Sunday, August 08, 2010

Subroto Bagchi - "Go Kiss the world"

Subroto Bagchi speaks at IIM Bangalore in 2006...

http://pdfcast.org/pdf/subroto-bagchi-go-kiss-the-world

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posted by Aditya @ 8/08/2010 12:32:00 PM 0 comments

Monday, August 02, 2010

Chetan Bhagat - "Keep the Spark"

Inaugural Speech by Mr.Chetan Bhagat for the new batch at the
Symbiosis BBA program 2008.

Chetan Bhagat - Keep the Spark

Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you.
This day is about you. You, who have come to this college,
leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become
something in your life. I am sure you are excited.. There are
few days in human life when one is truly elated. The first day in college is
one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a
tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the
teachers be like, who are my new classmates - there is so
much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that
makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about
keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if
not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin
boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make
them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story
from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for
birthday party – several months in advance – just for the day they will cut
their own birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks.. But when I see older
people, the spark is difficult to find.. That means as we age,
the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected,
aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of
Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So
how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp's flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to
give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard
against storms.

To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and
achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is
possible for you. It isn't any external measure - a certain cost to company
pay package, a particular car or house.

Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is
success and rightly so. When you have grown up where
money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big
achievement.

But it isn't the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr Ambani would not
show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not
dance anymore. Steve Jobs won't be working hard to make a better iPhone, as
he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they
do it? What makes them come to work everyday?

They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel
alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good.
If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact
with people, you will do better in interviews. If you
practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot
become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level.
Striving for that next level is important.

Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were
born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of
nature's design. Are you? Goals will help you do that.

I must add, don't just have career or academic goals.. Set goals to give you


a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before
successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace
are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is
no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not
enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or
whatever.. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of
those races in nursery school. Where you have to run with a marble in a spoon

kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point
coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble.

Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your
life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being
excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. One
of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes.
One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga
practice. The teacher said - don't be serious, be sincere.
This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my
relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions
on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism.
If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather,
how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary

here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If
we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500
weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a few
classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed
devices.

I've told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it
too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four
storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must
be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration,
unfairness and loneliness of purpose.

Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected
return. If things don't go as planned or if you face failure.
Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger.
What did this failure teach me? is the question you will
need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to
when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians
kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how much
failure can hurt you.

But it's life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to
be a challenge. And remember - if you are failing at
something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that's where
you want to be.

Disappointment's cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever
been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is
especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you
deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don't know if you
chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as
I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely
lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release.

Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something
negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with
it? A realistic assessment of the time involved – movies take a long time to
make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain
enjoyment in the process rather than the end result – at least I was learning
how to write scripts , having a side plan – I had my third
book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your
life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it.
Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere,
you took it too seriously.

Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our
country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful
faces, pedigree find it easier to make it – not just in Bollywood, but
everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few
opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it
happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to
achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and
ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some
people luckier than you.

In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in
English means you are pretty darn lucky by Indian standards.
Let's be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we
don't. I have so much love from my readers that other writers
cannot even imagine it. However, I don't get literary praise. It's ok.
I don't look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are
more beautiful than her. It's ok. Don't let unfairness kill your
spark..

Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow
older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all
kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are
a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize
you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be
different from even the people closest to you. This can
create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop
some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop
playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up
something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family.
But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love
yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I've told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment,
frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like
the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need
to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave
me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose
college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, you eyes will shine the
same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark
alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I
hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark
alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is
something cool about saying - I come from the land of billion sparks.

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posted by Aditya @ 8/02/2010 09:16:00 PM 1 comments