I was the Chief Guest at the I-Day celebration in my school in 2014. Yes, although the entire blog post before this was focussed on it, I still haven’t been able to stop gloating about the fact leave alone digest it. I don’t think I ever will. Or maybe I just refuse to get over it.
So when my teacher had told me that I would need to talk to the students, my first question had been, what topic do you want me to talk on? I was told that I had complete independence to decide that (only fitting that the talk was to be delivered on I-Day :P). Thus began my brain storming and random ramblings to figure out the content for my talk. ( I wont call it a speech, I’ll call it a talk simply because ‘talk’ sounds classy). I spoke to friends, I scribbled stuff in my break time and the train travels became my stimulus for fresh ideas. Finally when I put the pen to the paper (and then my fingers to the keyboard), everything began falling into place and voila! I was ready!
My brief to myself had been that I did not want it to be one of those standard I-day speeches about the trials and tribulations faced by so many before India could achieve independence nor did I want it to be so dry and long that students would drift off to sleep (been there, done that). Like any other speaker, I wanted to be different, witty, engaging and liked. Easier said than done, yet I’d say my attempt yielded good enough results.
Someone said, I clicked with the audience. Why did they listen? Probably because I cracked jokes on myself, called myself old, threw the floor open for them to participate in my talk, shared my memories with them, put in some movie dialogues, did my version of the ‘Sattar minutes’ monologue from Chak De and even a Spider Man dialogue? Maybe. Or maybe it was cause they had no option but to quietly listen to me. Worse, they couldn’t even throw stuff at me simply cause they’re still too small to be eligilearn the ways of the world. I’m sure it’s the latter but I always pretend it’s the former.
Here is what I spoke (its written in a conversational tone) :
Over the 10 years I studied at Birla, this podium was an oft frequented area and in every speech I gave, there was a peculiar way I used to begin my speeches. I’m going to continue my personal tradition. So ladies & gentlemen, my greetings to one and all.
I’m Siddhi Mehta, a proud alumnus of Birla School and I’m here on Independence Day after almost 6 years, so I’m pretty excited & nostalgic!! When I say ‘Back in our times’ I do sound like an oldie but well, when I was in school, Independence Day meant loads of practice sessions in the weeks before the day, getting to skip class and be on the field for march past or band practice or speeches and what not. The grand rehearsal meant we got to skip almost an entire day of studying and had circulars specifying very clearly how we were supposed to come in crisp and neat uniforms with clean shoes. More often than not, ‘D Day’ saw us using a lot of chalk to try and make our dirty PT shoes look white at least till the chief guest was there. Come 15th Aug, the school would be bustling with activity. Teachers would be running around, managing students, finishing off with the last minute preparations, the house captains would be checking their squads, the band would be having the last run through of the ceremony and the the orators would be nervously glancing through their speeches for one last time! Ah it was such an adrenaline rush followed by a wonderful rendition of the national anthem which almost always gave me goose bumps. I’ve never celebrated Independence Day that way ever since I passed out of school. Gosh I miss it all!
So I’m going to use this opportunity to just chit chat with you guys and rather than talking about our historical trysts with freedom struggles, I’m going to try and relate what they taught us, to our lives today. I’m also going to be citing a lot of examples from my own life to make you believe that I’m certainly not making up stuff. But before I begin, I just wanted to confirm, you guys are going to listen to me yeah? I’ve been on the other side too & I know exactly what you’ll are thinking. A bit more enthusiasm please? All right, this sets the tempo.
Okay, so let me throw a question at you. What is Independence to you? No definitions, just tell me what it means to you.
Evidently, for each one of us, at different stages of our lives, independence takes a different meaning. When I was a kid, for me independence equalled to playing without any time limits, reading a lot of comic books & eating ice candy. In school, it meant being allowed to cycle to school all by myself. Today, it means getting to come home late & not being scolded by Mum. Yes, I know mums sitting right here and I’m sure she has a comment or two on this.
Well, now that we have defined what independence means to you, how will you use it to your advantage? You’re in school now, you have the luxury of having comparatively unstructured lives. So pursue things you love, it can be sports, music, literature, drama or even wrestling for all that you care! We all know about how our freedom fighters had the courage to stand up for what they believed in and we all talk about how we should emulate them. You have the chance now! Have the guts to break the norm, to stand up for what you believe in, to have conviction in your ideas & dreams! You’re a girl who loves football, go out, train yourself! You’re a boy who loves classical dance or cooking? Pursue your dreams! You don’t have to stick to predefined roles or worry about what people will say. Your ideas and aspirations might be different but THAT is what will make you stand out in a crowd. THAT is what will make you unique.
I’ve trained in Taekwondo for 8 years & I often had people telling me how I should stop after a certain age coz it’s not meant for girls. I chose my college, Podar which is an hour and a half away mainly coz it had excellent extracurrics. People thought I was crazy to join commerce, coz according to them a good score meant I should be taking up Science. A friend’s parent actually tried explaining what a big mistake I was making by taking up commerce. My friends still say I’m crazy to travel that far. But by far, it was one of my best decisions.
This particular funda will apply to not just your hobbies but also your career. Soon you’re going to be making decisions that will build your career. There’s a huge variety of options available for every stream. Pick one that you love, and you’ll definitely excel at it. Don’t cower away from taking an offbeat career thinking there’s no scope or money. One of my friends is in the merchant navy, another is studying forensics (like the CID guys), one is a chef, another works with Shashi Tharoor and yet another freelances as a writer. One of my closest school friends took up arts coz she loved it & I personally feel she’s doing better than most of us! What’s more? While most of us used to crib about the subjects we had to study or the hours we had to study, I’ve never heard her crib about her curriculum. I’ll give you one more example that had gotten me excited as well. One of my seniors from our school performs as a stand up comedian and is doing quite well on the circuit! That is where passion takes you!
So don’t be afraid of going after something you like because that is when you’re going to be content and satisfied and you’ll have the passion to give your best. And don’t be afraid of going wrong. Do something coz you want to, not coz you have to and never ever have regrets. You know what’s the best part? There’s a certain thrill in doing something that people least expect of you & excelling at it!
How many of you have seen/read Spiderman? Can anyone tell me what the tag line is? It goes as – With great power comes great responsibility. So it goes without saying, with all the independence comes a lot of responsibility. Responsibility to not misuse it, responsibility to remember that the rules are the same for all. You like to have an opinion and voice it? Excellent. But don’t forget others have one as well! So the next time your friend has an opinion or idea that contrasts yours or is a dream you don’t believe in, don’t mock them, don’t squash their opinions! Don’t let anyone dictate your opinions or actions and don’t do the same for others, that would be independence for you, in the truest sense.
Since it’s independence day, it’s only befitting that we give a little more thought to our country. Mark Twain, who’s authored some lovely classics once said, ‘India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition, our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of mankind are treasured in India alone’.
India is awesome, we all have a consensus there I believe. But we all have these enraged discussions where we are angry at the apathy all around us, where we are outraged at the state of affairs. We keep on talking about our duties as citizens and how there needs to be a change and one person can’t do it all! Relax! You aren’t expected to single handedly change the world or eradicate corruption or raise India’s GDP to three times than what it is right now. What is expected of you is very little; it’s on an individual level. Don’t just sit by, watch the action, participate in online debates, put up statuses on fb and whatsapp or just go light a candle. If you have that much of a problem with anything, go into the muck and clean it up! You think politics is dirty? Become a politician and do your bit so that people with similar opinions as you see the change
Our teachers and elders tell us about how there’s no Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christians and we’re all Indians first? And at the risk of sounding very preachy, I think it’s high time we hammered that into our heads coz I’ve seen people from our generation as well fall prey to the entire communal tension. Keep your faith but be sensitive to everyone else’s beliefs too.
Yet another thing that we need to learn from our leaders? Quite literally, we need to learn to lead the way. You remember what Gandhiji said? Be the change you want to see in the world. Start with yourself and inspire others to follow suit so that someday someone will tell you, I had the courage to do it because of you, I stuck through it because I was inspired by you. We have no wars, just an obligation to do our little bit.
I really feel like quoting a dialogue from Fight club here by Brad Pitt. It goes as – We’re the middle children of history. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War is our spiritual war, our Great Depression is our life alone. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning the fact. And we’re very very angry.
This somehow fit well in the context of how we have been raised to have a very rosy notion about India as a country in particular and our life in general. Slowly, we realised that it isn’t entirely true, the country is yet to reach the ‘India of our dreams’ and it frustrates us. Channelize this frustration, see what contribution you can make to your country. You don’t need to go down in history, just do what we humans do the best. Focus on yourself, dream big, make it happen. It’s not utopian, I’ve seen my seniors do it, I’m trying in my little way as well, join me.
Okay so that was enough of heavy duty talk for you all. I hope that not all of you drifted off to sleep. Before I sign off, there’s one last thing I have to say. It’s an overwhelming experience to be called back to your alma mater, to be talking in front of the same teachers who saw you grow up, who knew you since you were a kid and who have a big role to play in every word you utter. Words wouldn’t suffice but it’s the best feeling ever, its unmatched and ever since I got the call from Ruchita Miss I’ve been telling everyone who’s willing to listen that hey! I got invited to my school for the Ind Day celebrations!! Believe me, there’s nothing better than having your school teachers feel proud of you. So guys explore, make mistakes, take the untrodden path, do stuff you love, make something out of yourselves & come back to school and tell your juniors about it. Thank you so much for having me here today. Thank you.
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