Part A: How the obsession began
Ah! the year was 1857 the first revolt of independence was about to happen , another thing that happened around the same time was that a local tradesman’s son Seth Shiv Narayan was born , first of his family to venture out of Pilani , participated in very lucrative cotton Trade and later on went to trade opium with China , his legacy was passed onto his son Baldeo Das Birla who passed onto the growing empire to his son Ghanshyam Das , Ghanshyam created his industrial empire by establishing GM Birla Company, trading in jute, in 1911, during the world war 2 they helped me and my family by producing gunny bags which was in huge demand , later on he established Grasim and Hindalco(Hindustan aluminum company) his family supported the swaraj movement, established a temple in Delhi where people of all caste could worship so my neighbor could also go there, they established high school in Pilani where my cousin studied for 2 years, Later they established many other institutions , which stands even today , established a dam in 1944 on Dhosi hills to conserve rain water for bathing of pilgrims I know that because the retired school teacher near my house went there, in 2001 they established Fashion planet a men’s clothing , that’s where I shop for my clothes mostly , and many more like me , it’s the people’s brand ,the family of Aditya Birla Group keeps getting bigger, my nephew is bugging me , wants to video call , thanks to the Vodafone-Idea internet which provides fast internet connectivity , which is one of the Brands of the group, they say everything you touch here is either by Aditya Birla completely or partially , they Built India , they operate India’s largest cement company called Ultratech cement , again I know that because my House in Lucknow is symbol and proof of that, and not just mine but lakhs and crores of houses in India. You might think I am ancient , I fact I am 162 years young ,want to know who am I ?... I am Swarajya I am India I am Aditya Birla I am Aquib Siddiqui.
Part B: Swords and Hurdles
It was the year 2013 I was in the first year of my graduation , I had already decided to pursue MBA after graduation , so my goal was to start preparing in the third year itself, but life had other plans for me, during my annual examination I was caught with a mobile phone in my jeans pocket , I was clearly unaware of this , but somehow I carried it to the examination hall , I was charged with using unfair means in the examination and my later my entire examination was cancelled and had to repeat that one year, the whole event was really frustrating , the thought of repeating another year was haunting me , I could not sleep for the first few days , but I knew I had to get past this , my father was disappointed with me , his silence was painful , after few weeks I collected myself up and put my head down , gave the year end exam again and passed it, My father wanted me to prepare for civil services , but I couldn’t give up my dream of an MBA , It took a lot to convince my father for that, eventually we had a fallout and we didn’t talk to each other for months, that was the most difficult period of my life , I felt like I had lost support . I joined an Advertising company while preparing for my MBA entrance exams. I cleared my IIFT rounds and secured an admission , suddenly everything changed , everyone who initially doubted me suddenly started believing in me , that day i understood that its not the people but its you who need to show yourself the way you want others to see you.