I still feel the tags of Aditya Birla Group hanging around me, having spent my entire day at Pantaloons, R City Mall. It was an exhilarating shopping experience with everything under the same roof, yet so beautifully placed. Also, being the Greencard Member I usually get many offers and free vouchers. The connection feels so lively when they keep you updated with all the new varieties and sale discounts and your Greencard Points. I guess maintaining such a rapport with the customer even after being so large is Aditya Birla Group’s biggest achievement. Well, it's not just about brick-and-mortar stores of in-house and other branded apparels; they please you with every option on the E-commerce platforms like Flipkart and Amazon. Online stores of Van Heusen and Allen Solly are my saviors for interviews and presentations in my busy schedule.
The Engineer’s Choice- ‘Ultratech Cement’ has influenced with a market reach of more than 80% in Indian cities and towns. During our expansion of the house, I remember my father saying, “Cement me to Ek hi he, Ultratech!” It also provides you with the complete home building guide from planning, budgeting to moving in and they give solutions crafted by experts. UltraTech Cement is fully aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Water conserved through rainwater harvesting and recycling helps meet half of UltraTech’s water requirement in manufacturing.
Holding majority share in necessities ABG is BIG without which we cannot imagine our lives. We cannot imagine connectivity without Vodafone Idea network. I have travelled so many places in India where Idea Vodafone has been my only survivor from the past 9 years. They have tried to reach even on mountain tops. Trekkers definitely love you – Idea Vodafone. This India’s largest telecom operator contributes towards creating a truly ‘Digital India’ by enabling millions of citizens to connect and build a better tomorrow. Birla Carbon, Birla Copper, Grasim, and Hindalco have impacted us making it to BIG in our life.
I can associate my phase of Boat Club with #BigInYourLife. COEP Boat club, established in 1928 has a rich history of water sport activities like Kayaking, Rowing, Canoeing, and Punting. All these activities are done at the confluence of Mula-Mutha River. During the decade of 1960, the water of the river was so clean that people used to drink it directly. But nowadays, the condition has reversed. There’s no species diversity. 'Jalmaitri' is a 13-year-old COEP Boat Club initiative whose main aim is to create awareness amongst ‘Punekars’. I spearheaded Jalmaitri 2016 and my team has implemented ideas like Nirmalya collection, Cleaning while trekking, Riverwalk, and Water sample analysis.
During the Ganpati festival, we didn’t let nirmalya to be thrown in the river and everything was collected in polyethylene bags and handed over to the Pune Municipal Corporation. In 2015 we collected 1000 kg of nirmalya waste and in 2016 we saved a whopping 900 kg of nirmalya from being thrown in the river. We even requested the biogas plant at Shivajinagar model colony to treat the bio-waste. Lokmat sponsored our initiative and this created a massive drive in Pune during Ganpati festival.
During the Riverwalk, we created a march chanting Save water slogans. Water samples were collected at different locations for testing in our college Environmental studies labs. From collected data, we came to know that there was a variation in the level of pollution with variation in location. River water is not capable to serve aquatic life in it. It had harmful effects on ecological systems associated with river water. As only 4 bridges had Nirmalya Kalash out of 11, all garbage from people crossing the bridge went directly into the river. There were 44 nullhas which left untreated sewage and industrial water directly into the river. There were only 2 working Sewage Treatment Plants on the way. We submitted a report of this water sample analysis to Pune Municipal Corporation requesting to increase the number of STPs. Some other initiatives were also taken, and we received positive support from residents in this. With the support of all environmentalists the ‘Project for Pollution Abatement of River Mula Mutha in Pune’ was proposed and approved to be done with the help of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The major components proposed under the project include the construction of 11 new Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs). This incident gave me the confidence of pursuing ideas, in spite of the low probability of results considering hugeness in impact.