The spirit of learning at Advanced Institution

Writing this post from the famous cafe- Haldiram's in Faridabad. Sitting here with two kids from the Advanced Institute of Technology & Management, Palwal. Munching over the great (North) Indian cuisine and chatting over the future, past and present. A wonderful day unfolding, two hours away from the hotel in Delhi and I can already see the shopboys winding up for the day. So will keep the post short, before I am pushed out or run out of battery. So coming back to the day, after a marathon creativity workshop with the senior management team of Wipro BPO at the Okhla campus, I took off on NH-2 for the Palwal campus. Unaware of what's in store for the kids and ready to have a great time off, here I was cruising at some 120 kph of the road. Was fun watching the sun set and the wind gushing by the country side. Amazing experience.
Fast forward to the campus. Somme 150 students from across years of B Tech and BCA, I was suppose to engage with them on areas ranging career development and big-picture in life (if I may say so) and what innovation is (though I am a student myself, and choose to remain one). The session took off at 6 PM and went till 8 PM, stuffed with stories and anecdotes. No PPT, thankfully. Students loved it (I wish).
Here're the key takeaways from the session:
  • Innovation is all about the spirit of finding the next right answer. Remember- it's the Next Right Answer. Not the Best. As the Best is the thing of past. It's like we need multiple answers to the same question.
  • Strive for the purpose of life. It can't surely be money. (In my view) money is like the lubricant in a bike, it can make the ride smooth, but one still needs to know the direction. Look around and you will find the happiest people are those who know the purpose, or at least strive for one.
  • Education's purpose of the build character. Job is incidental. Without a sound character, job had no meaning. And remember- you are always been watched. So be careful about how your actions will set standards (good or bad) for others. So be good.
  • Be unreasonable. The Bernard Shaw way. As that's the only way the conventions get challenged and the frontiers get expanded.

A student towards the end of the session asked, "all this is fine sir, but what are we suppose to do". A question almost all (those who were awake) must be grappling with, but he dared to voice. So here's the response:

  • Read (from rich and diverse sources)
  • Writer (what is accessible to all, say via blogs)
  • Teach (to peers and juniors. The best way to learn)