the entire team for putting up such a
fantastic job all the compares all the
TEDx event managers I want you guys to
give them a very big hand and I think
it’s an honor for me to be present here
today and thank you for inviting me it’s
my first TEDx event as well and so you
know I’m really happy to be here
normally the session after lunch is
typically called the data so I hope you
know I think the reason why I have been
slaughtered in this session is the fact
that I hope I can keep you awake because
my name is we wake very very poor
attempt at a joke but I’ll let that go
anyway so let me tell you a little bit
about myself and my journey before I
actually delve into what the subject is
of the day today when it comes to my
journey and most of you have asked me
during the during the break as to you
know can you tell us a little bit more
about your journey because I was not
blackton planning to do that but I just
thought I’d kind of kick started and
then move into the subject of what what
I’m going to talk about today so I was
very clear that I wanted to get into
entertainment and that was my passion
and goal from the time I actually
finished my MBA in Marketing and when I
went into my placements I got a job with
a bank I walked into the bank interview
I got the into job I came out I went
back in and I told them you know what
I’m sorry I don’t want to do your desk
job I want to do something creative
that’s the point in time where I had
really realized that the passion in me
was to do something creative I got into
advertising because I tried for aBCL
which was Amitabh Bachchan Corporation
Limited at that point in time but they’d
been through a financial turbulence so
this didn’t hire so I got into
advertising after spending a few years
in advertising I said I still want to do
something creative and that’s when I
went I almost got a job into a digital
marketing agency when I got a call from
Star Plus
and they said that hey you know we’re
looking to hire somebody for marketing
would you be willing to join I jumped at
that opportunity from there on the
journey has begun in media and
entertainment for over now close to 1819
years I was part of the team at Star
Plus that launched the first con burning
Accord for thee also the regressive
serials of carnie and Cochise has become
about he and I take the flag for that
after having worked in television I
moved to radio because star was getting
into radio we were the first team to
launch Radio City 91 FM in Bangalore
after having worked in radio for a bit I
said I want to go back to TV so I went
back into TV I walked with Cartoon
Network I got into Cartoon Network and
there we did interesting stuff like toon
cricket with Mark war and Wasim Akram we
also launched Pogo and the Pogo amazing
kids Awards and the show with Rob etc
that that happened from there I moved to
Hong Kong with Cartoon Network I came
back from Hong Kong because there was a
job that was offered to me which was my
dream passion of getting into movies and
that’s where I am here today and during
this journey from Fox when I came back I
joined Fox now I’m working with Sony and
during this journey I have met a lot of
interesting people a lot of people who
somehow or the other everybody else
thinks is great but when I meet them I
really know and that secret is that
they’ve all been average and that’s what
brings me to my topic of hashtag
averagely
awesome so what is the world typically
call average as it’s normally
conditioned ahead that average is equal
to bad that’s what I mean I thought when
I was a youngster and a teenager I felt
the need that I always wanted to kind of
thought that I was somebody else
I thought that I was a virtue key people
thought I was average I thought I was
good-looking I wanted to also I I had a
lot of friends who were more popular who
went to more parties who dated a lot had
girlfriends boyfriends and my count in
that case was zero and I always tried to
match up to them I
always felt that there was something
lacking in me there’s something that’s
missing and this comparison used to walk
me down when I went into college this
comparison actually didn’t let go and
for me college was a culture shock
I went from all-boys school into a co-ed
environment and the pressure is huge I’m
sure you all know it the point here is
that the same guys who were studying
with me somehow there was a switch that
flicked in their head and they got into
this race of trying to impress people
trying to show their superiority so I
said let me do something even I want to
show my super difference and I want to
show my superiority so there was a day
when you had you know you have this in
colleges you have like Rose day
chocolate day etc when I was in college
there was something called as denim day
so I said I want to do something
different so I wore a denim shirt a
denim trouser a jeans a denim jacket and
a denim hat and I was looking like a
complete fool the whole the whole thing
in all of this was that I thought I was
trying to stand out and I was trying to
fit in and in all of this
I only made a fool of myself because I
was trying to compare myself with others
who were popular and I wanted to be
popular too I’m actually happy that in
those days there was no Facebook or
internet or Twitter or anything like
that
otherwise I have got trolled and
commented to death and that would have
been the end of my self-esteem you know
I think all of us we are born in this
age where we are being judged publicly
every every day and tell me how many of
you guys are I know you guys don’t go to
Facebook and Twitter and I think it’s
fantastic
but the general youth that we know they
get up in the morning with with Facebook
they update their Instagram they take a
you know they take a photo on snapchat
and then they keep refreshing zillions
of times trying to look trying to seek
that external gratification trying to
seek that external validation and that
is something that has become a habit you
cannot do without it it’s become some
kind of an addiction that you want
somebody else to give you a like
however there’s somebody who who I think
doesn’t have this problem he’s a
billionaire he’s a tech genius he’s an
inventor
he’s a entrepreneur athletic
philanthropist charming with the women
his his Bruce Wayne and he’s also called
Batman and that’s the only thing that’s
real about him he’s absolutely fixed on
there’s this constant need for us to
kind of look for perfection and that
puts a lot of pressure on us from the
moment we are born we’re being judged
from the time we are born the parents
say look how Raoul judges son is doing
you know he’s walking faster than our
kid look at underneath she’s so good at
singing look at our of he’s so good at
he’s so good at his classes we’re
constantly being compared it doesn’t end
there it moves from the time in terms of
choosing our top colleges to bring a
rank holder to extracurricular
activities and by the time you grow to
becoming this age there is pressure on
you now to be attentive and listen to me
when all I’m talking about is being
average so this pressure what happens
when you searching for perfection and
the result is average it’s heartbreaking
now why does that happen that happens
because oops I’m sorry that happens
because being average is considered the
new standard of failure hell in fact you
can’t even afford to look average
nowadays with these kind of apps that
you have where you can actually brush up
your abs you can you know color your
skin you can change the skin tones
etcetera you can look amazing and I
pretty much actually asked my team to
try and make me look like this and this
is what we ended up at
and this is what we ended up at but the
question is is it worth it is it that we
keep constantly subjecting ourselves to
approval and once we get into this
rigmarole
there is no looking back as someone
who’s been part of the media industry
for probably longer then you guys have
been born I have seen the impact that
media and entertainment has on us we are
normally used to putting out
larger-than-life narratives and when you
see actors performing these stunts you
guys go wow you know that’s fantastic
but all of that is fake there is a
certain they’re obviously backed by
stunt doubles they’ve got harnesses
they’ve got all sorts of perfect
protection and they also have VFX which
basically kind of makes them look and do
things that anybody else can do but we
take that to be real even some of our
favorite scenes and iconic scenes in
movies when we say involve this guys are
real kind of hero but this is the
reality right it’s all VFX and a lot of
you guys typically work out and want to
look good because the actors and
actresses look good but the point here
is that these actors and actresses are
paid to do that
they have an army of people the trainers
their nutritionists and even their
lovely magic plastic surgeons who
basically work on them to make them look
that good but what we do we don’t look
at that we invest our emotions and
thoughts on these characters and make
them larger than life and build on their
greatness and we start feeling like big
B’s as a result of that and trying to
match up to that it’s absolutely unreal
and when it doesn’t happen we get sad we
get depressed we compromise on a value
system we do things that we shouldn’t be
doing you know sometimes like drugs etc
which is something that we normally kind
of succumb to because we are not able to
match up to those expectations so it’s
important to realize that you need to
realize what your true potential is you
have to pause and be realistic
because you cannot be constantly seeking
external validation let me talk a little
bit more about the impact of media the
impact of media I was reading this
article interesting article by Mark
Manson who has said some very
interesting thoughts on this subject let
me introduce you to this bell curve this
actually shows how we actually process
all the information that began if you
look at the ends the amount of
information that we process that we get
because of social media we don’t have
enough time to process that information
so what we end up doing is we end up
focusing only on the extremes that’s
what the world of Facebook Twitter news
media etc focus on they focus on the
extremes they focus on stuff that is the
best or the worst the scariest or the or
the funniest joke etc and that’s what we
get regarded as we are relegated and
compared with extremes so what happens
in that case is that we start
conditioning our mind to believe that if
we are not in the extremes we are not
going to be noticed and that’s what
happens we put this pressure on
ourselves so if you are not in the
extremes we will not be noticed if your
average you will never make news and
that’s the kind of pressure we always we
live with we are being judged by only a
few parameters that these extremes are
them are qualifying so this extreme
could be like you know an opal mentioned
here about the being on a men’s cover or
a women’s magazine cover being the top
of the class so these are the extremes
on the basis of which we get judged and
that’s how we become average because of
the extremes so for example if you like
music and if there is a popular nowadays
the most popular music is probably EDM
but if you like classical music
you become average if you like robotics
as a class or probably engineering as a
thing if you if you like poetry you
become average we are all the time
trying to kind of benchmark ourselves
with what others are doing and we try
to fit in that’s the biggest fallacy the
truth is that we will always be average
in comparison to something or someone so
if you find yourself in the average
quadrant it’s okay because average like
I said is defined only by the extremes
and it’s not necessarily on the
characteristic that you possess or the
skill you possess or the passion that
you have so if you are and and when I
look at your life guys I think there’s
an entire life ahead of you at this
point in time you’ve got so many skills
that is still not kind of explored so if
you think your average I think it’s okay
but what we need to remember is that
average is not a pursuit of mediocrity
it’s not something that you should slack
off and you should basically chill out
and say okay no fine I just want to be
you know I just want to be this there’s
nothing else it’s fine that’s not what
it is
and that’s bring me to the other point
about trade off everything in life is a
trade off each of us is born different
some people are athletic some people are
academic some people are you know
artistic and only that and and sure that
we end up accomplishing only those
things which like Arjun was saying this
morning is something that we are
passionate about something that drives
us something that is actually motivating
us and that is something that I need to
discover for myself and only when I put
in the effort for that and I discover
that that is my skill will I kind of
move into the quadrant let me give an
example
I was I finished my MBA I got into
advertising I I was getting a salary of
6,000 rupees a month after having done
my mba in marketing I had a helper at
home who basically was who was working
in Oman and her salary in Oman was
10,000 rupees a month and I said to my
mom that you know I’m getting 6000
rupees a month and she’s getting 10,000
rupees a month am i doing something
wrong because the entire focus of mine
at that point in time because of the
financial situation was
money so if I had decided to kind of
follow my not follow my heart and do
something else life would have been
extremely different I would have
probably been the best maid if I had
gone to Oman but that was not what I was
set out to do right I wanted to be an
entertainment and I stuck to my job
because of that so basically what we
need to do is we need to identify what
is the true potential what is that
X Factor because your journey is yours
and the focus has to be you and your
passion let me talk about this gentleman
I’m sure you know about him
Arunachala Murugan anthem how many of
you know about him there’s a film on his
life that we made called Batman as part
of Sony Pictures and if you know about
his life he was a welder by profession
he was somebody who was a fourth grade
student and he wanted to look at the
subject matter he wanted to explore as a
subject which was taboo in his day and
age he didn’t let that deter him he went
ahead and he invented the most low-cost
sanitary pad machine in the country and
he went through a lot of challenges to
basically get there the point I’m trying
to make is that the entire thing was
about his passion there are many people
like him
there are many people like him like
Narayan Murthy like Elon Musk who had
struggles as part of their lives but
they’ve actually come out on the other
side because they’ve actually focused on
the passion that they have but there’s a
question that looms what if I’m going to
be extraordinary or special see the
problem here is that the world and they
aren’t make you believe that we all
distinct to do something that is truly
extraordinary and we deserve this
greatness however it’s a misguided
belief the people who become truly
expects exceptional not because they say
they expect exceptional they actually
focus work hard and pursue that
excellence in the areas of passion that
drive them for example Aamir Khan he has
an average height but isn’t he a great
performer so if he thought that I have
an average height can I really kind of
you know become an actor where would we
be today Mukesh Ambani is a businessman
but
not a Greek he doesn’t look like a Greek
god and the concept of a complete man
woman doesn’t exist but should that bog
you down I’ve got a machine
thank you very much for accepting to do
sorry before I get to this
Rajnikant is somebody who doesn’t really
kind of who is not bothered about the
way he looks in fact this is an
interesting anecdote that he shares
about his time when he did Robbo and I
share a G thank you very much for
accepting to do opposite hero in
character opposite to me I’m not
exaggerating bangle my brother sources
there I went there nearby one Rajasthani
one was just in attendance they have
come there after knowing that how come I
mean I was there he came to see me
Sam Rajasthani his name is not the law
he some 60-plus he came Lisa R la cara
cara ball soccer where I said the same
exact Arreaga
maybe a picture from Kurama Harkins
official Robo its ha good good
then I told him I sure I hero in I
should I have all color chairman
– hello no but you lost at night there
daddy yes he is you know 30 years ago
then 10 days he was there he didn’t
speak single world he was stealing the
only law stating love then okay – no
babe a baby boy I was a decoy you know
Anathoth the co so thank you very much –
so the point I’m trying to make is that
none of them actually focused on things
that they were lacking in they focused
on what their strength is and thick and
hello yeah
they focused on what what their strength
is and that’s when they kind of went
ahead so that so the four basic points
that I want to leave you with is
introspect figure look inward what is
your skill set what is your passion what
is that’s going to drive you detect your
strengths and your weaknesses with
regards to that negate any kind of fear
any kind of issues like there’s a thing
called formal fear of missing out
there’s also something now we coin in
golf on fee which is fear of not fitting
in they get any of these kind of fears
substitute it with independent thinking
hard work and importantly self belief
look around you there’s so many people
in your friends and family who you think
are achievers but utter doubt average in
fact the entire TEDx is about
celebrating the journey of all the
people who move from average to becoming
awesome I just want to share a last
example of this gentleman called mr.
Amitabh Bachchan I’m working on a film
with him for 102 not out there’s a at
this age of 76 he’s still driven by
perfection he at he goes – he is
recording a song for the film he’s going
to the studio at 3 o’clock in the
morning recording the song coming back
to the shoot at 6:00
in the morning and he’s on time all the
time
that’s because he’s driven by that
obsession there’s a quote that he said
just recently which I want to share with
you I know the country loves the younger
fresh and vibrant new generation as it
should deservedly but whoever said that
the oldies are not capable to do similar
we know you may not love us but given a
chance we shall not disappoint you
either at this age he doesn’t need to do
that at the level that he is he doesn’t
need to do that but why does he do that
because he’s obsessed with improvement
and from that unerring belief that they
are not in fact great but they are
average we’ve all been through a lot of
ups and downs in life and that one thing
that’s kept me personally going is never
lose hope never get depressed and never
give up there used to be times when I
used to feel that but I did not let it
impact my self-esteem I’ve always
believed that if you work hard things
will happen for you you might call it
luck but I want to change the definition
of luck as so much in men and I said
that when preparedness meets opportunity
people call luck so – just to summarize
we’ve always been conditioned to believe
that average is bad but to succeed we
need to realize that average in the
extremes as the world defines it is okay
and normal and once we realize that the
pressure is off for us to pursue
excellence in our areas of strength and
that will eventually make us average the
awesome thank you very much
[Applause] [Music]