Tuesday 20 February 2018

Letter to Student Series : Volume 3 Issue 6


My Dear Student Friends,
Greetings!
This is Dr. Ravi Saripalle, Founder, Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement. Welcome to “Letter to Student Series- Volume 3 and Issue 6. Hope you enjoyed reading my previous letter (they are available at http://i2itm.blogspot.in/). The goal of these letters is to inspire, educate, engage, entertain and empower students across the country and make them Future Ready.
Please listen to following important messages to you 

1.     Unemployability : The 5th Biggest Crisis on the Earth: You can listen to my proposal which is applicable to all students and professionals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j4W0onuSfg

2.     Examinations : My Message to all students who are appearing for Year End Examinations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyBjBH1-6z4

Yearend examinations are around the corner. Across the nation, students and professionals are working hard, few working smart but goal is to become successful in their respective lives. Having said that, "Success doesn't mean the absence of failures; it means the attainment of ultimate objectives. It means winning the war, not every battle (Edwin C. Bliss)". To prove this definition, you must hear the story of Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President which was published in a website called https://www.snopes.com/glurge/lincoln.asp: Abraham Lincoln embraced and engulfed into multiple challenges & constraints till the last leg of winning!! "1831: Failed in business; 1832: Ran for state legislature – lost;1832: Also lost his job – wanted to go to law school but couldn’t get in;1833: Borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of the year he was bankrupt. He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off this debt;1834: Ran for state legislature again – won;1835: Was engaged to be married, sweetheart died and his heart was broken;1836: Had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months;1838: Sought to become speaker of the state legislature – defeated;1840: Sought to become elector – defeated;1843: Ran for Congress – lost;1846: Ran for Congress again – this time he won – went to Washington and did a good job;1848: Ran for re-election to Congress – lost;1849 Sought the job of land officer in his home state – rejected;1854: Ran for Senate of the United States – lost;1856: Sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party’s national convention – got less than 100 votes;1858: Ran for U.S. Senate again – again he lost;1860: Elected president of the United States". After reading these facts, if someone feels nervous, pressurized and sensitive about failures, it is mere ignorance. Success and failures are twins and share space, time and context. Your ultimate goal is to work hard and leave results to God! If you can practice this great art, You are already successful! Believe me. This is the fact. Do not worry about exams, results and marks. They are sheer bi-products. You keep going!!

Bhanjibhai Mathukiya, the innovator who built more than 25 dams and tractors: I was reading about Bhanjibhai Mathukiya at Yourstory.com (https://yourstory.com/2018/01/bhanjibhai-mathukiya/). Bhanjibhai is hailing from agricultural family from a village in Gujarat. He invented 10 HP tractor for smaller farmers who are growing groundnut and orchards using diesel engine and the chassis of a jeep which is half priced than alternatives available in the market. He built a check dam on the river Dharfad for mere 10,000 rupees, with 1 mason, 4 labourers and in 4 days! He was asked to build  many more later seeing the initial success! He represented India at the Commonwealth Science Council in South Africa. Great effort Bhanjibhai! We need many more like him to solve our grassroots problems! Thank you yourstory for publishing such a great mission.

Subhasini Mistry, Founder of Humanity Hospital:  A poor lady from rural Bengal, who worked as housemaid, daily laborer for more than 20 years, singlehandedly built humanity hospital. Currently it is running with 45 beds, 10 ICU beds, treating thousands of poor for free of cost. Forced to marry a wage laborer at the age of 12, widowed at the age of 23, struggles and hardship are common friends to her. She kept her son in an orphanage and made him doctor. Amazingly, her son is  now helping in her mission in their own hospital. Hospital started in a small hut and grown this big. Finally Government of India announced  Padma Shri Award for her relentless effort towards this great cause. We wish many more good services from Subhasini Mistry. Thank you betterindia.com for publishing such an inspiring story. To read more, please do visit https://www.thebetterindia.com/129200/padma-shri-2018/? utm_source= The+Better+India+Newsletter&utm_ campaign=e79fe352d1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cd579275a4-e79fe352d1-73776797

Bhajju Shyam, Gond Artist: The Gonds, are the largest Adivasi Community, generally found in Madhya Pradesh and in neighboring states. Traditionally used to paint on mud walls but contemporary artists from this community started new tradition of figurative and narrative visual art. Lot of their works use dots to create the painting. Bhajju Shyam, aged 46, hailing from Madhya Pradesh, internationally acclaimed Gond Artist, born in poor tribal family, worked as a night guard and electrician to support his family. He became famous for depicting life in Europe. He illustrated this work in 8 books. One of his books, The London Jungle book, was sold 30000 copies and published in 5 foreign languages.  Government of India announced  Padma Shri Award for his extraordinary talent. Thank you Better India for this remarkable story publication. To know more about Gond art, please do visit https://www.deccanfootprints.com/collections/gond-art 

Arvind Gupta, Expert in Toys from Trash, Scientist Toymaker: Born in 1953, Alumni of  Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, worked for two years at TELCO, resigned from the job to revitalize the science teaching through the discovery approach. Started developing multiple model toys to teach science. You can find hundreds of the toys designed by Arvind Gupta at http://arvindguptatoys.com. He used cheapest materials and household rubbish to develop these toys. Over a period of four decades, Arvind visited 3,000+ schools, made 6,200 short films on toy-making in 18 languages and provided free books on his website in 12 languages. Arvind Gupta has been conferred the Padma Shri award this year. To read more, please do visit https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/padma-shri-for-scientist-toymaker-arvind-gupta/articleshow/62657292.cms

Ingvar Kamprad: IKEA's frugal billionaire founder:  "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication", by  Leonardo da Vinci. Have you heard about IKEA? It is swedish-founded Dutch-based multinational group, which designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories. It has been the world's largest furniture retailer since 2008. Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA, started this company at the age of 17 in his own family farm. He is known for his ethic, frugality and down-to-earth style. His worth was approximately $60 billion when he died at the age of 91. He always drove modest Volvo and dressed simple. Before this venture, initially he used to sell matchboxes to neighbors from his bicycle. There is lot to learn from his principles. Thank you ET for publishing this inspiring story. To read more, please do visit https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/the-story-of-ingvar-kamprad-ikeas-frugal-billionaire-founder/starting-a-company-at-17/slideshow/62692460.cms

Dear Students, Hope you completed Future readiness assessment. This is to help you to plan your life better and make you relevant in the context of 4th Industrial revolution. Please take this assessment every month without fail. It acts like reminder to 5 important activities- Inspire yourself through positive stories, get mentored from your role model, develop your natural intelligence, manage academics and do physical activity. Request you to answer the following five questions and calculate your Future Readiness.

1.         I read / hear stories of amazing people           
(A) weekly once (10 marks)           (B) monthly once (5 marks)                   (C) Irregular reading (2 marks)        (D)Not Interested (0 marks)

2.         I write letter / mail to my mentor (other than parents) for guidance (professional / personal)
(A) every 6 months (10 marks)      (B) yearly once (5 marks)               
(C) Irregular writing (2 marks)       (D)Not Interested (0 marks)

3.         I practice my passion or natural intelligence (to know your intelligence https://goo.gl/vgyD54) 
(A) weekly 4 hours (10 marks)       (B) weekly 2 hours (5 marks)        
(C) Irregular practice (2 marks)      (D)Not Interested (0 marks)

4.         I manage my academics with consistent percentage or grade 
(A) A Grade and above  (10 marks)  (B) B Grade and above  (5 marks)
(C) C Grade or below (2 marks)       (D)Consistent Failure (0 marks)

5.         I do physical activity and maintain good health  
(A) weekly 4 hours (10 marks)       (B) weekly 2 hours (5 marks)        
(C) Irregular practice (2 marks)      (D)Not Interested (0 marks)

                                    Check Your Score and Title












I wish you should be either Performer (your score should be between 40-50) or Challenger (your score should be between 25-40). You should not give any scope to be  Lounger (relaxed) with 10-25 score or Laggard (slower than desired) with score less than 10.

My Dear Friends, Appreciate your valuable time. See you in my next letter. Thank you for giving me this wonderful opportunity. You can also reach to me at sdindia2020@gmail.com. I am happy to respond to your letter.
With Best Wishes,
Dr. Ravi Saripalle

About Author:    Dr. Ravi Saripalle is Founder of Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement and Director, Center for Innovation, GVP College of Engineering (A), Vizag, AP, India. As part of Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement, Dr.Ravi is trying to instill inspiration through spreading positive stories of amazing people in the form of short stories, embedding them in the form of letters (epistolary form) and sending them to thousands of schools, colleges, universities districts administration across India. Also conducting Storytelling Workshops in select institutions. Providing customized mentoring to inspired students. Dr. Ravi is having 18 years of experience in Industry, Consultancy, Training, Mentoring and Research. Prior to this current mission, Ravi worked with Wipro Technologies for more than a decade.  Ravi can be reached at sdindia2020@gmail,com or http://i2itm.blogspot.in/ or https://www.facebook.com/RaviSaripalle

Previous letters are available at http://i2itm.blogspot.in/    Videos https://www.youtube.com/user/Indianrichtalent

Disclaimer: The goal of this i2iSM letter series campaign is to inspire students / youth through storytelling and develop innovative leaders to build strong nation. In this process, I have taken several data points from various websites, NEWS articles, books, videos etc. I sincerely thank all the editors for providing such an insightful stories and information. To the best of my knowledge, I tried to acknowledge all the sources. I sincerely apologize for any omissions, grammatical mistakes and hurting any reader’s sentiments. I request all the readers to understand the spirit behind this effort. This effort doesn’t involve any commercials. Letter series is for free distribution.