and what am I doing here
but let me let me you know take you
through a quick journey and let me start
by telling you from experience you know
I was probably in seventh or eighth when
I had a course called social studies I
also had another subject called civics
now I hope and I’m sure that a lot of
you who have passed through school I
have studied the same courses and as you
may realize you will understand what is
you know what I what experience I come
from when I was in school I was pretty
unaware you know it’s pretty unaware
about what was going around me and I was
sort of limited by what the society what
my parents were telling me to do in
social studies in civics I think all of
us studied about the global issues you
know what are the challenges faced by
the world today things like poverty
what is the poverty rate in India how
many people live below the poverty line
I think a year later most of us forget
the numbers it’s not really important
the fact that’s important is that most
of us know that there is poverty out
there I think that’s that’s what
mattered but the essential part was
during my childhood as I’m sure was with
some of you as well there was a
constraint the constraint was that
you’re not supposed to question why
there are things for instance if I was
to ask anyone of you if you were to ask
any of your friends would there ever be
a day in your life when there would be
no poverty in India I am damn sure
nobody will be able to answer that
nobody nobody is sitting in the room and
not even you know use decision makers
and world leaders it’s it’s a we just
don’t have a you know a system for that
and we don’t have a mechanism in which
you know you can question that kind of a
thing so as I pass through my childhood
and I was constrained by the you know
the way the norms of life I went through
a normal you know childhood I went
through a good college I did bachelors
of Business Studies from Delhi I’m a
Delhi I and right after that I joined a
business advisory firm
oh it sounds fancy and it was fancy you
know you were it was it was really nice
I was doing a job which most people
would aspire to do I’d set my career in
a position where most people in my in my
arena and from a management perspective
wanted to be management consultants so
you know my career was sort of set it
was you know he mean with him he’s got
oh he’s done he’s got Mooga he’s a
questioning right now you know he’s all
he needs to do is just play what he is
doing just be where he is and not make
any stupid mistakes that’s it
we would really bothered me during my
job and even before that and what still
bothers me now is the fact that we live
in such a short lifetime I mean all of
us I’m not trying to scare you off right
but we all have such a short lifetime if
you think about centuries before think
about the centuries that are going to
come and think about our lifetime and
this is what I thought when I was doing
my job I said I am born in year 91 how
long am I gonna lose I’m not a dyno you
know I’m not an other species right so
how long am I gonna leave I’m gonna live
50 years 40 50 years if everything goes
well 60 years maybe if I have good
doctors around me so but the point was I
said if I have 60 years around you know
around around this planet which I’m
going to be sharing with all of you am I
going to do what everybody else tells me
to do or am I just going to leave what
people keep and pushing me at and to
step out of it and see what happens and
just that fact that intriguing fact was
seeing what would happen if I just sort
of leave what my parents tell you to do
what my colleagues tell me to do
inspired me to leave what my job it all
boil down to one decision that I took in
a night when you know I was very
emotional back then so I was in my room
in the middle of the night I switched
off my lights it was pretty creepy I
switched off the lights and I said I
started talking to myself which is again
very creepy but
wait I said you know do Sally okay top
top captain he got aroma you know
everybody I mean we have so many talks
all the time as a as a person who strong
management background I’ve always
listened to Steve Jobs and we name the
leader probably heard of him but the
point is there is very little impact
that happens in our lives when I was
sitting there there was very little
impact that would happen in my life I
would listen to a talk I would leave the
room I’d be inspired and I’d be like
good scar nya
you know I have to do something and the
next morning I’d wake up and I’d be like
you know my you know my mom would be
giving me breakfast and she’d be like
you know it’s a normal ENVI no no
today’s different use condoms it and the
fact is nothing changed because you
there is no definition of Carnegie and
it’s so confusing it’s confusing because
we just keep saying something is going
to change and a lot of us have this
thought especially when during these
years that one day will come when
suddenly everything will change you know
for girls it’s a guy will come and marry
them for guys it’s you know that carrier
moment when suddenly the the entire
office is going to come and say we want
this guy you know we want to him or
something like that some sort of
fascination we have in a cat a moment
but the fact is that if you realize it
and I’m not trying to be negative here
in our positivity that moment rarely
comes extremely light he comes think
about it it almost never comes to most
of us it comes at an age where we were
probably 40 and we facilitated with some
sort of you know you know some sort of
good job we’ve done but very few of us
make that sort of take that sort of risk
and leave what we’re doing so just with
that momentum in that night I talked to
myself and I said a girl Maggie Carter
Otto you know then what’s the point of
living what is the purpose of life am I
going to be a management consultant like
everybody’s telling me to be or is there
any chance anyone small chance I know I
was already average student in school so
I knew that I’m not very you know bright
if you will but I also knew that maybe
if I left my job and did something else
maybe if that one teeny tiny possibility
of maybe I was chosen to do something
better maybe
you know and you should ask yourself
this question maybe we are meant to do
something else maybe we have a journey
which are calling we need to follow we
just don’t realize it and that night all
I did is the next morning I went back I
wrote an email and I said you know I’m
quitting so a lot of people my
colleagues started asking me what I’m
going to do and this is what I’m not
telling them because you know you know
you know I’m you know so I’m moving to
another company but the fact was I did
not know but I knew I had to change
something so you know that change thing
again you know good sky what is it going
to be but if one thing during my
childhood that really hurt me was an
issue like hunger I used to shoot really
sad at the fact that there are people in
our country still who died not because
they have some disease which is
incurable of which we do not have
medicine for but the fact that they do
not get proper food think about it
because people do not get proper food
their people who die and as a matter of
fact India has the highest number of
undernourished people in the world
something not to be proud of and I
visited a wedding I saw a lot of food
being wasted in that body
you know how Punjabi weddings are you
know and as it turned out that event had
35 cuisines I wasn’t you know if you ask
me right now I can’t name 35 cuisines
but there was food which was wasted for
10,000 people when I asked the caterer
and I was very very surprised I thought
yeah this is all Nova Khanna have a
story and hum hai raahi we keep talking
about ki there’s so many people who were
dying hungry isn’t there a way where we
could transfer this food and it’s not
like reading a give our roti psalm I
mean if two Indian weddings are like 5
or 6 functions together and then in any
place like Delhi you have 70,000
weddings in a day there’s got to be a
better solution and I I don’t think
anybody here knows about any solution to
this problem there is no mechanism in
India where you can donate the food that
you have at the wedding and give it off
to people remember I love food so an
Indian wedding food is pretty amazing
you know so we’re talking about amazing
shy penny we’re talking about amazing
cupcakes and desserts which we probably
have you know and we’re only talking
about the food that’s left in the dishes
not in the plates and
Judy honey giveth me Garvey only talking
about the food that’s left in the dishes
so I started donating that to people
myself and with my colleagues which is
when a lot of my colleagues started you
know thinking he’s gone mad
you know you know because Charlie a
Rothko thing you’d go and pick up food
and you probably reach office late
obviously and you know then there were
rumors about he’s lost it
you know he’s lost it we should help him
for other reasons but then I quit my job
and right after that I started this
organization called feeding in there
with feeding in a what we do is we
rescue excess food we collect the
accessible from events like lunches
dinners wherever hotels restaurants
think about panna cotta Hertzog out that
there is no person who can live without
food right so households restaurants
hotels canteens hostels everywhere there
was food I would go pick it up and
donated to someone in need and while I
started doing it I started expanding the
organization rapidly so what I realize
is there are more people like me out
there I started getting a lot of
requests from people who as interested
as I was and suddenly within within a
year we were 1,000 people in in 25
cities and you know in right now it’s
just been 2 years we just completed 1
million meals day before yesterday and
thank you we we we will now in 28 cities
and it’s pretty unbelievable I still
can’t believe it you know it’s crazy but
there are people like you and I who
volunteer for a cause I know ensure that
whatever they’re doing their job bakery
or whatever they’re doing they will
leave that like I did but along with
their journey they start volunteering or
they start helping our people and that
is so crucial
so recently as you know some money I
mentioned I was I I became acquainted
with something called the sustainable
development goals which is what I’m
going to be talking about
so this sustainable development goals is
about heavy water basically it’s going
short-form it’s a global Google it’s
COBOL thing right so the global goals is
a very it’s a very important point for
us for all of us right now and it was
just it was launched last year and the
momentum has just begun like two days
back so we sort of the first people who
sort of this sort of picking it up have
you heard of the global citizen festival
you know so we’re sort of that momentum
where it’s getting from and now we would
one of the first people know going to be
sort of implementing it in our country
right now or even the world entire world
so the global goals think about the
global goals as 17 goals there lot of
goals right but these are 17 goals which
if you solve will make the planet a
better place so what’s important is the
next generation that will be taking up
social studies or civics in their class
the important thing is that they are not
acquainted with just the problem as I
said we are always told poverty line can
you ticket me logarithm hamesha without
a net and you know I don’t know it’s
some random facts also the point is it
never tell us what we can do to change
that number never absolutely never and
the fact is that these 17 goals which
have come together have are not goes
with you you know
you know anybody in a room is discussed
these are 17 goals which were leaders
from all the countries together have
come in a common point and said okay
these are the things we need to solve
getting all the Prime Minister’s
presidents in the world leaders all
together is very tough task it’s almost
like getting Salman Khan married it’s
extremely tough you know it’s always
never gonna happen but it has happened
and if we’re very lucky because it’s
happened in our generation so all the
people all the world leaders have come
together and said okay let’s forget what
what other issues we have in our own
countries let’s let’s just get these 17
goals implemented by 2030 and we’ll be
done and what are these goals these are
not very high five words like the ones
you know you people in medicine use but
these are very simple zero hunger no
poverty peace sustainable households
very simple simple things you know
things that you and I can take action
against and each goal has a number of
things which we can address for example
if I’m addressing zero hunger one thing
I always talk about in feeding it is it
everybody can take action and the same
goes with the sustainable development
goals the global goals the global goals
are acceptable universally it’s come at
the human without word simply though
Cohiba bandha then he will be wet away
his CV City may irrespective of his race
gender sex religion can take action
against something bigger like this the
difference is a lot of us volunteer for
organizations a lot of us sometimes you
know we donate what we don’t realize is
we’re all team utley contributing to
something bigger joby effort was
socially curtained ultimately boils down
to something which is bigger and these
are the 17 goals that we need to take
upon so I’m also going to be sort of
giving a message to you people from the
you know some from sort of the world
leaders point of view the world leaders
have sort of the biggest thing that the
world leaders are counting on right now
is the youth that’s it the youth and why
they counting on the youth is because
obviously you know we’re amazing people
but also because there is just a lot of
youth the the amount of young population
in India is unprecedented did you know
India has the highest I mean one of the
highest number of
young people in the world right now and
India may add stuck with other young
people conveniently 2020 is going to be
like one peak time for us we’re going to
be one of the youngest countries in the
world amongst all the global Nations our
US China and all these countries so when
the world leaders are basically said
here is the goals please go ahead and
solve them and the only the youth can
because we’re in a position to mobilize
they’re in a position to mobilize I mean
if you think about it for one second has
hunger been solved do you still see
beggars on the road so that thing is
sort of lying on us which we need to
take up from now right now and the time
frame we have is pretty short we have 15
years we have denoted 2030
now it’s 14 years so the important thing
to understand for all of you is when I
began my journey two years back it’s a
very short time but that child who’s
going to come into school he’s going to
begin his journey much earlier now and
what I want you all to do is along with
whatever you do you go to you become
better doctors you become better
scientists I don’t know you know you’re
amazing people I don’t know what you’re
going to do but along with whatever you
do better teachers make another part of
your life as a journey which embraces
social good you know well you will be
parents and you will have children
you’ll be proud that you actually helped
in making something you know
accomplished completing something so big
think about it and the fact you know
your children I heard I mean whenever
they do happen you know they’ll ask you
you know mom dad did you we don’t have
any poverty anymore we read it in
history now we don’t need it in social
studies did you contribute to that and
you would be so embarrassed if you did
not because this is because this is the
time when we can and this is the only
time if we when we can so we got to take
it upon ourselves and I want you to
understand that you not alone each one
of you whenever you are whatever you’re
doing if you have a journey another part
of your life where you’re contributing
to something contributing there’s not
any monitor you only know it means
volunteering it means going out and
helping people it means making sure that
the college you studying in does not
have homeless people signing outside as
simple things like that simple things
like that simple issues like that
ensuring these kind of things will
ensure that we have a better
xiety insuring these things will ensure
that i probably will have a better
lifetime you will have a better life
time with children will have a better
lifetime and we will finally be able to
live in a world where these things exist
if you think about it I keep my room
very dirty by the way but if you think
about it what happens is if you if you
let’s say I go into my room and I have
one part of my room area dirty I become
very lazy the other day so I don’t clean
it up what happens in some outsider
comes in he says ow it’s you know look
at the mess and that’s exactly what
happens when you see foreigners coming
into India it’s a mess that we haven’t
cleaned up it’s not a mess that we need
to live with we don’t have to live with
poverty we’ve come from a culture where
we take it for granted we don’t
understand the fact that these things
can change because of the sheer size of
the problem you think Oh Osman high
school I’ll help this guy back you book
wanna help Erica that’s not the point
the point is we have the llaha the
highest number of youth in the country
we have government support we have
awareness like no other today we have we
have interconnection through technology
like no other if people can create
Google if young people can get Google I
think we can solve a lot I think we can
and and I want all of you to sort of
lead this journey on your front and I
want you to think of yourselves as
people who got mad you know if you if
you ever face any problem you’ve got me
just like I’ve got you you know so if
you have think about yourself as people
who connected who who are in this
together you can’t do this alone but if
anybody has to do it it has to be us it
cannot be the next generation because we
will never have the advantage this data
it’s a global truth
look it up so thank you and I hope you
know some of you take up this message thank you