Nostalgic is how I feel, as I sit to jot my experiences for this blog. With more than 15 years of experience as an Educationist/ Trainer/ Public speaker/Mentor (you may have known me as any of these), I had taken more than 1000 seminars in Delhi/NCR, yet kept feeling this strong urge to spread my wings further. I would feel like a man with the best dishes on my plate yet something felt missing, always. And then one morning of April 2018, the much awaited moment finally came (which I didn’t know would be my moment then!), when I was invited as a Guest speaker to a tier 2 city in Rajasthan – Mody School, Laxmangarh.
The invite put me in a catch 22 situation, I sat confused thinking, should i go and take up a session in some farfetched, unheard of, small town of LAXMANGARH or continue doing what I always do, i.e. say yes to a renowned Delhi School, that was now calling me for the 5th time, requesting me for a session.
While one would mean travel, the other meant an opportunity to boast about more brand names like DPS RK Puram , Heritage School Gurgaon, Sanskriti School, etc. This time I left the decision to the kid inside me. And soon my passion helped me decide. The kid inside convinced me to explore a new place for my passion (Driving! If not for work) and it made me drive 706 Kms (to and fro) for 13.5 hours, nonstop!
People around me asked, all this effort for what, a 2 hour session that too in a Tier 2 city???
But I was going! I guess that’s the charm of addressing 17-18 year olds and drawing energy from them. For the world it might be 15 hours of non-stop work, a back breaking drive, a sleepless night, an exhausting day but for me it was feeding my passion of driving and addressing the youth.
For organisations that I work, it might be some grands or lakhs. But for me my work brings in internal peace, along with name, fame and money, The perspective of a 17-18 year old is completely different. For him, that talk is a direction to his career and he knows that the right career choice after some useful advice will not only make his life but also impact his family and maybe even generations to come.
With this sense of responsibility the Trainer and Coach in me got ready to travel miles and work 24X7 for carving careers of these young people who eagerly awaited advice. I visited Mody School in Laxmangarh and I will not be wrong in saying that by far it was not just the most difficult but the most wonderful session of my career. It was pure learning, but for whom, you’ll soon find out.
I stood aghast when I reached the school. The School housed Asia’s second largest mess with a dining capacity of 1800 students at one time. A vast campus spread over an area of 265 acres. Yes, 265 acres of greenery and a wide variety of trees, 96 species of Birds and 16 species of Butterflies, Standing there i realised, life is simply beyond the metros…
How can I not mention the biggest assets of this institution? Undoubtedly they were the intangible energy and intellect of the students of that school and by far the best I had ever witnessed. Well! Then I thought being an all-girls school the energy had to be high. The girls asked questions related to micro Biology, Cell Biology , Computation Biology and much more.
Why this session stands apart from all the other sessions in my career, is that 24 out of 160 students wanted to pursue Civil Services which reflects the fact yet again: ‘small places have big dreams’.
The quality of education is not restricted to big cities anymore and gone are those days where girls were restricted indoors and forced to study within or near their homes. Here, the students were from Mumbai , Delhi , Gujrat , Punjab, and other places across India. It was a session where I felt the roles swapped, I was a student and they were my trainers. And I have no reserve in confessing that I took away more than what I gave.
Rajasthan: A place i fell in love with.
You visit them once and their love will pull you back again to Rajasthan. And for me, in less than 45 days I was now invited to Udaipur for an open session with more than 200 young talented students and this time it was 1350+ Kms (to and fro) by road, in less than 36 hours!! I was loving it!!
I had to travel by car yet again because I was only given a day’s prior notice and fortunately there were no flights available. Yes fortunately! Because you know by now that I love to drive. I did have a choice to refuse but what would I do with the passionate kid in me? Plus, my previous experience at Rajasthan was another BIG reason to travel back.
Udaipur is not just a city of lakes, but also a hub for Commerce education. The 2019 results make me write this statement. AIR 15 in CA final is from Udaipur scoring 355 out of a total of 400. This city witnessed the success of 150 students who cleared CA final in 2019. Here, you would find 17 year olds come up and ask questions on CFA , FRM and many are already pursuing the ACCA. With them, I brushed my knowledge on commerce Education for sure.
Then after Rajasthan it was the time to visit the second largest constituency : Uttar Pradesh , Birth place of Lord Krishna : Mathura.
Before entering the place, my imagination said that I would find students sitting on the floor and would have to deliver in Hindi. But to my sheer surprise, a swanky Auditorium with 350 students awaited me. I was asked by the audience to take the entire presentation in English and the risk capacity of the students was impeccable. They wanted to be actors, singers and public speakers like me J , where one student stood up and even asked for my Autograph.
I felt like a winner , content but not complacent. This incident made me feel younger and gave me the energy to run the marathon for the next 25 years of my professional life at least.
I still sit and wonder, where does the risk taking appetite or fearlessness among the youth in such cities come from? Is it that they feel that they have nothing much to lose or is it that they are very sure about themselves and their strengths?
My question still remains unanswered. So I plan to chart some more cities to find my answers soon
And then after a small break in year 2020 I was invited in small town of Haryana – Hisar. This time the travel involved a little risk of my life because during time Corona Virus had just begun in India but this age of 32 men act fearless more than actually they are, but at the end we realise this in front of one person that this it is not bravery it is sheer ignorance and foolishness.
And guess who is that one person – None other than ourselves 😉 Just 205 Kms away from my place, a travel of 410 kms in less than 10 hours this day was a opportunity to learn from the young girls of the country. Once again an all-Girls school , the session was dominated by Humanities studies having novels in their hands. In my 15 years of experience I have never seen students using such vocabulary while talking and asking question. I am sure in future we will have a lot of authors from this school.
I live with youth more than 12 hours a day and on a daily basis I feel a day younger , enriched with knowledge and plenty of learnings. But the biggest learning from all these session I have taken in last 1 year is Never Judge a book by its cover. The talent of the students cannot be interpreted from the pin code of the school and the place they live.
Signing off.. the ABC way..
