I have always believed in the power of simple ideas. Volunteering for an NGO for almost one and half years, one everyday issue was that we would receive endless calls of people asking us our location and whether we provide pick ups for their material or not. I realised that it doesn't have to be this way. All it took to eliminate the issue was listing the NGO's office on Google maps and voila, people were just dropping in unannounced. It's amazing how we overlook some simple things around us. Until last year, I was an unsuspecting consumer who prefers minimalism. So I used to go out with a specific requirement in mind, buy the products and come back. I have never been brand conscious, which doesn't mean that I actively avoided then. I bought things that appealed to me at a stored. Walking around within malls, looking a collections of clothes.
Eventually, I became an MBA student and all of a sudden the consumer mind and thought process became elusive. I was looking at the world from other side of the table and why! Wasn't it baffling. Being in a b school, one learns early on about the big names, what they do and how they do it. As embarrassed as I am at the confession, I had known Aditya Birla to be a cement brand. Then came the b school life and I happened to be looking into companies. A.B.G. Did it not leave my mouth open for seconds when I realised how close I have been to this name. To put it in perspective, I have literally been inside it (by the virtue of its fashion) and was aloof of the fact all along. I went back to my wardrobe and *mind blown*. Here is a minimalistic man's clothing, an aggregate of different brand, bought from different outlets and so many of them from this one house of brand. Van Heusen, Pantaloons, Allen Solly, Peter England and Louise Phillipe. How often has my picky mother looked and the clothes from these brands and picked them up not just because they come from that brand but because they felt good. They look great. And more than anything, they expressed me. They still do.
It was only very humbling to see an Indian company to be touching my life at so many occasions and in so many ways without me realising. I think that's beautiful. And I think that the best way to make it big in someone else's life.