Speech given at the orientation program for the new batch of MBA students
Symbiosis, Pune, July 24, 2008
© Chetan Bhagat

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 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.

Speech from Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Great Dictator’

I’m sorry but I don’t want to be an Emperor, that’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that. We all want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.

We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in:
Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.
Our knowledge has made us cynical,our cleverness hard and unkind.
We think too much and feel too little:
More than machinery we need humanity;
More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.

Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say “Do not despair”.

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die [now] liberty will never perish…

Soldiers: don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder.

Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate, only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers: don’t fight for slavery, fight for liberty.

In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written:
“The kingdom of God is within man
“Not one man, nor a group of men, but in all men; in you, the people.

You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let’s use that power, let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfil their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfil that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.

Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!

Look up! Look up! The clouds are lifting, the sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world. A kind new world where men will rise above their hate and brutality.

The soul of man has been given wings, and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow, into the light of hope, into the future, that glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up. Look up.

Looking forward to another year full of hope, peace and euphoria. I hope to write more, achieve more and give more passionately. Thank you for reading the rants. May Allah endow us with success in this new year and may it bring glad tidings for Pakistan. Ameen.

Keep me in your prayers.

Welcome 2012 with all your heart.

Na tha kuch, to Khuda tha; Kuch na hota, to Khuda hota,

Duboya mujh ko hone ne, na hota main, to kya hota?

-Ghalib

Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib was born in 1212 Hijri in Agra. His ancestors were Turks, and their lineage joins back to Tur Ibn Fareedun. He was married at an early age of thirteen but none of his seven children survived beyond infancy. He made Delhi his permanent residence after his marriage and started learning Farsi (Persian) and gained the knowledge of other subjects from Shaykh Muazzam who was one of the renowned teachers of Ghalib’s time.

Mirza Ghalib

Ghalib lived in Delhi for about 50 years and during all this time, he never bought a house of his own but preferred to live in a rental house. He changed his place of residence when he thought that he has lived enough in one place or got fed-up of a place. The place where he died is now a well-known address in Delhi:

Ghalib’s Haveli
Gali Qasim Jan,
Ballimaran,
Chandni Chowk,
Delhi.

Likewise, Ghalib never bought any book but still kept himself busy with authoring books all his life. He used to rent books and once finished a book, he would return it back. Indeed, he lived a life full of financial constraints and limited means.

Marte hain aarzoo mein marne ki,
Maut aatee hai par nahin aatii

‘Death’ is a very dominant theme in Ghalib’s poetry. His life portrays a very clear picture of the reasons why he talked about death more often. The pension that Ghalib used to get was stopped during the 1857 revolt which led to debts but he continued to get a little percentage of the original afterwards, all his children died during infancy, and his work wasn’t appreciated during his lifetime.

Most of his work was destroyed during the 1857 revolt when the British ransacked a personal library of Mirza’s friend who had all of Ghalib’s poetry preserved. The few that were left are the ones we cherish today.

No doubt, Mirza Ghalib was one of the best poets of South Asia. His ghazals have been sung in different ways by many different people, and many movies and plays have been done on his life. Today, Dec 27th, marks the 214th birth anniversary of this great legend who lives in our hearts through his verses and will continue to live through his incredible work. One of his poetical pieces that I remember clearly right now is:

Aah ko chahiye ik umar asar honay tuk, 

Kon jeeta hai teri zulf ke sarr honay tak,

Hum ne mana ke taghaful naa karogay lekin,

Khaak ho jaaen gay hum tumko khabar honay tak.

6.

There is something so tranquil about those moonlit chilly summer nights. When all you have is an open sky with heart and mind at peace. And when you can join the infinite stars in the sky to make silly shapes, and when you see your destiny among those stars – there is something about this that a human mind can never understand and it can never fully absorb the beauty reflected on such nights.

Pursue excellence – Success will follow!

When I first heard this quote in the movie 3 idiots, I was truly inspired because it was a simple rule to live by. Chasing excellence in whatever we do and then leaving the rest to God will surely give us success. It is guaranteed. But the question is are the students of today really pursuing excellence? Are the students of today really following their true passion or are they following the grading system laid out by this educational system?

When the teacher tells us to open the book, have we ever thought that we will learn something new? Have we ever thought that this will increase our knowledge and make us a little better person than we were yesterday? I’m sure most of us don’t do that.  When we go to the class, we don’t think that we will learn something exciting today but we think of strategies and ways to understand the concept through rote-learning so that it can stay in our heads till the exams only. There is no guarantee of whether it stays there after exam or not. We have never thought of learning beyond school. I agree that calculus might not help you when you will be living a life you have dreamt of; but why not learn things with more interest in learning rather than achieving higher grades.

We all are going through this system and we are very well aware of what happens in a class room. A person who gets A+ in a subject automatically becomes the teacher’s favorite. A classroom is more of a race competition than a learning space. We don’t learn as much as we worry about our grades.

This system, if ever changed, will take a long time to change but why don’t we try to bring a little change within ourselves by practically following this quote. After we finish our academic studies, we will have 40 or so years left to live a life we have been struggling for; then why not try to enjoy what we learn instead of trying to be a gradeaholic. Learn for the sake of gaining knowledge – not because you have to but because you want to. So be the fourth idiot and follow the rule!

I would like to end it with a quote from 3 idiots:

 Today my respect for that idiot shot up. Most of us went to college just for a degree. No degree meant no plum job, no pretty wife, no credit card, no social status. But none of this mattered to him, he was in college for the joy of learning, he never cared if he was first or last.

maysamaag on Deviantart - Sunset at Clifton Beach, Karachi.

7.

Because it’s a whole different feeling of joy and contentment, when you stand at a beach (or your balcony if it faces west :p) at sunset and see the sun going down the horizon while the rays hit your eyes and body. Surreal. Remember everything has it’s time of peak, and so does everything faces the time of downfall, just remember to praise your Lord whatever state you’re in.

8.

Ever ran barefeet on grass covered with dewdrops? The moment your feet touch the wet grass, it feels weird and itchy but nothing can beat the fresh smell of grass laden with dew drops in the morning. Dewdrops, for the win!

9.

Waiting in long lines on Chaand raat or carpooling with friends to the aunty (who becomes famous all of a sudden on Chand raat) who knows how to put the best Hina on = True Desiness!

Malala Yousafzai is the first Pakistani child who has been nominated for the Peace award on Universal children’s day. This year a total of five children have been nominated from around the globe and Malala is the only one from Pakistan.

We truly salute your efforts, Malala. May you continue to work for the betterment of Pakistan and for the children who are denied the basic right to education. Pakistan needs people like you.

Here’s the updated article from Urdu BBC news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2011/11/111118_swat_girl_award_bbc_nj.shtml

Zama Channel news report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0eU8ief9pA