The Other Side of the Fence

Recently, out of the blue, I got a chance to speak at the career-choice program at the TVS Academy, Hosur school (Hosur is a place 50 km from Bangalore - and does not belong to Karnataka). The audience, to whom I spoke yesterday, comprised of 50-60 students (grade 10-12), their parents, and the teachers.

Now! 3 days ago, I spoke nervously in front of some VC's in an attempt to seek some funding for MeraSport. That nervousness was just nothing compared to the butterflies-in-my-stomach feeling I had while speaking in front of these very curious and eager students - especially when I had the bonus-onus to talk about careers and related-choices.

What followed, though, was pure ecstacy!

(I was invited on account of being a 'success' in my career! I don't think I have been a success yet, but they reiterated that for them I was a success, merely on grounds of going for a weird field such as sports after having studied (?) at IIT. It was impossible for me to decline their offer to speak, after such an overwhelming approach. Plus, I have this inherent respect and love for the student generation - which is so creative, energetic, and damn positive about everything).

The other 4 speakers were seniors, two of whom I could locate on the net as well: Karthik (flourishing career in wild-life); and Anup Naik (an established architect). The entire session was fascinating, with the speakers speaking enthusiastically about their experiences, and the students and parents applauding and responding oh-so-sportingly! Not once did I feel annoyed about travelling 100kms on a Sunday morning for a 10 minute talk.

I spoke straight from the heart. Some of my thoughts: 

• The word 'career' comes from 'care-er' - someone or something that takes care of you (like work-er, play-er). Care includes eveything: money, emotions, love, passion - and hence, a career should be able to take care of all those points - not just money. Nonetheless, money has to be important.
• Money will come. It will take 2, 5, 7 or a maximum of 10 years - but money will flood in. More importantly, that won't be the end of it. If it were, the Ambanis, and Kiran Majumdar, and Bill Gates - all would have stopped 'working'. 
• Friends are like the Post-It glue - the cohesiveness disappears with time. The only people anyone can be the most sure of are one's parents, next comes the spouse - and, hence, they should be taken care of right from the onset. It's their support which matters - and, unconsciously, it's their cushion which we keep in mind when we dare to move forward. Friends may just be ready to help, but parents would always be there.
• The following qualities would ensure success in any field: communication skills, great ethics, smartness, humility 'n' respect, and a hell-lot-of-an (constructive) ego. Take one of them out, and doom is unavoidable.

There were some impromptu wisecracks that were thrown into this talk. However, the real fun followed the talk when these hyper-eager, and very smart, students just surrounded the speakers to shake hands with them, some calling me, "Anna!", the others calling me, "Sir!" - but all of them bubbling around with excited faces! Can't say how I felt when one of them came up and jumped around saying, "My name is Saurabh also, Sir!"

:)

5 minutes later, I found myself in a classroom with 5-6 parents and 20-30 students shooting questions regarding a prospective career in sports! There was just so much to talk about (yes ... try speaking with me about a career in sports) - the parents trying to find about the best institutes to study sports as a business, the students inquiring about the various sports-career options. Interestingly, 6-7 of the students were girls! They must have asked almost as many questions as the boys (about life as a sports manager). The curiosity ranged from "what I do in the office" and "what have I done earlier" to "why did I choose to get into sports after IIT" to "why didn't I stay back in the UK" to "would sports be a wise decision for them" ... 

Probably the best thing I liked about this visit was getting back to school - walking through the corridoors lined with classrooms stuffed with benches. There's this freshness that only a school can generate. I would recommend everyone to keep networking with college students. There's a lot we can learn from that species.

Do files get embarrassed when they get unzipped?