[Applause]
potato chips good fun or so I had hoped
everyday people around the world consume
millions of bags potato chips little did
I know that one in knockos bag of chips
would define my transition from
childhood to adulthood in my high school
no iPods allowed no outside food and no
launching science pervade the crammed
colored walls of the institution rules
define life at school
unforeseen monthly bad checks were the
norm in the words of my principal
success followed those who obeyed
willingly I came up with a small nifty
math equation doesn’t make too much
sense does it let me explain
it was a sultry August morning in
Kolkata a small metropolitan city on the
southeast coast of India where I was
born and raised a school head boy it
fell upon me to conduct the monthly bag
check the prefect body and I spread out
across the school checking bags and
lockers while the students lined the
corridors outside the classrooms amidst
all the muffled voices one suddenly
stood out the boring question was all of
16 years old she quietly stood next to
me and confessed on having a bag of
potato chips in his locker against my
better judgment I did not convey the bag
of chips later word in the air was that
something wrong was not confiscated in
the classroom that I had checked the
class was rechecked by school officials
following the official inspection I was
summoned to the principal’s office and
was accused of forgiving the presence of
an iPod I was shocked
I honestly confessed or not having
confiscated a bag of potato chips but
the authorities insisted on the
existence of an iPod the presence of
which till date has not been
conclusively proved
an avalanche of unpleasant circumstances
followed my parents were called to
school in an emergency prefab body
meeting I was berated and II badged I
such humiliated it felt like a Martin
was being made out of a molehill and
adding himself to the injury they
offered to return the bash to me if I
honestly confessed on having carelessly
left the iPod I refused to confess to a
crime I had not committed she was in to
keep the remnants of my pride over that
once coveted hard-won badge I have
always been rather idealistic this
incident taught me to have an unwavering
commitment to my conscience it taught me
the value of resilience but most
importantly it taught me how to bear up
to failure and disappointment my parents
did give me the option of switching
schools while I was having a difficult
time at school I decided that quitting
was not an option it was hard too at
first but I submitted to the stares and
whispers telling myself it would all
pass away I saw the change in myself
through the change in the way I was
treated at home choosing to remain at
school was the first big decision that
was left completely up to me from there
on bigger decisions began rolling in it
wasn’t this time that I had the
conversation with my parents about
studying abroad again the final decision
was left completely up to me I was
trusted with taking my little sister and
12 of her friends out on a birthday
lunch think about the number of things
that could have gone wrong with 13 12
year olds in a public restaurant but
more importantly for the first time ever
my father began asking for my opinions I
have never been afraid responsibility
but I realized that I was now way more
willing to hold myself accountable and
to me accountability had become the
definition of adulthood a month later I
was reinstated head boy and was told
that the decision was prompted by the
majority with which
I handled the situation I accepted the
badge knowing that was the closest I
would get to an apology but by then that
badge meant way less than it would have
and a bag of potato chips or an iPod
meant way more than it should have
this incident formed the Grant is my
common application essay and got me in
to Carnegie Mellon for architecture
coming to freshman year I always assumed
myself an extrovert and thought that
fitting in would not be the slightest of
my problems well I was wrong very wrong
and it was hard and amidst my desperate
struggle of trying to fit in what did I
do
I joined Greek life you know how they
all say that if you wanna have a fun
life a social life you want to fit in
all you have to do is join Greek life
well I can tell you they are absolutely
wrong it was a great one year at my
fraternity until I saw the very people
for whom I joined graduate in front of
my eyes it made me realize that I was in
love with meeting new people but not any
other aspect of it so I went inactive
but I did not lose hope and sooner than
I do I got an offer to be an auntie
ambassador for Carnegie Mellon as an
ambassador of a gift campus tours sit on
student panels represent CMU my heart
would shop up and down showing off the
pride I had for this amazing institution
I was honored to be a part of this one
time a student even sent me a postcard
in my mailbox saying that she loved my
campus tour and that I played a huge
role in him deciding to come to Carnegie
Mellon I could not help but get teary
eyed this is when I finally started
feeling like I had bought in the grass
over university life in the United
States one fine day over the spring
semester of my freshman year as I sat
and thought I realized that all I had
done all your was spread new ideas and
connect people on intellectual grounds
it was nothing more than me with two of
my friends sitting in a room and
exclaiming you know what we should start
a TEDx CMU on campus and you know what
we did there i sat as a co-founder of
TEDx
you coming to sophomore 3 huge things
happen number one I started getting
conscious about my looks and lost a
hundred pounds in just eight months
number two my personality growth got me
the position of the coordinator of the
and ambassador program Brevard the
health of three of my other co-workers
we oversaw and led the team of 40
ambassadors and number three we
successfully executed a first TEDx cm
event it was a limited capacity 100%
event which we had spent one year
planning slogging fighting struggling
but what disappointed us the most was
that even after all this effort we had
somehow not sold out we were really
upset but we refused to give up and we
were ready to take on the new year with
a lot of stride and ready to do this
event even better the next time during
my junior year I realized that losing
weight had gone to my head I was
malnourished skinny would faint at least
once a week and would feel dizzy a
couple of times every day for that past
year I had deprived myself of any form
of fat fried sugar or anything that
would make my weight go up by even a
single gram my doctors told me that my
blood tests were all haywire and if I
did not fix my life it would have
consequences on my coming future this
scared me a lot after that I start going
to the gym but not for cardio to lift
weights and Here I am in front of you
not malnourished gaining 20 more pounds
in just pure muscle during that year we
also scaled up TEDx CMU to a 600 person
event and this time we sold out in just
one week keep in mind this is only the
second time the steam was pulling
together a TEDx event the sheer scale of
the event did not hit us till the day
off but what I can tell you is that when
you see 445 people walking out the
double doors of a packed auditorium
you’d know that the hard work has paid
off
this because in September of 2017
my senior fall scared that being a
fourth year or Kotecha student I did not
get the professional development I
needed to succeed in the industry I felt
ashamed that I could not distinguish a
business formal attire from a business
casual attire I would have to
double-check Dita’s with someone every
time I dressed up so I decided to rush a
professional on-campus couette business
organization it was a two-week
commitment rush in this business
organization turns out I did not get an
invitation to join I was disheartened
but in the process made a lot of great
friends what stuck with me the most was
there during the fine art of interviews
when I showed my resume to the panel the
comments they made whether the the
resume was unprofessional not up to the
mark and was not worthy of industry
standard this was the same resume that
have been reviewed and assessed by my
mentors advisors professors etc etc what
this taught me was that you never let
anyone decide for you whether you’re
worth it or not
that is one decision you make for
yourself and the answer should always be
that yes you are worth it I refuse to
give up hope and a couple of days later
I got an offer to be on the working
committee of stat X Pittsburgh people
often tell you that hard work is the
only thing you need to succeed they are
yet again wrong friends and family are
as important as hard work is in high
school I was that popular kid I knew
everyone everyone knew me but amidst
that desperate struggle of trying to be
popular I lost all my true friends
friends who had been there for me no
matter what when it came to college I
did flip my life but for the worse not
for the better I became someone who
started using sarcasm as a defense
mechanism and of course who other than
Shanna being inspired me it just somehow
seemed easier to be funny and sarcastic
then have myself open up to people and
then go to the emotional pain I’ve seen
them slip away in front of my eyes
I stand here today with no regrets
I am nothing but a collage of mistakes
even though I keep people away from
getting close to me I proudly have
friends from almost every country in
this world even though I didn’t lose 100
pounds and got malnourished I gained 20
more back in pure muscle even though
I’ve been denied memberships and either
ships to a bunch of on-campus and
off-campus organizations today I am
proud that I’ve been to 40 countries and
met people from all over and picked up a
new language this summer working out the
Guatemalan streets I will not tell you
that it’s going to be easy because it’s
not but what I can tell you is that it
will not be impossible Steve Jobs is one
individual I have always looked up to
any August he always said you can never
connect the dots looking forward you can
only connect them looking backwards and
that’s what makes all the difference in
hindsight everything I just told you in
the past ten minutes would sound like
random stories until they were seen in a
series of one action informing the other
Einstein he hadn’t Eureka moment I had
my potato chip moment and trust me you
will have yours too so I want to end
with three quick life lessons number one
you will make mistakes but embrace them
with passion and overcome them two
through four the world that you as
humanity as an individual as a society
are capable of doing the best number to
you you make mistakes but you fight and
struggle you do not sit around waiting
because opportunities do not come in a
silver platter and number three you can
either choose to focus on wall staring
you down or what’s keeping you together
I made my decision and it’s time for all
of you to make yours all you have to do
is find your potato chip and iPod thank
you
[Applause]
potato chips good fun or so I had hoped
everyday people around the world consume
millions of bags potato chips little did
I know that one in knockos bag of chips
would define my transition from
childhood to adulthood in my high school
no iPods allowed no outside food and no
launching science pervade the crammed
colored walls of the institution rules
define life at school
unforeseen monthly bad checks were the
norm in the words of my principal
success followed those who obeyed
willingly I came up with a small nifty
math equation doesn’t make too much
sense does it let me explain
it was a sultry August morning in
Kolkata a small metropolitan city on the
southeast coast of India where I was
born and raised a school head boy it
fell upon me to conduct the monthly bag
check the prefect body and I spread out
across the school checking bags and
lockers while the students lined the
corridors outside the classrooms amidst
all the muffled voices one suddenly
stood out the boring question was all of
16 years old she quietly stood next to
me and confessed on having a bag of
potato chips in his locker against my
better judgment I did not convey the bag
of chips later word in the air was that
something wrong was not confiscated in
the classroom that I had checked the
class was rechecked by school officials
following the official inspection I was
summoned to the principal’s office and
was accused of forgiving the presence of
an iPod I was shocked
I honestly confessed or not having
confiscated a bag of potato chips but
the authorities insisted on the
existence of an iPod the presence of
which till date has not been
conclusively proved
an avalanche of unpleasant circumstances
followed my parents were called to
school in an emergency prefab body
meeting I was berated and II badged I
such humiliated it felt like a Martin
was being made out of a molehill and
adding himself to the injury they
offered to return the bash to me if I
honestly confessed on having carelessly
left the iPod I refused to confess to a
crime I had not committed she was in to
keep the remnants of my pride over that
once coveted hard-won badge I have
always been rather idealistic this
incident taught me to have an unwavering
commitment to my conscience it taught me
the value of resilience but most
importantly it taught me how to bear up
to failure and disappointment my parents
did give me the option of switching
schools while I was having a difficult
time at school I decided that quitting
was not an option it was hard too at
first but I submitted to the stares and
whispers telling myself it would all
pass away I saw the change in myself
through the change in the way I was
treated at home choosing to remain at
school was the first big decision that
was left completely up to me from there
on bigger decisions began rolling in it
wasn’t this time that I had the
conversation with my parents about
studying abroad again the final decision
was left completely up to me I was
trusted with taking my little sister and
12 of her friends out on a birthday
lunch think about the number of things
that could have gone wrong with 13 12
year olds in a public restaurant but
more importantly for the first time ever
my father began asking for my opinions I
have never been afraid responsibility
but I realized that I was now way more
willing to hold myself accountable and
to me accountability had become the
definition of adulthood a month later I
was reinstated head boy and was told
that the decision was prompted by the
majority with which
I handled the situation I accepted the
badge knowing that was the closest I
would get to an apology but by then that
badge meant way less than it would have
and a bag of potato chips or an iPod
meant way more than it should have
this incident formed the Grant is my
common application essay and got me in
to Carnegie Mellon for architecture
coming to freshman year I always assumed
myself an extrovert and thought that
fitting in would not be the slightest of
my problems well I was wrong very wrong
and it was hard and amidst my desperate
struggle of trying to fit in what did I
do
I joined Greek life you know how they
all say that if you wanna have a fun
life a social life you want to fit in
all you have to do is join Greek life
well I can tell you they are absolutely
wrong it was a great one year at my
fraternity until I saw the very people
for whom I joined graduate in front of
my eyes it made me realize that I was in
love with meeting new people but not any
other aspect of it so I went inactive
but I did not lose hope and sooner than
I do I got an offer to be an auntie
ambassador for Carnegie Mellon as an
ambassador of a gift campus tours sit on
student panels represent CMU my heart
would shop up and down showing off the
pride I had for this amazing institution
I was honored to be a part of this one
time a student even sent me a postcard
in my mailbox saying that she loved my
campus tour and that I played a huge
role in him deciding to come to Carnegie
Mellon I could not help but get teary
eyed this is when I finally started
feeling like I had bought in the grass
over university life in the United
States one fine day over the spring
semester of my freshman year as I sat
and thought I realized that all I had
done all your was spread new ideas and
connect people on intellectual grounds
it was nothing more than me with two of
my friends sitting in a room and
exclaiming you know what we should start
a TEDx CMU on campus and you know what
we did there i sat as a co-founder of
TEDx
you coming to sophomore 3 huge things
happen number one I started getting
conscious about my looks and lost a
hundred pounds in just eight months
number two my personality growth got me
the position of the coordinator of the
and ambassador program Brevard the
health of three of my other co-workers
we oversaw and led the team of 40
ambassadors and number three we
successfully executed a first TEDx cm
event it was a limited capacity 100%
event which we had spent one year
planning slogging fighting struggling
but what disappointed us the most was
that even after all this effort we had
somehow not sold out we were really
upset but we refused to give up and we
were ready to take on the new year with
a lot of stride and ready to do this
event even better the next time during
my junior year I realized that losing
weight had gone to my head I was
malnourished skinny would faint at least
once a week and would feel dizzy a
couple of times every day for that past
year I had deprived myself of any form
of fat fried sugar or anything that
would make my weight go up by even a
single gram my doctors told me that my
blood tests were all haywire and if I
did not fix my life it would have
consequences on my coming future this
scared me a lot after that I start going
to the gym but not for cardio to lift
weights and Here I am in front of you
not malnourished gaining 20 more pounds
in just pure muscle during that year we
also scaled up TEDx CMU to a 600 person
event and this time we sold out in just
one week keep in mind this is only the
second time the steam was pulling
together a TEDx event the sheer scale of
the event did not hit us till the day
off but what I can tell you is that when
you see 445 people walking out the
double doors of a packed auditorium
you’d know that the hard work has paid
off
this because in September of 2017
my senior fall scared that being a
fourth year or Kotecha student I did not
get the professional development I
needed to succeed in the industry I felt
ashamed that I could not distinguish a
business formal attire from a business
casual attire I would have to
double-check Dita’s with someone every
time I dressed up so I decided to rush a
professional on-campus couette business
organization it was a two-week
commitment rush in this business
organization turns out I did not get an
invitation to join I was disheartened
but in the process made a lot of great
friends what stuck with me the most was
there during the fine art of interviews
when I showed my resume to the panel the
comments they made whether the the
resume was unprofessional not up to the
mark and was not worthy of industry
standard this was the same resume that
have been reviewed and assessed by my
mentors advisors professors etc etc what
this taught me was that you never let
anyone decide for you whether you’re
worth it or not
that is one decision you make for
yourself and the answer should always be
that yes you are worth it I refuse to
give up hope and a couple of days later
I got an offer to be on the working
committee of stat X Pittsburgh people
often tell you that hard work is the
only thing you need to succeed they are
yet again wrong friends and family are
as important as hard work is in high
school I was that popular kid I knew
everyone everyone knew me but amidst
that desperate struggle of trying to be
popular I lost all my true friends
friends who had been there for me no
matter what when it came to college I
did flip my life but for the worse not
for the better I became someone who
started using sarcasm as a defense
mechanism and of course who other than
Shanna being inspired me it just somehow
seemed easier to be funny and sarcastic
then have myself open up to people and
then go to the emotional pain I’ve seen
them slip away in front of my eyes
I stand here today with no regrets
I am nothing but a collage of mistakes
even though I keep people away from
getting close to me I proudly have
friends from almost every country in
this world even though I didn’t lose 100
pounds and got malnourished I gained 20
more back in pure muscle even though
I’ve been denied memberships and either
ships to a bunch of on-campus and
off-campus organizations today I am
proud that I’ve been to 40 countries and
met people from all over and picked up a
new language this summer working out the
Guatemalan streets I will not tell you
that it’s going to be easy because it’s
not but what I can tell you is that it
will not be impossible Steve Jobs is one
individual I have always looked up to
any August he always said you can never
connect the dots looking forward you can
only connect them looking backwards and
that’s what makes all the difference in
hindsight everything I just told you in
the past ten minutes would sound like
random stories until they were seen in a
series of one action informing the other
Einstein he hadn’t Eureka moment I had
my potato chip moment and trust me you
will have yours too so I want to end
with three quick life lessons number one
you will make mistakes but embrace them
with passion and overcome them two
through four the world that you as
humanity as an individual as a society
are capable of doing the best number to
you you make mistakes but you fight and
struggle you do not sit around waiting
because opportunities do not come in a
silver platter and number three you can
either choose to focus on wall staring
you down or what’s keeping you together
I made my decision and it’s time for all
of you to make yours all you have to do
is find your potato chip and iPod thank
you
[Applause]
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