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When we were all
hoping to get into an IIM (Management University)
straight after engineering college, or while you are in engineering college
I got an interview letter from IIM Bangalore
You know how it is
the words spreads!! , he got call letter from IIM!
You all gone through that!!
and on a campus you know who's got a call letter and who hasn't
and after a while
everyone started to getting call letters from IIM Calcutta
and I didn't
So I just sitting out dinner with my father and I saying
you know it's funny
there's a very high correlation
between people getting IIM Bangalore call letters than IIM Calcutta call letters.
among I'm the only guy who sort of you know
wasn't I done something really stupid
I'm the only guy who sort of... the odd man out!!
And he said you know
maybe the letter hasn't reached
I said yaa..
you know, fathers are fantastic and mothers are even better
And he said, let me do one thing
I know where the interviews are held
Let me ask them if your name is in it
Ok, they held the administrative staff college in the Hyderabad
So he called the librarian that he knew over there
So he called him up
and he said ok when the professors from the IIM Calcutta come
I'll ask them if his name is there
and he called that night and said, ya his name is there.
I never got the letter
And then it went on...
All my friends got reject letters from IIM Ahmadabad.
And I got nothing
At least I must get reject letter you know
"It's no good being a dog lying in the street if no one notices you"
And I didn't get a reject letter from IIM Ahmadabad
I got no letter at all
No letter at all from IIM Ahmadabad
And I told my father, you know...
I got no letter from IIM Ahmadabad. Everyone got rejects
Some people have got interview calls, some people have got rejects
I've got nothing.
He said, maybe you didn't get the letter
I said, Yaaa...
I told my father this in a brave moment
I said lightning always hits the same place
He said, what is the worst thing that will happen to you
You call up
the hotel where the professors are staying
Ask them if your name is in the interview list
He said they are not cruel as to *** the phone down in you
The worst thing that will happen is just they'll say sorry that your name is not in it.
name is not in it...
So I called up, I discovered
from somewhere that they were staying at a hotel
Just after "Avids"
And I called up and I said ,can I speak to a professor from IIM Ahmadabad
And I only did it, believe me
because I was petrified of my dad
A Professor picked up the phone.
He said how can I help you
And I said, Sir this is what it is
I'm actually feeling quite embarrassed to call you, but
I know lightning won't strike twice
But, this is what happened with me
Just wondering if my name was there, may be
the postman like my letter very much and kept it...!!
I mean I didn't used those words
I was not brave enough, but
one of the things you learn at the media is never let the truth coming the way of a good story
But I spoke along those lines
And he said, Ok,
I can't open the list
because it's sealed.
Can only be open in the presence of all the other professors
But I tell you...
What are you doing
I said I'm final year engineering sir
I'm going through my final exams
You know my mind is more on this than my exams.. whatever!!!
And he said when is your exams on?
And I said, day after
He called me that night
Took down my telephone number and called me that night
and he said your name is in the interview list
And he said, but you told me
your interview schedule for day after tomorrow.
But you told me you have exam day after tomorrow
So I reschedule it for tomorrow
Is that luck?
Did i mad my luck by calling
If I sat back I wouldn't have known
So think about that, was that luck?
Or did I make my luck
I don't know
There is one thing I want to throw to all of you
Does Excellence require luck?
It's something I debated myself a great deal.
Does excellence require luck?
But it's interesting to solve the debate about luck
What really is luck?
My feeling is
That luck is combination of preparation
and recognition.
It's preparation and recognition.
Are you willing to slog your backside off and no one is watching
If you going to slog backside and no one is watching
when that opportunity comes, you are ready for it?
Also, which is even more important
you recognize the opportunity before it comes
Why a football striker is so great?
I mean if you watch football matches
You see this mid fielders running up and down.
You watch defenders the wings going charging up then
trying to center the ball in.
They've got run all the way back to defend.
What are the strikers doing?
So what's the big deal about being a striker?
Why is one striker better than the other
Why do some strikers get into better positions than others
It's because they recognize an opportunity before it comes.
and because they've recognize the opportunity
they find themselves in a right position
They are not lucky.
"Renaldo" was not lucky
he just happened to be in the right position
and it's happened to be the right position
because he knew what the right position was.
and that comes,
from a combination of a preparation and recognition
one of my favorite saying is
"Harder I practice the luckier I get"
And it's true. The Harder you practice, the luckier you get.
And "Lance Armstrong" who just won his seven straight "Tour de France"
You must read "Lance Armstrong's" books.
Little mushy, little sugary..
If you like Hindi movies, you'll love "Lance Armstrong's" books.
He said, I don't win the "Tour de France" on the 24th of July
He said I win the "Tour de France"
when I'm riding in the mountains when no one else wants to
I go out in the winter and I ride in those mountains
when nobody else wants to.
That is when I win the "Tour de France"
I don't win it on the 24th.
That's taken for granted.
But I win it when no one else is racing.
And that is something that stay with me a lot.
Are we willing to work and so in the opportunity comes we can take it.
So that is my view on luck.
When opportunity knocks in the door, use it.