Reminiscence of a connection (SIBM Pune)

Few years had passed, I had started off school in another city which I didn’t know the language of and which I believe is the genesis of the attitude and personality I have forged today. I love stories about how one started from nothing and then built something up from the bottom, and hence, the small detail about me. I was fascinated by the scale up the Birla’s achieved, trading cotton from a remote town called Pilani, Rajasthan during the pre-independence era to being a conglomerate investing on their interests in textiles, aluminium, cement, etc. today. Like Mr. Aditya, who dreamed of setting up a global business empire, I too dream to be just like him someday. For my undergrad days, when I needed my formal shirts and trousers, my father took me to a Van Heusen store, the reason being he trusted the brand. It was only after someone told me that it was a part of the Birla group clothing and retail that I realized the plethora of brands that the group had its cards on. I had an emotional connection with Van Heusen because of my dad and so I continue to use it even today. The feeling isn’t something very pronounced when I wear it, just that it reminds me to keep moving forward and be better in life, thereby proving Graham’s words.

Furthermore, I also got to manage an event which invited participation from college students in and around the college region which required me to be resilient and focused to mitigate any issue on the logistics part and so on the day of the competition, donning a Huesen, I managed to complete it successfully with the help of my team. This was one of the few challenges which allowed me to grow as a person as it gave me confidence. One of the other challenges that I faced was when we played a football tournament with a team of misfits, all of who loved the essence of the game, it also taught me an important lesson of life, the part without which it’s difficult to take on the world, Teamwork. By the way, we won third place in the tournament, not too bad huh! It forced me to be in their shoes and delve deeper of their understanding of why it meant so much for them in terms of having a chance out there in the field. In the end, it gave us a sense of pride and confidence in what we had achieved together as a team.

 To quote the words of Tony Robbins, “The only impossible journey is the one you never begin”. From the little sense that I have, I can tell that it has already begun. Now the only thing to do is to keep moving with a bold heart and my feet firm on the ground.