Coming from a joint upper-middle-class family with loving parents and all the privilege I could hope for, the stage was set for me. I had a family of 13 people; we were running a corporation of our own. My grandparents were the conglomerates like Aditya Birla Group. My Father and my uncles were their companies like Hindalco industries or Grasim industries and then my 6 siblings, already established brands like VanHeusen or The collective doing excellent in their respective domains. Then there was me. A new brand of the corporation, looking to find its feet in this competitive world. Burdened by the reputation of the corporation it is a part of. As soon as I turned two, my parent company got busy in doing a market survey to find a school they can launch me in, to ensure sustainable growth and maximum returns in the future. Going to school with lunch and dreams wrapped up in Freshwrapp, I made relationships stronger than Ultratech cement (which says a lot). I turned 15, Pantaloons became my official clothing partner. I got a new phone with Idea sim and hence started my networking process, some failed collaborations, some heated negotiations, all thanks to affordable all-night talking plans of IDEA, What an Idea Sirjee! All I wanted to do was to be cool, and Aditya Birla Group was helping me on every stage, hence will always be close to my heart.
As I grew older and tried to come out of my cocoon of the protective shell of my family, self-doubt started to seep inside through the cracks. I was a fat, dark-skinned and a clumsy guy. Always the butt of jokes in a society with a deranged sense of beauty. Which seemed harmless at first but managed to make me doubt everything I believed in. My grades dropped, I grew quieter and started to stay alone more often. Still, I worked hard and managed to score well in my 12th board exams and got an interview call from a very good college in Delhi University, I began panicking with the thought of the interview. My brother noticed this and asked me to come out with him. We sat in his car, he didn’t say anything and just kept on driving. He stopped outside a Louis Philippe (LP) store and took me in. He selected a suit for me and asked me to try it on. I wore it and I came out and saw myself in the mirror and it was not me anymore. At that moment, I felt invincible in my perfectly fitting LP suit. That was a life turning point for me. I have been knocked down many times after that, faced many challenges in college, organized events, gave speeches on stage, failed sometimes but picked myself up to achieve my goals. I gave my MBA entrance last year and got selected into IIFT. As I stood outside the gates of IIFT, chills from past tried to resurface, but I had a new suit of armor from LP, and a new mission. Brace yourself IIFT, I am here to conquer.