Transcend your inner universe to conquer your outer world.

[Applause]

bourgeois toulouse

namaste everyone let’s start with an

experiment

i request you all to kindly close your

eyes

imagine that we are sitting

on the top of our favorite mountain

gently go inside your heart

and imagine a source of light

within illuminating your heart

breathe calmly

gently open your eyes

what we just did is a quick check in

with self

that i swear by it has helped me

understand

how transcendence works in life

to me just living wasn’t enough

i had to transcend my reality at every

stage of my life

now let’s go back in time to understand

it better

i was born in the central part of india

in the city called bhopal

my sister and i grew up seeing our

mother prepare for her law school

help our dad with his business and be a

homemaker

all at once she also found time to help

others

provided monetary funds tried to provide

awareness about education and secured

employment for numerous women

she used to say we can always help

others

no matter what we have and where we are

my father worked two jobs often 16 hours

a day

and more he never had a day off

we did not grow up in the fanciest of

the neighborhoods

often suffered with sleeplessness and

fatigue due to the noises outside in the

night

but we had to live with it fortunately

we had the liberty to study in an

english medium convent school

with amazing teachers facilities sports

and competitions education

was a luxury for us i wasn’t born

with a golden spoon but my parents sure

gave me an intelligent one

when i was 11 years old we were blessed

with a baby brother

prakash prakasha’s health was fragile

and he needed intensive care my parents

were always chasing doctors

for better treatments we loved him

he was a bundle of joy

and one day we came back home

to face a horrifying reality

he was gone

i was in a deep state of shock as i

could not understand

and assimilate what had happened

we had been already through a lot of

pain and this tragedy

added another layer to the endless

melancholy of life

i began to think how fragile is this

life

death was the only certainty and maybe

just living was undermining life’s worth

because it was precious

after some time i talked to myself

and said i have a choice do i want to

continue

living this sad life or transcend

this depressed state to a happier one

and remember him with sweet memories

i began to read spiritual books about

life and death

and began my heart fullness meditation

practice

it helped me see things differently and

deeply

for instance society was largely

conservative

and there were deep-rooted traditions

and norms that everyone blindly followed

typically all girls were believed to

grow up

and get married before a certain age to

preserve their youthfulness

whatever that meant to a package deal of

a man

tall handsome well settled well educated

with a great family

and to be a good match the girl must

satisfy certain criteria

great cooking skills mastery in chores

and traditional beauty standards

i felt shackled and troubled seeing all

of this

but these traditions and conditioning

were deeply rooted in most of my

surroundings

i had the urge to break these boxes and

stereotypes

and feel the freedom called life

on the other hand i found my peace with

my books

at school and with my friends i loved

stars

and i also loved aircrafts and trails

watching them in the sky was the most

fascinating

thing for me fortunately

my parents were supportive of our dreams

but they had to sacrifice a lot

because of the lack of finances that we

had and we had to listen

to a lot of noise from the society for

being different

i remember once it was almost impossible

to gather finances

for my education and my dad told me

okay beta if i have to i will sell my

kidney for your education

his words pierced my heart and i felt so

helpless

i pledged to overcome this but i didn’t

know how to

i had nobody to look up to as an example

so i chose to follow my heart i listened

to it carefully

as i was good in studies and i loved

learning

i gave it everything i had inside

i chose to excel in every subject of my

choice

i loved science english horse riding

karate and dance

and no matter what i gave it all

i had to succeed then i learned about

abbess

and its humble origins made me really

feel inspired

but how simple it was for me to dream a

career in the aviation world

it appeared even more difficult for the

others

who were ready and more than eager to

tell me that i was being unrealistic

about my dreams

just because i had a socio-economical

background which did not satisfy the

criteria

but nevertheless i listened to my

convictions and they were

pure calling of my heart i followed them

i began to prepare myself for

to be able to be ready for the

engineering entrance examinations

that i consider the most difficult in

the country as there are millions of

young minds preparing for the limited

seats in the university

i had no plan b i worked hard

unfortunately my hard work paid off

i got a seat in the one of the best

universities in the country that taught

aerospace engineering

i again had several challenges to deal

with but

by now i learned to thrive with the

hardships

i remember the words of my mother a

lotus

sure grows and blooms in the mud but

stays unaffected by it

i continued on my journey and then came

a turning point

i had secured a seat in izai superior in

france

with a french government scholarship

and i felt such a relief inside because

now

my parents didn’t have to worry about

any finances anymore

everybody was appreciative of us

all those who had mocked us over the

years

for being unrealistic and whatnot were

all recognizing the power of education

this gave me confidence meeting with the

prime minister of my country was a big

deal for me

and my family the felicitation ceremony

by the ambassador of france to india

was a big deal for me again

and more than that the assurance on the

face of my parents

was my gratification i came to france

with more lot more confidence than

before

and it was a big change i loved toulouse

right from the first cab ride from the

airport to my student apartment

now i had different challenges and a

different journey ahead

i was in an international atmosphere

with a fast-paced

french education system which can be

very demanding and challenging

i was discovering a new life new culture

new language

and of course bureaucracy

as i spoke no word in french you can

imagine what sort of a gala time i had

at prefecture

and other government offices they were

making me more stronger than i believed

i was

of course it was hard to withstand all

these challenges

these changes and simultaneously be good

at my studies

i recall calling my mother and saying

mommy it’s just too much i cannot

sustain all of these changes

i don’t know what to do she said

if it is too much pack your bags and

come back home but don’t stand in

between yourself and your dreams

and i was shocked i realized

that of course it is hard and it is

worth

expressing your emotions but

is it more harder than what you have

already lived

just imagine how many people would be

ready to be in my shoes

and live the life i was living

and that gave me a sense of gratefulness

and i learned to live through my pain

and find

powers within so every time i fall

i sulk a little eat ice cream and get up

again

looking forward towards my goals

finally i bagged an internship at abyss

and this was it my first desk

amidst the planes in the abbess

corporate jets

i was living it for real now

and since then i never looked back i

have been working at

airbus at different capacities and today

as a youngest industrial architect

this has been such a learning experience

the woman i am today feels proud of the

12 year old girl

who did not succumb to the painful

circumstances

she chose to live she chose to smile and

that’s why i’m standing before you

no girl in my family had ever come so

far and struggled so much for her career

but today one example is enough

for the entire community and entire

family

to have hope and assurance

my own younger sister is living her

dreams

in her own terms and the way she wants

and i’m proud of her the freedom that i

have today the freedom to make my career

choices my life choices

and to be independent in every way is

such a contrast from where i began

when i went back to india last time we

were around 40 people gathered for a

family dinner

yes we can be that many

i saw the look in the eyes of my cousins

they were so confident and motivated and

happy

that now they feel that they can if i

could

even their parents have an example to

look up to

and they vouch for education more than

ever before

imagine these girls who are supposed to

have a good marriage as their result the

eth

are now determined to move to mega

cities and pursue their dreams

the fact that they have a choice is the

biggest fulfillment for me

now imagine if all of us here make our

lives bigger than our own selves

transcending our limitations

for a greater good just how beautifully

will this community

this planet and this universe can emerge

out for an agri-gore of higher

consciousness

transcend your limits and weave a

collective force for this world

so that the future generations can live

with peace

we say in sanskrit vasudeva become

which means world is a single family

connected by the power of love

my purpose is to do something larger

than my own self

transcending my limits every single day

so that when i look back the future

neelum can tell

well done young neelam with a cooler

hairstyle for the efforts you made

and for whatever you did to make this

world a beautiful place

lastly i would like to recite something

in hindi

for my prakash mosaic

so

ladies and gentlemen transcend your

limits have a good time namaste

you