so much for coming down here it’s
fantastic to see you here I also see
some ex students from our icon
conferences so thank you so much I don’t
understand one thing though since I’ve
come in the morning it’s extremely
serious here so a little bit about
myself I am I do a little bit of
stand-up comedy on the side so I’m not
used to such a serious audience this
kind of silence freaks me out people at
the icon conference you know this so you
gotta help me with this please give me
some noise I get palpitations I might
just get a heart attack
so please okay can you please give me
some noise people especially yeah
that was depressing but anyway I knew
you would do this which is why I’ve got
a bag there if you saw me carry around a
bag I’ve got a bag full of chocolates
for arrows because I’m swanky like that
so what we’re gonna do is as follows
before I start this side of the aisle on
the count of three you’re going to shout
we love you tej we’re on a mod okay yeah
we do they do any math if you don’t know
both the handsome guys who started off
they’ve organized the whole thing and
then on the count of three this side is
going to shout we love you tej we’re any
mod whoever’s louder I throw the
Pharaohs people from the icon
conferences you know I do this all the
time okay into the audience do you want
me to do this if not we can just start
off yes or no you want chocolates Nikita
I knew that okay brilliant brilliant so
on the content age pyramid are you guys
here building you need to decide who
loves you more okay okay you decide that
this side on the count of three we love
you THV random odd one two three
okay that’s not shouting guys please
last we do not too much time teacher is
giving the stare already okay I’ll give
you one more chance one two three okay
it’s alright get used to this kind of
love okay this side on the count of
three okay yeah these occult girls are
all ready to eat chocolates
one two three all right Patriot Ahmad
who loves you more you gotta decide
you’re gonna decide no they don’t choose
a side choose a side you all right am i
right okay anyway anyway so um thank you
very much you guys were absolutely
depressing as usual so lesson one from
my TEDx speech do not trust too many
people especially when they say they’ve
got free chocolates for you there are no
free lunches but thank you very much for
live inning it off for me you can start
my clock now I thank you very much for
firstly inviting me down here it really
is an honor especially to share the
stage with such stalwarts truly is an
honor and the big congratulations to the
Dune school and especially to the TEDx
team hbr and Ahmad you guys are doing a
fantastic job well done as much as I do
have a receding hairline I’m not 28
though as has been mentioned the speaker
bio I’m only 26
moving on to 27 which unless I’m
mistaken makes me one of the younger
more junior speakers here today with
relatively very little experience of
life but considering that the majority
of the audience here is high school
students I will attempt to share a few
of my learnings that I’ve had in the
past few years that I believe are most
relevant and useful for high school
students so ladies and gentlemen may I
shake who I’m a lover boy oh yeah that
was the opening line for my debate back
in school at a really serious and
prestigious kind of a debate like this
I’m from here back to 2009 the Dune
school and back in school I used to
debate a lot and I would say the
weirdest craziest things on
and trust me this was not as close to
how weird I got on stage and I used to
feel extremely cool about it and why
wouldn’t I
I could do anything man I was a super
cool achiever with a hundred feathers on
my hat because I was a cool cat like
that you know Scala’s blazer house
captain prefix representative to the
school council school disciplinary
committee school colors of warning
committee double english debating colors
hindi debating colors you gotta like
count and clap when I say this you know
house colors lambda goal
taught my bachelor ICSE ladies be like
damn I was on top of the world man
nobody could do all that I did you know
no I’m saying nobody could do all that I
did and that made me a cocky little kid
out in the French insolent fella my
Hindi teacher used to say in English
which anyway point is I was on top of
the world and then I fell in love with a
well M girl which is the most
characteristic fall that most Oscars
experienced donde I’m kidding I’m
kidding when was I love you I told you I
do a little bit of Santa comedy so I
might just crack a couple of jokes on
you please don’t please don’t take
offense it’s all in good humor you’re
not taking offense are you no great
because there’s more coming I love you
Ellen girls I love you most of you
anyway I was in love and it was
brilliant man who’s beautiful he was
amazing
till we broke up
you’re laughing by choice no choice
whatever you you it’s really serious you
guys are insensitive because I was
heartbroken I went completely Devdas
yeah you still laughing um I was down
there man and around the same time my
grandfather passed away my paternal
grandfather and month and a half later
my maternal grandfather passed away so
my parents were pretty distraught there
was a lot of crying at home a lot of
fighting not pretty scene at all since I
was really young I had been at the top
of my class academically pretty
consistently pardon the lack of humility
but around this time when I needed the
marks the most to get into a good
college I was anyway going through so
much I didn’t get the marks and my my
ego got hurt my self confidence was
shaken and I went through this really
grueling and humiliating process of
going of auditioning through the
extracurricular activity quota debate at
Delhi University which is what I wanted
to go luckily I did get into a good
college but only to realize that Delhi
University was just not my thing with
all due respect to Delhi University it’s
a great place they’re doing brilliant
things but I was a misfit there and I
just hated going to college I I didn’t
even have that solace I’ll be very
honest and candid with you I was also
scared of going to college because from
where I’ve stayed on my way to college I
had to cross my ex-girlfriends college
which is not funny I I was scared
I would see her with her new boyfriend
it is really not funny
I did see them a couple of times and I
just completely killed me man like you
know that kind of a feeling I didn’t
have a girlfriend then I started to make
wrong decisions I decided to pursue
chartered accountancy which again is a
super brilliant course by the way for
the record no offense meant I was a
misfit there it just it was contrary to
my personality and I it started to pull
me down even more once I heard my
parents talk about some normal business
problems and I started to think that
we’re in some major financial distress
which was not the case in retrospect but
the environment around me was so
negative my frame of mind was so
negative that I started to perceive
everything way more negatively than it
actually was
and before I knew it I went into
clinical depression for two to three
years of my life two to three precious
youthful undergraduate years of my life
were wasted just being depressed I was
also suicidal for a month in between
within this time and you’ve become
extremely serious now so anyway after
two three years I slowly started
rebuilding myself and with God grace
Dashwood I got back to normal now why
did I tell you about this entire episode
of my life there were a lot of learnings
that came in that that would be pretty
relevant for you because you might be
facing them now or would face them soon
three of which really stood out I will
bullet them and then I will elaborate on
them one arrogance is foolish humility
is sexy too emotional intelligence is
the name of the game and three stay away
from Wellum goals
kidding kidding he’s got two CDs okay
both these learnings you know a prima
facie by the sound of it they’re pretty
obvious we know we need to be humble
everyone tells us we should not be
arrogant but deny it all you want
we are arrogant every day however much
we know we shouldn’t be how we speak
with our superiors very different from
how we speak with our inferiors the very
fact that we do consider someone
inferior subconsciously if not
consciously is arrogance there are some
people whose phone calls we will return
immediately and then there are others
who will take our own sweet time with
that is arrogance so why don’t we just
follow these simple concepts I think
it’s because we do not really understand
the fundamental logic behind them we do
not we do not understand the gravity of
that logic so it’s very simple most of
us are arrogant because of our
achievements unless you’re from Delhi in
which case you’re arrogant about your
dad’s money the air is polluted there in
ways more than one point I’m kidding
Delhi people or not
anyway so most of us are arrogant
because of our achievements and it’s
very simple your and my months please
note your and my achievements are not
your and my achievements they are the
consequence of the universe coming
together in ways that you and I cannot
even attempt to understand really that
brings about the bring about
circumstances and resources that lead to
those achievements for example if you
and I tomorrow were to become great
people and we impact the world in a
positive way and create a big name for
ourselves a large part of it this is
very basic stuff a large part of it is
attributable to the fact that you and I
were lucky enough to come to prestigious
and great institutions like the one that
were standing in because our parents
could afford it because they had the
vision to send us here because we got in
here we really didn’t do too much we
just simply got lucky man relative to
the expanse of the universe you me the
President of the United States of
America were insignificant specks of
dust you know to put things into
perspective they say that if the Earth’s
history were to be concentrated into 24
hours just the earth not the universe
if the Earth’s history were to be
concentrated into 24 hours mankind as we
know it would start to exist
only in the last two minutes of the 24th
hour we are that insignificant there is
nothing that we can possibly even think
of doing that warrants any kind of
arrogance so please be humble in every
aspect of life and just in case this
becomes too spiritual for your liking
and you don’t really agree with this too
much there’s another perspective to
humility
well practice humility for fear of karma
which is also slightly spiritual but in
my very limited experience of life karma
has hit intensively immediately
unforgivingly every time every time I
have been arrogant about something or
showed something off it has come
crashing down one day I was on top of
the world and just one year later I was
suicidal arrogance is foolish success is
like the Roman fickle crowd if you still
read Shakespeare humility is sexy moving
on to my second point about the
emotional intelligence which is my
favorite because I faced this a lot
emotional stress today in today’s youth
is way more pronounced than it has ever
been now whether it be because of ultra
urbanization or enhanced modernization
and the onset of social media and the
consequential diminishing quality and
quantity of personal conversation this
unnerving stress on physical attributes
and this glamorization of frivolity and
promiscuity all come together to cause
this emotional stress which has led to a
crazy spike in the quantum and intensity
of mental illnesses like depression that
I faced immediately after high school
and therefore this is an appeal to you
as high school students to please start
to focus your energies on to building
your emotional quotient which in my
opinion today is much more important
than the intelligence quotient that we
keep working on and I’m sorry I’m going
to be extremely candid my teachers are
here but I’m standing in a school but
education in our country is no my close
to what it could and should be we know
that the majority of the schools in our
country don’t
think about the emotional quotient let
alone act on it and some of the better
schools do but relative to international
standards I’m sorry between nowhere and
therefore till this infrastructure
starts to get built the prerogative
starts to fall on you as high school
students your parents your teachers the
entire ecosystem – please start to focus
your energies your time your resources
on to building that emotional quotient
because the problems that you’re going
to face are very different from the
problems that your previous generations
face and you need to be equipped to
handle them now for paucity of time I
think I’m almost done that I won’t
really get into how to build that
emotional quotient with just as a little
sneak peek as a little introduction it’s
all about training your mind it’s about
getting your mind and control and your
emotions in control where each time and
listen carefully each time you face a
problem where you don’t think you have a
solution each time you feel low and you
don’t know what to do
you’ve got to take a step back and start
to treat that problem as an opportunity
to prove to yourself and to the world
your real words you need to take a step
back and start to tell yourself that you
will not fall into this spiral of
negativity that you will not succumb
that you will overcome that you will
ensure that the fire inside you burns
brighter than the fire around you pardon
the French but in the words of the wolf
of wallstreet they say that the only
thing standing between you and your goal
is that story that you keep
telling yourself as to why you can’t do
it you have a problem you find a way out
you don’t find one you make one they say
that the rocket flies higher than the
plane because it’s ass is on fire so put
that ass on fire and fly away people
because you’re destined for greatness
and let nothing come in the way not even
yourselves thank you
emotional intelligence people work on it
if nothing else it’ll help you stay
happy which reminds me of a little
something that I that I read somewhere I
think it was about John Lennon but I’m
not so sure where the teacher asked the
students to write an essay on what they
want to be when they grow up this one
student wrote just one line he wrote
when I grow up I want to be happy the
teacher said to the student I don’t
think you understood the assignment the
student said to the teacher I don’t
think you understood life
fantastic to see you here I also see
some ex students from our icon
conferences so thank you so much I don’t
understand one thing though since I’ve
come in the morning it’s extremely
serious here so a little bit about
myself I am I do a little bit of
stand-up comedy on the side so I’m not
used to such a serious audience this
kind of silence freaks me out people at
the icon conference you know this so you
gotta help me with this please give me
some noise I get palpitations I might
just get a heart attack
so please okay can you please give me
some noise people especially yeah
that was depressing but anyway I knew
you would do this which is why I’ve got
a bag there if you saw me carry around a
bag I’ve got a bag full of chocolates
for arrows because I’m swanky like that
so what we’re gonna do is as follows
before I start this side of the aisle on
the count of three you’re going to shout
we love you tej we’re on a mod okay yeah
we do they do any math if you don’t know
both the handsome guys who started off
they’ve organized the whole thing and
then on the count of three this side is
going to shout we love you tej we’re any
mod whoever’s louder I throw the
Pharaohs people from the icon
conferences you know I do this all the
time okay into the audience do you want
me to do this if not we can just start
off yes or no you want chocolates Nikita
I knew that okay brilliant brilliant so
on the content age pyramid are you guys
here building you need to decide who
loves you more okay okay you decide that
this side on the count of three we love
you THV random odd one two three
okay that’s not shouting guys please
last we do not too much time teacher is
giving the stare already okay I’ll give
you one more chance one two three okay
it’s alright get used to this kind of
love okay this side on the count of
three okay yeah these occult girls are
all ready to eat chocolates
one two three all right Patriot Ahmad
who loves you more you gotta decide
you’re gonna decide no they don’t choose
a side choose a side you all right am i
right okay anyway anyway so um thank you
very much you guys were absolutely
depressing as usual so lesson one from
my TEDx speech do not trust too many
people especially when they say they’ve
got free chocolates for you there are no
free lunches but thank you very much for
live inning it off for me you can start
my clock now I thank you very much for
firstly inviting me down here it really
is an honor especially to share the
stage with such stalwarts truly is an
honor and the big congratulations to the
Dune school and especially to the TEDx
team hbr and Ahmad you guys are doing a
fantastic job well done as much as I do
have a receding hairline I’m not 28
though as has been mentioned the speaker
bio I’m only 26
moving on to 27 which unless I’m
mistaken makes me one of the younger
more junior speakers here today with
relatively very little experience of
life but considering that the majority
of the audience here is high school
students I will attempt to share a few
of my learnings that I’ve had in the
past few years that I believe are most
relevant and useful for high school
students so ladies and gentlemen may I
shake who I’m a lover boy oh yeah that
was the opening line for my debate back
in school at a really serious and
prestigious kind of a debate like this
I’m from here back to 2009 the Dune
school and back in school I used to
debate a lot and I would say the
weirdest craziest things on
and trust me this was not as close to
how weird I got on stage and I used to
feel extremely cool about it and why
wouldn’t I
I could do anything man I was a super
cool achiever with a hundred feathers on
my hat because I was a cool cat like
that you know Scala’s blazer house
captain prefix representative to the
school council school disciplinary
committee school colors of warning
committee double english debating colors
hindi debating colors you gotta like
count and clap when I say this you know
house colors lambda goal
taught my bachelor ICSE ladies be like
damn I was on top of the world man
nobody could do all that I did you know
no I’m saying nobody could do all that I
did and that made me a cocky little kid
out in the French insolent fella my
Hindi teacher used to say in English
which anyway point is I was on top of
the world and then I fell in love with a
well M girl which is the most
characteristic fall that most Oscars
experienced donde I’m kidding I’m
kidding when was I love you I told you I
do a little bit of Santa comedy so I
might just crack a couple of jokes on
you please don’t please don’t take
offense it’s all in good humor you’re
not taking offense are you no great
because there’s more coming I love you
Ellen girls I love you most of you
anyway I was in love and it was
brilliant man who’s beautiful he was
amazing
till we broke up
you’re laughing by choice no choice
whatever you you it’s really serious you
guys are insensitive because I was
heartbroken I went completely Devdas
yeah you still laughing um I was down
there man and around the same time my
grandfather passed away my paternal
grandfather and month and a half later
my maternal grandfather passed away so
my parents were pretty distraught there
was a lot of crying at home a lot of
fighting not pretty scene at all since I
was really young I had been at the top
of my class academically pretty
consistently pardon the lack of humility
but around this time when I needed the
marks the most to get into a good
college I was anyway going through so
much I didn’t get the marks and my my
ego got hurt my self confidence was
shaken and I went through this really
grueling and humiliating process of
going of auditioning through the
extracurricular activity quota debate at
Delhi University which is what I wanted
to go luckily I did get into a good
college but only to realize that Delhi
University was just not my thing with
all due respect to Delhi University it’s
a great place they’re doing brilliant
things but I was a misfit there and I
just hated going to college I I didn’t
even have that solace I’ll be very
honest and candid with you I was also
scared of going to college because from
where I’ve stayed on my way to college I
had to cross my ex-girlfriends college
which is not funny I I was scared
I would see her with her new boyfriend
it is really not funny
I did see them a couple of times and I
just completely killed me man like you
know that kind of a feeling I didn’t
have a girlfriend then I started to make
wrong decisions I decided to pursue
chartered accountancy which again is a
super brilliant course by the way for
the record no offense meant I was a
misfit there it just it was contrary to
my personality and I it started to pull
me down even more once I heard my
parents talk about some normal business
problems and I started to think that
we’re in some major financial distress
which was not the case in retrospect but
the environment around me was so
negative my frame of mind was so
negative that I started to perceive
everything way more negatively than it
actually was
and before I knew it I went into
clinical depression for two to three
years of my life two to three precious
youthful undergraduate years of my life
were wasted just being depressed I was
also suicidal for a month in between
within this time and you’ve become
extremely serious now so anyway after
two three years I slowly started
rebuilding myself and with God grace
Dashwood I got back to normal now why
did I tell you about this entire episode
of my life there were a lot of learnings
that came in that that would be pretty
relevant for you because you might be
facing them now or would face them soon
three of which really stood out I will
bullet them and then I will elaborate on
them one arrogance is foolish humility
is sexy too emotional intelligence is
the name of the game and three stay away
from Wellum goals
kidding kidding he’s got two CDs okay
both these learnings you know a prima
facie by the sound of it they’re pretty
obvious we know we need to be humble
everyone tells us we should not be
arrogant but deny it all you want
we are arrogant every day however much
we know we shouldn’t be how we speak
with our superiors very different from
how we speak with our inferiors the very
fact that we do consider someone
inferior subconsciously if not
consciously is arrogance there are some
people whose phone calls we will return
immediately and then there are others
who will take our own sweet time with
that is arrogance so why don’t we just
follow these simple concepts I think
it’s because we do not really understand
the fundamental logic behind them we do
not we do not understand the gravity of
that logic so it’s very simple most of
us are arrogant because of our
achievements unless you’re from Delhi in
which case you’re arrogant about your
dad’s money the air is polluted there in
ways more than one point I’m kidding
Delhi people or not
anyway so most of us are arrogant
because of our achievements and it’s
very simple your and my months please
note your and my achievements are not
your and my achievements they are the
consequence of the universe coming
together in ways that you and I cannot
even attempt to understand really that
brings about the bring about
circumstances and resources that lead to
those achievements for example if you
and I tomorrow were to become great
people and we impact the world in a
positive way and create a big name for
ourselves a large part of it this is
very basic stuff a large part of it is
attributable to the fact that you and I
were lucky enough to come to prestigious
and great institutions like the one that
were standing in because our parents
could afford it because they had the
vision to send us here because we got in
here we really didn’t do too much we
just simply got lucky man relative to
the expanse of the universe you me the
President of the United States of
America were insignificant specks of
dust you know to put things into
perspective they say that if the Earth’s
history were to be concentrated into 24
hours just the earth not the universe
if the Earth’s history were to be
concentrated into 24 hours mankind as we
know it would start to exist
only in the last two minutes of the 24th
hour we are that insignificant there is
nothing that we can possibly even think
of doing that warrants any kind of
arrogance so please be humble in every
aspect of life and just in case this
becomes too spiritual for your liking
and you don’t really agree with this too
much there’s another perspective to
humility
well practice humility for fear of karma
which is also slightly spiritual but in
my very limited experience of life karma
has hit intensively immediately
unforgivingly every time every time I
have been arrogant about something or
showed something off it has come
crashing down one day I was on top of
the world and just one year later I was
suicidal arrogance is foolish success is
like the Roman fickle crowd if you still
read Shakespeare humility is sexy moving
on to my second point about the
emotional intelligence which is my
favorite because I faced this a lot
emotional stress today in today’s youth
is way more pronounced than it has ever
been now whether it be because of ultra
urbanization or enhanced modernization
and the onset of social media and the
consequential diminishing quality and
quantity of personal conversation this
unnerving stress on physical attributes
and this glamorization of frivolity and
promiscuity all come together to cause
this emotional stress which has led to a
crazy spike in the quantum and intensity
of mental illnesses like depression that
I faced immediately after high school
and therefore this is an appeal to you
as high school students to please start
to focus your energies on to building
your emotional quotient which in my
opinion today is much more important
than the intelligence quotient that we
keep working on and I’m sorry I’m going
to be extremely candid my teachers are
here but I’m standing in a school but
education in our country is no my close
to what it could and should be we know
that the majority of the schools in our
country don’t
think about the emotional quotient let
alone act on it and some of the better
schools do but relative to international
standards I’m sorry between nowhere and
therefore till this infrastructure
starts to get built the prerogative
starts to fall on you as high school
students your parents your teachers the
entire ecosystem – please start to focus
your energies your time your resources
on to building that emotional quotient
because the problems that you’re going
to face are very different from the
problems that your previous generations
face and you need to be equipped to
handle them now for paucity of time I
think I’m almost done that I won’t
really get into how to build that
emotional quotient with just as a little
sneak peek as a little introduction it’s
all about training your mind it’s about
getting your mind and control and your
emotions in control where each time and
listen carefully each time you face a
problem where you don’t think you have a
solution each time you feel low and you
don’t know what to do
you’ve got to take a step back and start
to treat that problem as an opportunity
to prove to yourself and to the world
your real words you need to take a step
back and start to tell yourself that you
will not fall into this spiral of
negativity that you will not succumb
that you will overcome that you will
ensure that the fire inside you burns
brighter than the fire around you pardon
the French but in the words of the wolf
of wallstreet they say that the only
thing standing between you and your goal
is that story that you keep
telling yourself as to why you can’t do
it you have a problem you find a way out
you don’t find one you make one they say
that the rocket flies higher than the
plane because it’s ass is on fire so put
that ass on fire and fly away people
because you’re destined for greatness
and let nothing come in the way not even
yourselves thank you
emotional intelligence people work on it
if nothing else it’ll help you stay
happy which reminds me of a little
something that I that I read somewhere I
think it was about John Lennon but I’m
not so sure where the teacher asked the
students to write an essay on what they
want to be when they grow up this one
student wrote just one line he wrote
when I grow up I want to be happy the
teacher said to the student I don’t
think you understood the assignment the
student said to the teacher I don’t
think you understood life
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