I had been running a fever for the past fourteen days. I have had bouts of fever before. Everybody suffers from fever multiple times in their lives, but this one seemed different. I would wake up with a jerk at night because of the sudden chills that it gave me and sweat as if a portion of my body had melted away. I, being the nonchalant and carefree teenager that I was did not pay much heed to it. However, when the fever did not break for two weeks and my body started taking a toll, I decided that it was time to visit a doctor. I hadn’t told my parents much about my situation because I wanted to act like a tough kid and not worry them too much, so they weren’t totally aware of the profundity of the situation. When we consulted the doctor, he ordered an X-Ray, a CT scan and a few other tests and we got them done immediately. The next day while discussing the reports the doctor asked me to go out of the room for a moment as he wanted to talk to my father. Now, when a doctor does not want to tell you about your own medical condition, it is scary. I was scared. Very scared. The immediate response was to search for my symptoms on google. Not a particularly intelligent thing to do in that situation. ‘LUNG CANCER’ the mobile screen screamed and immediately my body began to grow cold. My father talked to the Doctor for about 15 minutes and I can tell you that those were the longest 15 minutes of my entire life. I had prepared a eulogy for myself in those 15 minutes, planned how to spend my last few days on the planet and decided on the parting gifts that I would give to my parents. In the meantime, my father came out of the doctor’s room and to my disappointment it wasn’t LUNG CANCER. It was a relatively tame diagnosis- ‘Tuberculosis’. What a let-down!
The date was 15th of February. My board examinations were going to start in two weeks’ time. I wasn’t one of those bright ones who finish their syllabus beforehand. I like the feel of staying up for long hours for examinations. Anyway, this TB thing, it really made my plans go awry. I wasn’t prepared for this or for the heavy dose of medication that followed. The medication had certain side effects and you couldn't afford to miss even a single dose. But having been born and brought up in an army background, I wasn’t giving up just yet. I started preparing for my exams one page at a time. There were moments when the side effects were so severe that I felt helpless and claustrophobic. It was as if I was trapped inside my own body but fortunately enough, my parents were there to help me around at those moments. My mom would rally behind me while following the doctor's advice to the last word and taking care of my diet and medicines. I managed to make it through and in the end managed to get a respectable result. Not exceptional but respectable nonetheless. And I am proud that I persevered.
How ABG is big in my life?
“Papa I want a smartphone. All my friends are having a smartphone with them.” I remember saying this to my dad as soon as he returned from work one day. I was a 14-year-old kid. Smartphones were beginning to take over the world. A couple of years back Apple had launched the iPhone and changed the face of the smartphone industry. Everybody was in a frenzy. Everybody wanted a smartphone. My dad, like any typical Indian dad, was reluctant. What do you want it for- he asked. I had prepared for that question. (The trick lies in connecting whatever you need with some school task or curriculum requirement). “We get a lot of project work to do at school and a lot of them require us to work on the internet. With the smartphone, I can access the internet easily and get my work done faster”. The next thing I remember was my dad bringing an Idea Netsetter home. My plan to own a smartphone had failed. But a new relationship came into existence that day and one that has continued to exist till day - My relationship with Idea.
It wasn’t the first time that I had used an ABG product. My mom had been wrapping my lunch with freshwrap since time immemorial. My house was like a mini dumping ground for Peter England clothes. Everybody in my house absolutely loved Peter England. Whenever my mum came across a sale at Peter England stores, my dad would run for cover as my mum used every ounce of her force to literally drag him inside the store and buy everything came with a discount of more than 40%. The first ever suit I bought for myself during one of my cousin’s wedding was a VanHeusen suit. It is amazing what a perfectly fitting suit can do to your confidence. At no point of time did I think of myself any lesser than the groom-to-be. Oh, and yes before I forget, the house where my sister opened her eyes for the first time was built using Ultra-Tech cement.
If you live in India, it is unlikely that the Aditya Birla Group has not touched your life in one way or the other. ABG is one organization which exists to create value and impact the lives of individuals in a positive manner. The values of Integrity, commitment, passion, seamlessness and speed are not there just for the sake of it. They are imbibed deeply within every employee working at ABG. When you interact with any employee at ABG, be it the personal shopping assistant at Pantaloons or the top level executives at Aditya Birla Capital you get this feeling that they are proud of their job. This is essentially what ABG does - It makes you feel empowered.
