“Grow Through What You Go Through” – ABG – Durga Siva Teja Behara, SIBM Pune

         This association doesn’t end here. Watching TV and suddenly coming across the Idea advertisement with its unique background music and someone saying - What an idea sirji !! to Abhishek Bachchan still flashes in my mind even today. It was because of that advertisement I had an Idea sim when my father gifted me a new phone. Thanks to Idea 2G, 3G, and 4G which made my life simple.

            Post under graduation, I got an opportunity to work in a metro city - Chennai. During weekends, going to shopping malls had become a routine. Coming from a middle-class background, I never dared to buy anything in shopping malls. One fine day, I came across Pantaloons where I felt the prices of clothing are reasonable. Since then I started purchasing from Pantaloons where Peter England and Allen Solly became by favorite brands. This association never ends and now, officially listening to ABG in the B-School.

           On the other side, Life, as it is a journey of ups and downs, it was in 2005, I was attacked with an unknown fever which doctors couldn’t recognize. After consulting many doctors, I was asked to meet a cardiologist. I was eventually taken to a cardiac clinic. I was sent into a room where I was asked to remove the shirt and lie down on the bed. A nurse with heavy physique came into the room, applied some gel on a few parts of the chest, arms and wrist. Later, she took many wires from a machine where each wire was having a rubber ball-like structure and started putting them on many parts of my chest. I was asked to breathe in and out normally and after a minute, a paper started coming out of the printer. It was very long and it has some random figures on it. It was on that day, I came to know that the printed paper has my heart signals (who knows that it is ECG at that age). Reports were sent to the doctor and we were waiting outside the consultation room. My mother was very nervous but she is not showing that as I may worry if I know all these. After 1 hour of waiting, we went into the doctor’s room and the doctor started to test my heartbeat with his stethoscope. He told my mother - “Child has a fever now. He also has symptoms related to heart disease. But I am not confirming it now. I am going to prescribe some medicines and once the fever subsides, we need to go for a 2D-Echo”. After a few days, the doctor informed that child needs to undergo an operation. But with a second consultation, my parents were told that the child is in his growing stage and the illness can be cured while he is growing. We had financial problems and this added more severity to it. It was then I realized that I have to work hard, study well and be the best so that all the problems can be solved. I worked hard, scored top marks in 10th public examinations and stood as a district topper in the state. With this, I got an opportunity to get into Andhra Pradesh’s best University where I have completed my PUC and B.Tech.

           After some days during college, I came to know that education alone is not going to help me. With the skills I had, I started helping all my fellow students which helped me to be a University People leader. This inculcated leadership qualities in me. Being a leader and guiding people around me in the right direction helped me to become the young team lead in my last organization.

          Even my cardiac ailment subsided by looking at the determination I had to achieve something in my life. I have determined to share the knowledge I have to people around me to make their lives simpler. I would like to contribute as much as I can to the education field with new methods. Currently, guiding 40 students for B-School entrance exams personally and on the You tube channel.

          Now, SIBM Pune has given me an opportunity to excel more in my career and be an all-rounder in the management field. I would like to utilize all the learnings and further nurture my leadership skills to bring out the best results in the management arena.