Seminar on life . . .

Introduction:

Since the seminar was an activity cum speech I thought that it would be better if I could try to reproduce the dialogues I spoke so that we could get the feel.

Subject:

Hey guys! Let’s start off this seminar with an activity!!

Point your index finger out and repeat after me!! When I say where the ceiling is? You need to point to the ceiling and say there! Where’s the floor? Point to the floor and say there!! Come on!! Everybody after me!

Where’s the ceiling? “THERE…!”

Where’s the floor? “THERE…!”

Where’s the door?

Where’s the window?

Where’s the future?

“Everywhere… “

Some blank faces!!

The answer to that is you need to point to yourselves!

Have the courage to know that YOU are the future!

Have the courage to believe in yourself!

Have the courage to know that each and every one sitting in this room have the future in their hands and they can make or break it!

The future just doesn’t happen!

We need to create it!

Coz we own it!

Let’s move forward!

Pointing to someone…

“What’s your age? “

“18…”

“Ten years ago, did things turn out the way you wanted it to be? Did things turn out the way it should be? “

“….no….”

“Five years ago….? “

“ … No… “

“Three years ago? “

“No...”

“Last year? “

“Definitely no…”

“This moment? “

“No...”

Things never did turn out the way it should be…

“Five years from now, will things turn out the way you want it to be? “

“..Maybe…”

“All the things?....”

“No…”

“Ten years from now…?”

“No…”

“Thirty years from now will things turn out the way it should be?”

“No...”

“WHEN YOU DIE, WILL THINGS TURN OUT THE WAY IT SHOULD BE?”

“F**kin hell no… “

From the time you’re born, till the time you die, things will never turn out the way it should be!!

LIFE IS HOPELESS!!!

Consider this, you’re playing a cricket match and you need 50 runs off the last over! You know for sure you’re gonna lose! That will take all the pressure off you, won’t it?

“Yeah…”

Will you play without fear; will you play without any pressure? Will you enjoy playing the game?

“Yeah… “

That’s what I want you to get!

When you know you’re gonna lose in the race of life, play freely!

Play fully, give it your all

And then give some more!!!

How many of you out here have stage fear?

Slowly hands begin to rise! More than half!!

“Ok… I don’t know what stage fear is!! Please explain the sensation to me!!”

“You get butterflies in your stomach, you get nervous, you can’t speak, your hands start to shiver… “

That’s what is stage fear?

“Yeah... “

Is that so? Then even I have stage fear!!

Blank faces….

Yeah... how many of you think that I committed grammatical errors while speakin?

Some hands rise up…

Even as I’m speaking to you I’m nervous and my hands are sweating! Do you think I have stage fear then?

“No…”

Then what is stage fear?

STAGE FEAR DOESN’T EXIST!

It is something which we create as an excuse to not bein brave!

Stand even if it means to stand alone!

Move forward even when no one follows!

How many people come from the past and say I’m not good enough! I don’t belong! I suck!

When you flunked in your exams… I’m not good enough!

When you failed in something… I don’t belong! I suck!!

You know what’s stopping you from moving forward and hitting your dreams?

It’s you!

The only thing that’s stopping you is you!!!

You know what you need to do with these considerations?

I write on the board…

I don’t belong! I suck! I’m not good enough!

I take a step back, draw back my hand and then BANG!

I slam the board!

That’s what you need to do!!

There are two ways of running a race...

Looking forwards towards the finish line and running!

There’s also another way!

Looking backwards and running (imitating)!

Why don’t racers run that way?

Surely they won’t know where they’re running to!!

You know what the funny part is (laughing a bit along with the audience)…

THAT’S WHAT WE HAVE BEEN DOIN IN THE RACE OF LIFE!

Pin drop silence…

Every time we run our race, the past comes out in front of us and shields us from our powerful future!

You move forward, you move backwards, you move forwards, you move backwards…

WE’VE BEEN STAGNATIN IN OUR F**KIN LIVES!

You know what you need to do?

(I pick up a water bottle.... place it on the stage...)

Whenever you run and the past comes in front of you, catch hold of the past, and thrust it into the bottle….

Catch hold... thrust it in...

Catch hold... thrust it in...

The bottle is getting filled up… quarter filled... half filled... 3/4ths…

You know what you need to do with the past now?

Pin drop silence...

I take a deep breath and…

Kick the bottle across the stage!!!!

That’s what you need to do!

I’ll finish by doing the activity once more! Can we?

“YES!!!!!!!!!!! “

Where’s the ceiling?

Where’s the floor?

Where’s the door?

Where’s the window?

Where’s the future?

Pointing to themselves “HERE…..!!!!!!!!!”

Result:

Though I never want to be pessimistic if I could help it, some hard truths need to be told flat in the face! Considering the overwhelming response I proudly declare my seminar as a success!!

Trust fall . . .

Let’s do something different! I’m sure you’ll be bored if I repeat the last seminar again!

We’ll do another activity!

For this activity, I need one representative from the audience.

Venkatesh stands up…

Applause breaks out…

Venkatesh, here’s what I want you to do…

Face the board…

Stand on the edge of the stage…

When I say 1…2…3, you need to fall back…

I’m not responsible if you break your head!!!

“Ok…”

1…2…3…

He just steps back and acts as if he fell…

No… I want you to really fall… fall on your back…

He shakes his head…

“Of course not…”

Ok… let’s give him an option…

Call four people from the class whom you can trust the most…

He calls out… 1…2…3…4…

Here’s what I want the four of you to do…

Hold hands and when venkatesh falls, catch hold of him and push him back…

“Ok…”

Ok… 1…2…3…

He falls… they catch hold of him and push him back onto the stage…

They all depart to warm applause…

Ok… What do you think you got out of the activity?

Niki got up and said “You need to fall in life to be able to move forward… failures are the stepping stones to success…”

Good… but what do you think was different between the first and the second case of the activity…

“In the second case, he didn’t have any fear…”

Bang on the head…

I just wanted to tell you…

There are 3 types of friends…

Consider I’m running a multi-million dollar company and that I’ve lost a part of my money…

Well, I’m sitting there crying and the first friend comes in… he sees me crying and he also starts crying…

Does that help?

“NO…”

Well, I’m still sitting there crying and the second friend comes in… he says “it’s all fate… you can’t change it…” he consoles me… does that help?

“NO…”

Man, I’ve already got loads of problems, I’m looking for solutions…

I’m still crying and the third friend comes in… he sees me crying… throws an arm around my shoulder and says… “So what if you’ve lost a part of your money? You’ve still not lost ME! What’s a friend for if he can’t help you out of your troubles… come, together, we’ll recreate your business… together we’ll push your business back to the same level… if not, we’ll take it to the next level…”

Does that help?

“YES…..”

Just look around you… how many friends you have whom you can really trust?

Well… I just wanted to say this… I may not hang out with you guys at pizza corners or coffee days, but, when you need help, I’ll be the first one to lend my shoulder… no, not for you to cry on… but as a support for you to move to the next level… Trust me… Will you?

“YES….”

I walk for the second time, back to my seat…

Silence is no answer . . .

(this DOESN'T reflect my current state, its just a poem..so, read on)

Finally I look into your eyes,

Bursting to question you about our past,

Blurred and tinged with rust,

I deny that you are finally not mine.

Through life’s storms we rode,

Hand-in-hand, lost in love,

And, suddenly the sky darkened and I lost grip,

Your hand was slipping away from me,

You were moving too far..too fast.

I struggled to come to terms with your loss,

Even now, I cry…night in and night out.

Why did you leave me for someone else ?

What did he give you that I could not offer ?

I need answers dear, I see you here..happy with him.

My own unhappy future breaches through,

My soul eaten up by your cunning thoughts,

You played with me, my heart…my life.

And, still I cant hurt you, nor hate you.

Tell me why…you went away leaving me alone,

Groping in the dark for your hands, for your love,

My eyes meet yours questioningly,

I need reasons, I need answers from you,

But, please don’t look at me like that dear, I fall in love,

Turn your face away and tell me why…

Silence is no answer.

Virtusa

December 16th, 2010.

So, finally I can say with a certain amount of pride that I have been recruited in one of the leading companies in America, Virtusa :) And, boy, the process of selection of the final list of candidates for the company took a long time ! whew ! and, by the time I had finished it was 12 o clock in the night. Talk about love for the job ;)

The entire selection process was a mind boggling routine, we had three VERY difficult rounds and I was almost starved for breath...Talk about mind-freak...this will surely rank as one amongst them :) The first round was a written test, that had six sections (!!). Reading was ok, writing was the easiest, but, then came the tough part. Aptitude was totally different from what I had expected, and, they asked us all sorts of questions from a variety of domains, visualization, and, problem solving..I was famished but the end of it ;)
Then came C programming and believe me, it was very tough, they had six problems extending to many pages with all those >>,<<,^,* operators, it would take a professional about ten minutes to solve and we only had 5 minutes to solve it ! :(

Let's cut out the boring talk now, and get on with business :) We had to wait three hours for the results to be announced and only 20 people in the end were selected for the technical and HR rounds. 20 out of 430 students, wow, that's something :)
The technical interview was a different ball game altogether ! The interviewer, Mr.Jo went through my resume and found that I had compered various stage shows in college, and so he went on to ask me all sorts of...well...HR questions ;) HR questions in a technical interview..unbelievable !

The interview went on for 40 minutes and by the end of it, he was very impressed with me and said to me that I have a very interesting personality ;) He said I'll ask the HR interviewer to handle me and I was like "Hey !! you didn't ask me any technical questions !" I was pissed off, after all, I had studied technical and practiced over 450 programs just so that I could clear this round..! and, so, I pleaded with him to PLEASE ask me atleast one technical question and still he deemed it best to disappoint me ! poor me :(

The HR interview was amazing, I was in my elements and words were flowing like a river meeting the sea :) I knew that I could get placed by the end of it all, but, still the tension was unbearable. We had to wait till 12 o clock in the night to know the results and one by one the names were called out...They were announcing the names in alphabetical order(which I didnt realise till later) and, so, with every name being read out, my hopes were beginning to diminish...1..2..3...10...11...I thought i was screwed :) and, then they read out the name that mattered the most to me and it was like "and, the last one in Virtusa is Vishnu Vardhan" :) :)

I can never forget December 15th, 2010 for changing my life :) and, though I have job offers from various companies, I love the fact that passing the virtusan test was the most difficult challenge I had to face, and, maybe, for that reason alone, I will surely be a future employee in Virtusa :) Cheers to life !

Fingers crossed

December 14th, 2010.

My fingers are crossed and am finding it a bit difficult to write on my blog ;) My placements start tomorrow and, I gotta tell you...Am very excited ! I've given my best in terms of preparation, I've taught aptitude and various other sections related to the selection process to all of my friends, and now the real battle is between them and me ;)

I believe that winning alone is a selfish act, winning with the team and growing along with your colleagues make victory taste even sweeter.. please forgive this bit of advice, your eyes must be sore after reading this, ;)but, this is one of the dialogues that i will tell my employees tomorrow.

The last two days have been a hectic frenzy for me, what with me attending one of my friend's (numerous) cousin's wedding function...and, boy, didn't i enjoy myself there ! I was the official photographer for their family and I had a great time with my little gang of friends too..We were playing games based on profession...I have to admit..the next generation youngsters know TOO MUCH :)

Am planning today to catch up with mr.surya's movie, Raktha Charithram, which i heard is a bloodbath :) I dislike the word "bath" in any shape or form, but, I still urge myself to see it..just for you surya,(just understand my liking for priyamani). RGV may be a maverick director but still he is lucky to direct a beautiful actress..God DON'T bless him please :)

My sisy is hounding me to drop her at her friend's place, it seems that a man with an activa as his vehicle can still become an official chauffeur IF and ONLY IF there is no other means of transportation available (which means mom is unwell). Mom had to take an injection on the place that she has to sit, and, so, she is lying on her bad sideways up. ;)

That leaves me alone with you Mr. B, and, am afraid that something might happen to me with you for company...So, with any further ado, i will escape your clutches and hope that my v***********y is safe. :P Meet you tomorrow, hopefully with an offer letter..but, dont dream too big ! And, keep your fingers crossed too :)