Chetan Bhagat Speech...
Some Speeches are time less.. some are space less... some are more... this is more...
"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.
"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 level s 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.
Ther e 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 worke d 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 â€" 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 fi ve 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 â€" 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 â€" at least I was learning how to write scripts, having a side plan â€" 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 damm 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, your 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 a billion sparks.
Thank You."
Typical Conversations.
Hi wats up?
Nothin
Wats up with you?
Nothing much
So how's everything?
Great
How's everything with you?
Awesome.
Oh, wait got a call from the US. Department of Defense, they have found intelligent life under water and want me to lead the expedition ASAP, so Gotta leave.
ok, bbye
bbye, Do you by any chance have a scuba diving suite??
no...
oh, ok...
What a life : Waiting for the bus
This video is just a perfect stereotype life of a failed high achiever. Though the terms high achiever and failed both are not what i would like to define here. Setting some goals and doing justice to them is good.
The question is was running the Indy 500 a good decision or bad. Even if he lost the Indy 500 was it a big deal, if it weren't a big deal he would not have won so many titles on the first place. The best life is the one which is in healthy equilibrium, but still most of us dream of a life in extremes. Some people call this raising the bar. And to them i say "I don't drink."
I am just writing for the sake of writing, I should do some constructive thought and then write down. On one point I am very clear to even myself that creation is the theme for my work this year. And I would try to keep creating.
As Subrato Bagchi puts it "Great people are those who generate quality content as they work." And hence the poem goes...
Looking from the window,
I saw an angel, helping the world
As I went near, the world
seemed to helping the angel
when I reached closer, there
was no angel, only the world
helping the world
Thus I realized, that we are
the ones here,
Working towards a better tomorrow
which is near,
While playing in the fun filled today,
it is clear,
Lets put light everywhere, and tell all
nothing to fear.
I saw an angel, helping the world
As I went near, the world
seemed to helping the angel
when I reached closer, there
was no angel, only the world
helping the world
Thus I realized, that we are
the ones here,
Working towards a better tomorrow
which is near,
While playing in the fun filled today,
it is clear,
Lets put light everywhere, and tell all
nothing to fear.
Something constructive..
1. Do things
2. Doing things is great
3. I love doing things
4. I know there is nothing to the world... except this..
I love my life, I love this world.. it's about striking a balance and I know I will.
This part of my life is called running....
We are like computers trying to process the processes being invoked without asking why the process has been invoked and what purpose does executing it surve.. they keep on pushing themselves lakhs of times in a second to serve us... and we say my computer is running..
In the same way i don't know where does new work keeps coming form but at the start of everyday i have so much amount of work that can keep doing that work all day. And this seems right when everything keeps going right and the brains reward centers are flooded with seratonin etc.. that to without the help of any pharmaceuticals or social networking.. :).. but when things started screwing up you feel small, sad and defeated... and you remember the scene from the pursuit of happyness......... and you say......
this part of my life is called running...
(i know my writings lack thought and that's to because i don't have time to think what i have to write thru... :(...)
Failures..Teach more
It is a standard know fact.. (or may be it isn't) that failures teach one more than success does. I till date haven't had major failures in life, but still I have a habit of trying to learn from the little ones to try and avoid the big ones. :)
In my four years I tried to start two start up's one conceptualized by my friend Shashank Singla, and one by me myself. In both the startup's I had very capable people with me as my partners. All knew everything logical required to know about how to do a thing. All are people of great abilities, and i know are going to great in life but still our ventures failed badly.
In the first one we went to a level of creating a logo, writing stuff and making a PPT, but soon everyone forgot and our lives moved forward. In the second case, I was more experienced, I had got the idea sitting in the office of Tandberg limited, thought it over in a bus ride knew it was an amazing idea, called Mayank and Rishav onto the roof and slowly opened it. Both of them loved the idea and we spent rest of the night planning. We had a few meetings, two nightouts did some considerable work and lot of planning still, I had to abandon the project Why???
When something has a rate of development which leads to a time constant greater than your life time, it's better to leave it. This is a very good lesson though it can even be taken from thermodynamics.. we know that delta G (change in gibbs free energy ) for combustion of diamond is -340 kilo joules.. meaning it's highly favorable still it does not combust. Because the rate of combustion is negligible...
Everything we study has a deeper lesson when we learn to relate it... and that's why studying engineering now after 20 years of life... looks like a huge interlinking exercise... though now I am very cautious in the projects I start... :)
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