Aditya Birla Group, one of the largest Indian Conglomerates touches lives of every Indian citizen in a way or another, and I am no different. Many a times I have purchased clothing items from brands like Allen Solly and Van Heusen. But, ABG has been the most important in my life in the summer of 2016.
It was the month of June, I had enrolled for a college trip to Leh Ladakh, the most sought-after Indian destination. The majority of tourists visiting this region were belonging mostly in the age group 18-35. We were a group of 40, including students and professors both.
The state of Jammu & Kashmir has a lot of mobile network restrictions. Only post-paid connections are available, that too in selected areas only. Several areas lack connectivity, owing to the presence of military bases. Everyone was facing network issues and were unable to contact their families, and I was no exception.
I had an Airtel sim card. I was unable to contact my family and they were getting worried. Three days had passed since I had last contacted them. That night we were staying at a guesthouse in Kargil. I was very upset and tired of trying to reach out to my family. The situation was also a bit tense in the area. The owner of the guest house had an Idea sim and he offered me to make a call. I was finally able to contact my parents and was overwhelmed. A call after 3 days made me the happiest I had felt over months.
That was the most important moment when ABG had affected my life.
Ever since I was in the 10th standard, I had been dreaming of getting a degree in Masters of Business Administration. I started preparing for the entrance exams in first year of my graduation. I prepared really hard and gave the entrance exams in my final year. I scored fairly well in all the tests, and got calls from a few colleges, converted a couple too. However, I made a mistake of not taking admission in any of those and decided to try again next year, in order to get into a better B-School.
I started working in a graphic designing firm as a Business Development Executive, and parallelly kept preparing for the exams as well. However, working for long hours did affect my scores the next year and I failed to get into any B-School. This time I was shattered and regretted not taking admission the first time. I was on the verge of giving up my dream. I had second thoughts about giving the exams again.
This was the time when I learnt that failures are the stepping stones to success. So, I gave the exams again and managed to crack a couple of good B-Schools this time, and ultimately ended up joining a premier institute. All the struggles were worth it. If I had joined in the first attempt itself, I would not have the corporate exposure needed, and I might not have the same aptitude for management that I have now. As its rightly said, Three times a charm.