Why Aditya Birla Group is big in your life?
We often overlook the small things that facilitate and impact our daily lives. People interact with a multitude of products throughout the day to meet their basic needs. While we are amply cognizant of consumer products, ones that manifest themselves explicitly for our direct use, we often overlook the ones that enhance the value we derive from them. My first interaction with a product of Aditya Birla Group that I was aware of, was through Freshwrapp. Without it, mom's-made lunches at school wouldn’t have had the same warmth.
Coming from a small town in West Bengal, I remember the excitement among my friends at school when Pantaloons launched its first store in the only shopping mall in town. I had never been to an apparel-retail store until the day I skipped a school outing to visit the Pantaloons store. During those years, Pantaloons also shelved amazing soft-toys. It holds a special place in my life because I had purchased one as the first gift for my better half from that store. I remember sneaking it into my home and the thrill that followed.
The next big impact ABG had on my life was through Idea Cellular (now Vodafone Idea Limited). It was India's first telecom brand that envisioned social impact through quirky commercials. It was also my first ever SIM Card. I remember preferring it to other brands due to its economic appeal (I was just a teenager surviving on pocket money!) and it helped me stay in regular touch with my friends and family when I left home for the first time. Well, it also made possible the night-long chats with my better half.
And then, amidst all the hullabaloo, I grew up. Life took me to newer cities, introduced me to new people, widened my perspectives. It surprises me, now, as I realize after an hour of research, that I have interacted with ABG products more than I thought I did. Birla Carbon, for example, an Aditya Birla Group Company, impacts my life on a daily basis. From the printed circuit boards that run my laptop to the ink on my daily newspaper. From the fabric of my black formal wear to the tires of an auto or a cab. Surprisingly, Carbon Black in a way ensures there’s food on the table. Its UV protection characteristics enable efficient farming across Indian fields. Then there’s more it- my cupboard full of black t-shirts, my oxfords, calculator, wayfarers, you name the blacks you use on a typical day, the utility you obtain from the product would have been many notches below had it not been for the Black Carbon in them. Not to forget, this is one of the many ways the businesses of Aditya Birla Group make their ways into our lives and keep the societal wheel running. There are leaders who lead in the limelight. Then there are those who drive change from shadows. Aditya Birla Group, through its sustained value-creation with a wide product portfolio, is an apt manifestation of both.
How have you made an impact?
In 2005, at the age of 12, I was diagnosed with acute Hypothyroidism. It isn’t quite pleasing when the doctor tells you with certainty that you would have to be on medication for the rest of your life, that this could not be cured. I was told I would have to deal with sub-par analytical and retention skills. The disorder made me extremely lethargic, drained of energy, and I abnormally gained weight within months. I was body-shamed by friends at school who were, of course, too young to reflect on their actions, but it had a damaging effect on my self-confidence. Even before I realized, I had distanced myself from most of my classmates. Naturally, my parents were concerned about a decline in my academic performance. So, I was discouraged from pursuing other interests at an age when I was brimming with enthusiasm.
There were a few key decisions I took at that stage of my life. I made sure I took the prescribed medication, but I wasn’t ready to do it for a lifetime. So, I included at least an hour of cardio work-out in my daily routine to boost my metabolism. My father introduced me to Tao meditation- a technique that I have been following ever since. I put myself on a strict diet plan, for years. It wasn’t easy, but it was fulfilling when I found myself fighting my body. I was a passionate member of the dramatics group at school, and I chose to not give up dramatics even under the pressure from my parents. I wanted to give myself the opportunities I would have given myself if I wasn’t a patient of Hypothyroidism. Meanwhile, routine blood tests signaled improvements, but my doctor wouldn't see a permanent cure as a possibility. So, I continued doing what I believed in. I knew (perhaps with childish innocence) that I would cure myself one day.
It is March of 2015. I have been regularly exercising for the last 10 years of my life. Those 15 minutes of meditation have become a daily necessity. There are certain foods I have stayed away from, for years, now. This is the umpteenth time I am visiting my doctor with a report that shows no signs of Hypothyroidism. I have been doing this for just over a year, now. But there is something different about this visit. The doctor says this is it. The medications can rest. For life. I was one of the very few of his teenager patients who had irreversibly cured themselves of Hypothyroidism.
Maybe, it was never about any of the efforts I had put in. Maybe, it was just the medicines (even though the best would do was keep the condition under control, the doctor had said). At the end of it, what matters to me is not just the recovery in itself or the reason behind it. What matters more is how I chose to respond when I was told I would be a patient for life. It is about the things I chose to do, and keep doing over and over again. Year after year. Had I believed, in 2005, that my analytical and retention skills would take a hit, I wouldn’t have been able to persevere and win the University Gold Medal in 2016 or make it to one of the top business schools in India. Years of Tao meditation has enabled me to practice mindfulness. It has transformed the way I respond to a crisis in my personal and professional lives.
You may never be in complete control of your life, but it is possible to be in control of the aspects that matter to you. It is when you identify and nurture them in a sustained manner, you become someone more than the sum of all your experiences.