Convocation Speech

Friends, professors, administrators, academic associates and parents, welcome. So... here we are, finally, to celebrate our success.

Can you believe it? It's been 20 months since we walked into this very auditorium for the very first time, as anxious and as nervous as we were on the first day of our primary school. When we arrived here, many of us had practically not completed a single meaningful day at business… we were the freshmen. Now, those same 20 months later, we are leaving this course not just as a postgraduate but also as a far more aware & far more responsible wealth creators.

It has been quiet a long and short journey for all of us. Long because of tiring lectures, never-ending DIYAs and all the crazy assignments that we had to deal with while dedicatedly trying to focus on business back home… Our teachers, of course, spent an inhuman amount of time here, ensuring that our lives remained that way. Well, teachers, administrators and 'ekosh', thank you so much for putting up with our tantrums and ensuring that we completed all of it effectively and efficiently. It really helped us understand our business, our people and ourselves quite well. I am sure, you would agree that we have become smarter now ;)

This journey seems short because of the lifelong friendships, the lasting memories, and the truly interesting and amazing things that we learned between the occasional bits of hardwork. Good or bad, long or short, I will always remember this place.

Personally, I have always believed that a great institution’s hallmark is not really the course but the diversity & quality it brings together to a classroom- as students and teachers. I... and I believe all of us have been quite blessed to be a part of FMB in that aspect. We have not few but many a great humans around us in our batch, who taught us about companionship, sportsmanship, humility, business principles and life in general.

One of my greatest teacher from my school days once told us that- Sign of a healthy growth in a student is-- fearless questioning. But while we do so, we end up creating a lot of trouble for our teachers. I’ve been quite a troublemaker myself. For a teacher, it takes real courage and strong will to let their guard down and still be able to enlighten troublemakers like us. Well, we have no dearth of such gurus here at SP Jain. Thank you teachers and administrators once again.

  

I would like to end this speech with a quote, which I happen to have read yesterday on facebook. 'There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.’ Those are the words of Nelson Mandela.

So What’s next? Well, exactly what FMB taught us. The field is set, and now its your turn.

My Fellow Fmbians, Congratulations and all the very best.

King's Speech

परिवार (family); Well that's the first word that came to my mind as I thought of writing this blog about my 18 month long journey at SP Jain Institute of Management & Research. And now that my course (PGP-FMB: an 18 week, parent sponsored educational vacation for unprivileged kids who chose to support Family Business :D) is over, the time spent doesn't seem long enough. I wish I could have more of it… but like all good things, it has come to an end as well. Also, it is time to do work for real and let my nation, my fellow citizens, my company, my people and my family reap the benefits of my mind-blowing biz-skills (no I'm not talking about the business plan we submitted for the lovely certificate we are yet to get) for once!!

I have so many people to talk about that I have decided not to mention a single name in this blog. It is for them to find their mention in this blog. I met some really amazing people at FMB, who not only changed the way I used to think about people and world but also changed the person I was. Better or Worse, is still to be answered ;)

I met the cry-babies, the drama-kings (hardly any queens), angry-young men, argumentative Indians, x-fashionables, leaders, followers, quiet ones, loud ones, sleepy ones, full-kill ones, genius minds, dumb minds, average mind, pretentious kinds, party people, early sleepers and me… a different me. Difference was only in the perspective; how I viewed them on first day of the course and on the last day? The same people, same acts and same talks now seemed different and the only thing that had changed was 'me'.

I owe a lot to everyone around. Everyone who made me 'shut-up' during lectures, everyone who was thoughtful enough to tell me as to why I was so irritating to others, everyone who made me 'drink' my first every kind of alcohol, everyone who made me dance, everyone who asked me to join them for lunch or dinner or movie, everyone who appreciated me when I was still judging them for various reasons… everyone who made me understand what exactly I had come for at FMB and exactly what not?

FMB class is way diverse, not the kind you find at institutes which have rigorous admission processes. In those places students still got the basic commonality of ability to grasp academic concepts at almost same pace. Hence they mostly think alike and work alike. But at FMB, there is nothing that you find in common. In a group of 150, you find 300 different personalities, who live different lives when they are at home and when they are at FMB. There exists no common thread except for the fact that they all belong to Family Business. And since we did business for 3/4th time every month, we were mostly busy making a special family of a kind in remaining 1/4th time… "The FMB Time".

I was still a kid and in my own world when I joined FMB. Back in Delhi, it would be a once in a month affair to go out and stay out after 10 PM. At this point I would like to clarify that there weren't any restriction. Let's put it like this… I didn't know much about spending what I earned. My mother now often complains that for past 8 months, I have been staying less at home. It was bound to happen. You FMBians were kind enough to take me to a bar for the first time. It may not have been ideal but iBar was my first Bar :P I am sure that sounds cheesy. But like all cheesy stuff, it feels good to have said that. And then people talked to me like never before (tu mera bhai hai moment). It was indeed a turning point.

For the first 6 months, i would tell people outside of FMB that FMB is all bout parties and alcohol and smoke and more party and more alcohol and more smoke… Only when i reached the 'maikhana', did I realise that  those parties were more about Family, more about Business, more about Management and more about LOVE.

Goa Trip was probably one of my best times at FMB followed by Farewell, Tarang, PG Labs and Industrial Visits. Oh! Mumbai, thanks for being so nice and patient with me. You ensured that I could fulfil my dream of a 'Road-Trip' not once but twice. I hate you like I love you. I didn't think I would every say this, but I do miss Mumbai. I drove through some amazing cities like Jaipur, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Vapi, Pune and Goa and made friends along the way. None of these visits would have happened, if it weren't for FMB.

FMB may not teach you accounts or economics or operations management… but it does teach you a great deal about Human Resource Management... and trust me it is the best on the job-learning experience possible. It teaches you a great deal about life… the life that you never had.

If any of you happen to visit New Delhi or even cross by it, you will always find a friend here.

"Thanks to all, ever-frustrating teachers, frustrated admin-staff and each one of my fellow FMBians"

I met her once...

Dear Dream Girl (Yes, I met her),

You are an inspiration. Even more you are a challenge. You have in you a kind of strength like no one I have ever known. And from what I have seen, you spread joy and happiness to everyone around you. I feel fortunate that I met you and even more because I carry with me a real special part of you.

While, most of the times I would be comforting others, it's amazing to see that instead you are the one who comforts me. Your strength is eternal and your spirit in tough times is astonishing. I really wish to thank you for comforting me in my tough times.

We may not be in the same city, we may not be talking the whole day and yet it seems to me that you are always around when I need you, always willing to listen when I need to talk and always ready to get involved in my 'dilemmas of life'

"It takes a long time to grow an old friend" -- John Leonard

However, with you and I, it doesn't really apply. I don't have an exact idea as to what clicked between two of us. But it is one hell of a ride that I have had with you so far. It seems that I will never have a friend like you in my life. With you, sharing my greatest of insecurities, fears and worries just gets easier.

Every event in our life is like a dot. As Steve Jobs said once, "you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever." I am sure that the dot representing our recent life together will somehow get connected to other dots of our life. For that I trust in karma and cosmic energy.

You are one lady who has really understood me deep inside out. You are really special to me, like no other person. I simply wish that whatever may come into our lives, we must continue to be friends.

You are amazing, and incredible. Celebrate the being you chose to be. Magic is believing in yourself.

… and you are Magic!!!