated with ABG for the past 7 years now and invited my family over. Being my maiden trip abroad, it was special beyond the obvious reasons. It made me aware of the tiny space I occupy on this planet. Coming in contact with a new culture, I started appreciating my own a little more. The sheer beauty of the place left me awe-struck and asked a very simple question to which I had no answers, do I even know what all I don’t know? That trip left a mark on me, one that stayed far beyond the duration of my stay. All of this came about because of ABG’s global presence and I can never be thankful enough.
There’s an old saying, Rome wasn’t built in a day. It mustn’t have been easy either. Last year when I graduated, along with a Bachelors of Engineering degree, I left my college campus with shock and disappointment in equal measures. My CAT’17 performance was catastrophic (I’ll leave it for you to figure out if the pun was intended) and I didn’t secure a job (majorly due to lack of trying). And so the bandwagon of unemployed engineers had another admission. But I was clear what I wanted to do. I wanted to join a premier B-school so bad, that nothing else mattered to me. I knew before I started my second ascend that the slope is steep and the peak is afar. Now I know this might sound like another one of the million CAT-aspirant rants about life being difficult, but trust me it was exactly that. Graduation from a reputed engineering college brings with it a certain set of expectations, which if you don’t match them, people talk. So to do it all again, put in all the effort with zero security of returns and tackling the anxiety and uncertainty that comes with attempting CAT, for a so called “bright” student with no job living with his parents at the age of 22, wasn’t easy. But again, I’ve never asked for easy in life.