You know what is the best thing that could happen after a sleepless and peace-deprived weekend and a six hour class on a Sunday morning? A talk by one of your role models. The one who had been one of the main reasons for what you are today. I was lucky enough to have such an experience.
Kiran Bedi was in IITM, to share her experiences with the future leaders of the nation (well, she called us that). We had enough goof ups before the start of the event, audience mistaking an old lady as kiran bedi and worse still, one of the organizers joining them and starting to read the welcome address for the old lady. The laughter that started, couldn’t be stopped even after the lady of the evening came and the guy welcomed her with the same speech yet again.
All this was till Kiran bedi went onstage. Words wouldn’t do justice to explain the experience that we had for the next sixty minutes. Man, what energy! It didn't take long to figure out, why she left service.. Here is one rare celebrity who doesn't mince words. Ten minutes after she started, she accused us for not producing enough patents and abusing tax payers money..And we cheered her up :)
For people who misssed it, here is the crux of what she said:
1. Be a Master in what you do. Success is not the aim, excellence is... Being ordinary is a sin
2. Be a Member of the community. Without being inclusive, you can succeed but you can't be happy.
3. Define a Meaning for your life.
Well, that’s 3M for you. The best part was , she declared that she might form a government one day..Here is a lady who, after all she has done, was abused by a system but still believes she could make a difference.
I definitely can't bring even one tenth of the effect she had on the audience through this post. It was not about a good lecture which was entertaining, or one which had a wonderful speaker, or about one of the rare women who had finally made it big. It was all and much more than that. It was about a human who worked to make a positive difference wherever she went, and who continues to do. Here is the link to her site: http://www.kiranbedi.com/
For once, I couldn’t find a smart closing line :P
I guess its the Kiran Bedi effect. So let me close with her words itself:
“Your work should aim at solving problems not at stopping obstacles.”
Contributed by
Revathy Easwar,
MBA Class of 2011
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