Test your Capability Unleash your potential

hi

let me start off by asking how many of

you

know the brand that is right now being

displayed on your screen

yes i’m sure each one of us is aware

but do we also know the man behind the

brand

that’s dr vargas kurian

founder of a moon private limited

and also famously known as the father of

the white revolution in india

but did you know that dr kurian was

actually sent

to the united states of america on

a government scholarship to study

mechanical engineering

and when he returned he was immediately

sent to a place called anand in gujarat

where in return of his scholarship that

the government paid

he was supposed to spend five years in

anand

as the officer in charge of the dairy

division

mechanical engineering dairy division

he was unwilling at first but he had to

apply it he had no choice

and in following years dr korean studied

further

accepted the challenge that life gave

him

and he brought such enormous reforms

in the dairy farming in india he took

our nation from

milk deficient nation to one of the

largest producers of

milk in the world

he is a very famous personality and i’m

sure most of us

know who that person he’s been a part of

some

major film franchises around the world

and has played some

truly memorable characters that’s mr

harrison ford

but let me ask you how many of us know

that

mr ford was actually a carpenter

a wood carpenter for 15 years before he

actually landed his first role

he was actually hired to build some

stages

for director george lucas the one who is

behind the creation of franchises like

indiana drones and star wars

an impromptu reading happened and that

is how

mr harrison ford was discovered and he

landed

his first role of han solo in star wars

and the rest they say is history

and now we come to a brand that we all

love the food that we all love

and that’s the man behind brand mr tom

monica

so mr morgan along with his brother

james they bought

an old pizza restaurant in michigan

which was actually called dominic’s

and originally the building was so small

that in-house dining was not a

possibility at all

in this situation the brothers came up

with the idea of

actually going out and delivering pizzas

to people

which revolutionized the whole thing

at that time the idea was not well

accepted

so james monegan traded his half

of the partnership to buy a volkswagen

beetle

that the brothers used to go out and

deliver pizzas

now what do we have common in all of

these three

inspirational stories

the fact that they tackled whatever life

gave them

they explored the opportunity that was

thrown at them

things were not perfect they didn’t get

exactly what they wanted but they

tackled their way through

and emerged victorious

to explore something is to simply

go through something unfamiliar to learn

more about it

and in our case what could exploration

mean

to explore could be an idea

we could explore a hidden talent

a hobby or a passion that

something that we’re really passionate

about and we want to do

and what do any of these things require

any of these things require the right

opportunity

and we know that opportunities are

created

opportunities are created through

situations that life puts you through

and i can tell you the easiest way to

grab an opportunity is just by saying

yes

why do i say that

so mr bill gates in an interview

was asked the secret to his wealth

by the interviewer and on being asked

that

mr gates took out an empty check

signed it and handed over to the

interviewer and said

go on fill in any amount and that amount

will be yours

the interviewer was shocked was a little

embarrassed

and he refused to offer he said he

clarified

that so it was a request from the

audience i didn’t mean anything else

from it

mr bill gates again offered him

the same proposition and the interviewer

again refused this went on for one more

time

and the interviewer again refused

and then mr bill gates spoke up and he

said

that is exactly something that i never

did

i never missed an opportunity in this

moment

you could have been the richest man in

the world

but you let that opportunity go

okay so now i want you to imagine that

it is your birthday today let’s say it’s

your 20th birthday

it’s a memorable number 20th

and you are outside in a cafe with your

friend

celebrating and it’s a cafe that is an

artist’s hub

you know there’s one person in a corner

sitting very quietly with glasses on and

he’s

thinking deeply he’s writing poetry and

there’s another group

that is of theater artists and they’re

taking up space and

acting and rehearsing their lines and

it’s

a place of full hustle bustle and

through that crowd

comes one person walking up to you and

says

that i am going to give you an

opportunity

to model professionally what would you

do

and that is exactly how i landed my

first photo shoot ever

that is my birthday i was in that cafe

and that is how i was spotted

and then you would say what did i do i

said yes

and i had that first portfolio shoot and

you would ask how did it go

well uh it went exactly how

most of the first attempts were

it went terribly and you want to see the

outcome i’m going to show you the

outcome

the makeup was not right for me i had no

proper wardrobe it was

in the truest sense the first attempt i

was a shy kid

who did not even like being clicked in

day to day life

let alone face a profession camera

but my point here is that that holds

back in 2016

and now you’re seeing a photo from 2021

a photograph of mine that is published

in a new york-based magazine called

elements

in february 2021

how did we go from that picture to this

one

if you asked me i was

balancing myself on a cart with two

wheels

one wheel that said to me that i believe

i can do it

and the other wheel which kept reminding

me

that i’m going to try anything but

giving up

my point is that when opportunity

strikes your door

it doesn’t matter if you are a beginner

if you have

zero knowledge or skill in that field

but what i can guarantee you from my

own experience is that if you’re not

afraid to fail

and fail as many times as it takes

no matter how long it takes

you are bound to learn you are bound to

progress

and you are bound to succeed

okay so now we are on this amazing

journey of exploration

where till now we have accepted the

challenge

we have learned to face our fears and

not give up

and now when is that time when we put

everything into action

when do we say that it’s showtime

right so lynn taller once said

that if i waited till all my ducks were

in a row

i would never be able to get across the

street

sometimes you’ve got to gather

everything you have and just

run for it and that’s a thought i

completely believe in

i waited for three years to participate

in

a national beauty pageant

i thought that i would be well prepared

well equipped by then i would have

completed my degree in architecture by

then

and while everything was going well and

as planned

i came home i graduated and

out of nowhere i decided to try this

specific nutrition diet

which apparently did not suit me

my immunity levels completely dropped

and i retrieved chipping pox

and you know they say when chickenpox

strikes you in your adulthood

it’s really really severe

this is happening three months before my

actual patent

is to commence an opportunity i waited

three years for

it completely i’ll be honest it

completely

broke my spirit but

even then giving up was not an option

for me

so i gather gathered all the might that

i had

and i just went i participated

and ended up winning the runner-up title

as well

but what my point is here is that

we ne we can never tell which turn life

is going to take next

what it takes is a moment for everything

to change

so if there is a dream that really

excites you

or if there’s a challenge that you want

to face

the best time to go for it is right now

there is never going to be a time when

you’re going to be 100 prepared and

everything is going to be perfect no

the best time is right now take actions

right now

so now we’re on our journey we’ve taken

action

and now is there anything that can

guarantee our success

i highly doubt but what i have realized

is that there are a few things that will

ensure you

always shine no matter what you do

so in my fourth year of architecture i

landed this amazing opportunity

of doing an internship abroad i was

selected by

an office in paris for a six-month

internship

dream city dream office everything

spectacular

and anybody in my situation i too

wanted to excel at work because

now not only are you representing

yourself

but you’re also representing your

institution the college you come from

and indian students in general so

there’s a lot of responsibility

and you want to make it through in the

best possible manner

the only catch is that it’s a completely

different country

new working environment new people a

language that you don’t know that you’re

not comfortable with

so how do you succeed what are you going

to be

judged on

and through my stay there i realized

that there are

three qualities that are equally valued

world over no matter where you go that’s

effort ethic and dedication

the absence or presence of these

qualities will

always show

no matter where you go and no matter who

you are in touch with no language

barrier

or cultural difference is going to hide

it

so new challenges and new environments

are going to demand a new you

are you ready to put in that extra one

percent

more than anybody else more than what

you put in

yourself the day before are you ready to

exceed

that so here it is

my small little checklist for all of you

as you are now about to start

your journey of exploration as students

you’re gonna face you’re gonna have

numerous career feeds in front of you to

choose from

you could have an interest in a field

more than one

and that’s completely invalid you can

pursue as many things and you can excel

at all of them

it’s just that you need to demand more

out of yourself

every day you need to push your limits

and you need to keep testing your

capabilities

and more than anything don’t forget to

make

each day count i’m niha joshua

thank you