Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement: 2015

Thursday, 5 November 2015

Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 4 - Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @ Students Of India

My Dear Student Friends,

Greetings!

This is Dr. Ravi Saripalle, Believer and Mentor, Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Thinking Movement. Welcome to “Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 4”. Hope you enjoyed reading my previous letter. These letters are connecting many schools and student friends of North to South & East to West. I thank all of you for spending your valuable time reading this letter series and patiently acknowledging the same.

In the previous issue, I highlighted upon the process of inspiration. What is the source of inspiration? In this context, we discussed about how Martin Luther King, Jr, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Subramanya Bharathi, Chandra Shekar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Netaji, Tilak etc derived inspiration from National political movements, which is the first source of inspiration. We discussed about Prem Ganapathy, Thomos Edison, etc and how they derived inspiration from an individual need or problem which is the second source of inspiration. The third source is most important where one can get inspiration by hearing great stories and mentored. We also discussed about how Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai are flagging India color outside. We talked about how Sachin is playing with a game called “Commitment” but not the game called “Cricket”. It was great to hear about Kalamandalam Hemalatha who made Guinness record for performing longest dance marathon. We also proved that there is no disability to inspiration with the living examples of Helen Keller and Dr.Sharadkumar Dixit. They are all really inspiring! Aren’t they?

My Dear Friends, in this issue, I would like to stress upon the most important aspect of inspiration which is dire need and craving desire. Recently I read an article in Times of India (2nd Nov 2015), about Saji Thomas who is born deaf and also people in his village ignored him. However, this man surprised the world by building a twin-seater ultra light aircraft on his own, using used parts and recycled material by reading few books. He has to go through lot of hardship (sold 5 cents of the land which he owned) to design this model. Finally Saji’s name got listed in the India Book of Records. During this process, 45 years old Saji, has to work as rubber tapper, an electrician and band photographer and other odd jobs for his survival. Desire designs our way of thinking and develops run way for linking!! How could a Jain monk, Shri Hansratnavijayji Maharaj Saheb (Times of India, Nov 2, 2015) fast for 494 days as part of his religious practice? It is driven by divine desire!!!

My Dear Student Friends, it is amazing to hear that our country is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world, with 444 articles, 22 parts, 12 schedules, 118 amendments, with 117,369 English words. How big our inspiration should be? In 2014 elections, the number of people voted is more than 54 Crores which is more than sum population of USA, JAPAN, and BRITAIN! How magnanimous our collective inspiration should be? Can you imagine? We have approximately 1000 spoken languages and dialects in our country. Still we are standing high as 2^nd largest English speaking country in the World after USA. What kind of endorsement we made? Is it not source of inspiration to achieve impossible? Around 700 B.C., India used to have world’s largest University at Takshila with 10,500 students in 60 disciplines. Why are we now struggling to get into top 200 University ranks in the world? Is there any issue with our inspiration? We are number one user of Gold. Why are we not becoming number one Golden Thinkers? We have world’s largest platform in Khargpur with 2.7 KM. Why don’t we build World’s largest Thinking Network? Please think about it? Are you game for this? You should be the first node in this network! You need to convince your friend and build your first network. Make it huge chain.

Let me share a small story which I read in whatsapp recently. The number “9” slapped strongly the number “8”. Immediately number “8” asked number “9”, why did you slap me? Number “9” told, you are younger than me, hence I have right to slap you. Listening this rule, number “8” slapped number “7” and told the same reason. This process continued till number “1”. However number “1” is like you. She did not slap number “0” but with lots of love, she made an offer to sit next to her. Immediately she became number “10”. Looking into this change, number “9” started fearing with number “10”. India story is same. We should bring this change in our lives, inspire every node like you and build large and strong thinking network. Will you start today?

Inspiration cannot be manufactured! You cannot weigh it in tons. You cannot buy this in shopping mall. You cannot store it in huge storage warehouses! However, your heart can store millions of tons of inspiration and can share unlimited with others! Learn this from a Tree, which is symbol of selfless service. I was reading a message on calculation between how much Oxygen we inhale and how much Oxygen a tree produces? On average, a person inhales oxygen equivalent to approx 3 cylinders per day. One oxygen cylinder is approx Rs 700. The total cost of three cylinders is Rs 2100. It comes to Rs. 7,66,000 per year. If we consider the average life of a person is 65 yrs, then the total value generated by our beloved tree is approx Rs 5 crore. We get this value of air FREE from our beloved selfless service plants! What kind of inspiration it gives us! Can we draw similar inspiration from these plants and pass on to our fellow friend? Think about it friend?

Friends, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe says, “Nothing is worth more than this day”! Your day counts now! Inspire, Inspire and Inspire!!!

My Dear Friends, Hope you enjoyed reading this letter. I appreciate your valuable time. I wish it is informative and useful. I will again see you in my next letter. Thank you for giving me this great opportunity to write to you and help me to learn, unlearn and relearn in this process.

With Best Wishes

Dr. Ravi Saripalle

About Author: Dr. Ravi Saripalle is Believer and Mentor of Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement. He is also Director, Center for Innovation, GVP College of Engineering (A), Vizag, AP. As part of Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Thinking Movement, Dr.Ravi conducts Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Workshops to inspire students and provide customized mentoring to specific inspired students. Dr. Ravi is having more than 17 years of experience in Industry, Consultancy, Training, Mentoring and Research. Prior to this current role, Dr. Ravi worked with Wipro Technologies for more than a decade. Dr Ravi can be reached at saripalle.ravi@gmail,com or http://i2itm.blogspot.in/ or facebook.com/saripalle.ravi or https://www.facebook.com/i2ithinkingmovement

Links to previous letters

1. Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 3 (Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @ Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2015_08_01_archive.html

2. Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 2 (Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @ Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2015/07/letter-to-student-series-volume-1-and.html

3. Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 1 (Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @ Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2015/05/inspire-to-innovate-i2i-thinking.html

Disclaimer: The goal of this i2i letter series campaign is to inspire students 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 insightful stories. 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 spirit behind this effort. This effort doesn’t involve any commercials. Letter series is for free distribution.

Sunday, 30 August 2015

Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 3- Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @ Students Of India

My Dear Student Friends,

Greetings!

This is Dr. Ravi Saripalle, Believer and Mentor, Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement. Welcome to “Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 3”. Hope you enjoyed reading my previous letter. These letters are connecting many schools and student friends of North to South & East to West. I thank all of you for spending your valuable time reading this letter series and patiently acknowledging the same.

In the previous issue, I stressed the importance of getting inspired and finding right mentor. In that, you read about Jadav Payeng of Assam, forest man of India, how he inspired by ecological destruction and created man made forest (environmental innovation). You also read about Dashrath Manjhi of Bihar, mountain man of India, how he inspired to chip the mountain and created civil innovation. You heard about Armstrong Pame, a young and dynamic IAS officer from Manipur, how he proactively initiated Facebook campaign for fund raising and made road construction, known as "Peoples' Road", connecting Manipur to Nagaland and Assam. You also read about importance of attitude and how it elevates your altitude. I truly hope they are relevant to inspire you, again inspire you and without any deviation inspire you forever.

My Dear Friends, This week, I would like to stress upon the most important linkages between inspiration and innovation. Today, Innovation is survival. Without innovation, nobody can think of sustainable future. Worldwide, Individuals and Organizations are striving towards various innovations- Social Innovations, Political Innovations, Technological Innovations, Ecological Innovations, Legal Innovations, Economical Innovations, Marketing and Business Innovations, Educational Innovations and so on! Now question rises in your mind. What is the source of Innovation? In my view, the basic fabric of innovation sprouts from inspiration. That inspiration may arise out of positive experience or sometimes triggered from negative situations.

Fundamentally, there are three sources for Inspiration-

1.Natural Calamities or Political Movements are sources of inspiration for amazing people. Martin Luther King, Jr, a social activist, got inspired to run civil rights movement. Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first democratically elected President, inspired to build democratic and free society where people live in harmony. One Subramanya Bharathi, One Azad, One Bhagat Singh, One Mahatma Gandhi, One Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, One Bal Gangadhar Tilak, One Veer Savarkar One Lal Bahadur and many such Ones… all inspired to bring independence.

2. Individual or Group of people experiences certain difficulty or having some need or problem. Inspiration comes from such need or problem. I read about Prem Ganapathy, founder of Dosa Plaza in Economic Times(Feb 20,2012). It is an amazing occurrence. At age of 17 years, Prem Ganapathi started his journey from low end dish washing job in small bakery shop in 1990 for survival. In 2012, Dosa Plaza became food chain with more than 43 restaurants across 11 states, 7 restaurants in 4 countries with 30 crores revenue. Thomos Edison failed 10,000 times in his quest to invent electric bulb. Edison held 1000+ patents. He found there is technical need in the society and strived towards such tech-innovations

3.The third source is most important where we generate inspiration in Individual or group. Individual is given a platform and nurtured. He/she hear stories of great achievers and failures in time context. They take inspiration by hearing and seeing but not by experiencing. Given a right mentoring, they get charged and inspired. This process helps in generating predictable inspiration and should be embodied in the education system. The system should provide such opportunities for transformation. Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Letter to student series is one such initiative. Being sincere reader, we aspire that you should become one such great thinker, creative leader and are part of Innovation Fauj.

Inspiration sprouts from Hungry or Full-Stomach, Love or Hatred, Life or Death, Construction or Destruction, Silence or Noise, Light or Dark, Speed or Slow, Natural or Unnatural, Child or Aged, Literate or Illiterate and Truth or Falsehood! If it is to make positive world, welcome it blindly.

In year 2000, I had wonderful opportunity to meet Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam at John F. Welch Technology Center, in Bangalore along with leaders of Wipro Technologies. It was memorable opportunity in my life. I had lunch and one-on-one conversation with Dr.Kalam. After hearing my questions patiently, Dr.Kalam told, “You young people should be inspired and make India inspired!” He opened his bag, pulled a book, singed on it and presented to me very affectionately. It was “Wings of Fire”, an autobiography of Missile Man of India. I always inspired by his famous quote - “Dream, dream, dream. Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts result in action.”

It is true now. India is getting inspired. Making others inspired across the world. Satya Nadella, became CEO of one of the world’s largest tech giants-Microsoft . Sundar Pichai, seized CEO position of the most innovative company, Google. Inspiration is not limited to Technology. India continued to be inspired spiritually even in contemporary times. You could witness, the power of collective inspiration in Kumbh Melas. It is believed that it is largest religious gathering on the earth! More than 120 million (12 crore) people visited during 2013 mela (kumbhmelaallahabad.gov.in,)! Kalamandalam Hemalatha sets Guinness world record for performing longest dance marathon of 123 hours and 15 minutes! Is it humanly possible without taking inspiration from some source?

As you all know that our "Little Master" Sachin became the first player to score 100 centuries. Recently I received an interesting message from some unknown source. When Sachin made his first test debut, Sehwag was 10 yrs old, Mr Vijay was 5 yrs, Ojha was 3 yrs 71 days old, Raina was 2 yrs old, Pujara was 1 yr 9 months and Kohli was not born. Now Sachin is still playing with these star cricketers. I am quoting this in my workshops. After making my students hear these statements, I ask one simple question to them – What is Sachin playing? Many students told CRICKET and looked at me foolishly for asking such silly question! I am not annoyed. However, in one of the workshops, one boy told, Sachin is not playing CRICKET. He is playing a game called COMMITMENT. It was absolutely most intelligent and prudent response which I ever heard. Commitment comes from some source of inspiration. Unless we are inspired, there is no manifestation of the commitment.

Helen Keller, a renowned writer, was the first deaf-blind to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Dr.Sharadkumar Dixit, did free surgery camps for almost 30 years in India, covering more than 300,000 free surgeries (greatidols.blogspot.in, 30-Aug-15). Where such inspiration does come for these extraordinary people? It comes from one of the 3 sources which I listed earlier. Teachers may get inspiration from students and Vice-Versa. Mothers may get inspiration from children. Spirituality may inspire someone, so as Adventures may inspire others. Biographies and Experiences may inspire many so as Nature may inspire a lot. Lovely flowers, sweet birds, beautiful animals, gushing waters and so on are the sources of inspiration. Get inspired! from the past, Feel Inspired!! for today, Program Inspired!!! for tomorrow.

My Dear friends, Farrah Gray told “Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs”. It is absolutely true. Yes, we are in a highly competitive environment. In spite of best efforts, sometimes our dreams may not be realized. Our actions may not get recognized. Can pile of gold, crores of rupees, fleet of vehicles, networking and so on give us true happiness? No, Inspiration only can give such happiness! Napoleon Hill told “If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.” George Bernard Shaw told “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” Inspire my dear student friends!

With Best Wishes

Dr. Ravi Saripalle

Links to previous letters

1. Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 2 (Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @ Students Of India)

http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2015/07/letter-to-student-series-volume-1-and.html

2. Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 1 (Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Stortytelling Movement @ Students Of India)

http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2015/05/inspire-to-innovate-i2i-thinking.html

Sunday, 12 July 2015

Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 2 (Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @ Students Of India)

My Dear Student Friends,

Greetings!

This is Dr. Ravi Saripalle, Believer and Mentor, Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement. Welcome to “Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 2”. Hope you enjoyed reading my previous letter. I received overwhelming response from various students, teachers and principals from all states of India. I thank all of you for spending your valuable time reading this letter series and patiently acknowledging the same.

In the previous volume, I mentioned the need for goal setting, need to identify your own natural intelligence and potential (spot your multiple intelligence), how your passion should drive you and so on, referred to amazing real case studies of Srinivasa Ramanujan (Self-Made Mathematician), Shalini of Karnataka, Ammaji of Peeleru, Chittoor, AP (both scoring high in PUC/+2 exams in spite of various challenges in their lifes), R. Madhavan of an alumnus of IIT-Madras (IITian turned most influential engineering driven farmer) and the importance of 10,000 hours of practice (to position you as expert in one particular field).

Again, I appeal you to get inspired and mentored by someone whom you trust and believe (your mentor). This is continuous and ongoing process. One day, may be you might stop your studies (from degree perspective), but you cannot stop getting inspired and mentored. They are lifelines in one’s own journey towards ultimate goal achievement. In my letter series, I would like to stress on these two dimensions as continuous reminder (inspire and get mentored).

Let me elaborate more on how one can be inspired and mentored. Inspiration comes from various forces. You can be inspired by hearing inspirational stories, reading wonderful thought provoking words and stories, by undergoing various challenges and successfully facing them, attending workshops exclusively to inspire individuals and so on. You can be mentored by your own parents or your teacher who cares about your future or exclusive mentor who nurtures you. You need to search and choose such mentor. In this process, you have to take ownership. Nobody is responsible to provide such platform. It is inner process not external process. Don’t wait. It becomes costly step if you miss these two steps in your early education.

Recently one of my students who is studying 1^st year Engineering asked me, “Sir, I am attending Inspirational Workshop every 3 months and also my teacher is mentoring me. Is that sufficient to succeed in my goals?” My answer is “NO”. I gave this analogy to her. You are living in 10^th floor of 20-story apartment. It is duplex, 4 bed room, spacious and well decorated 3000 square feet apartment. I told her, that is your “Degree/Skill/Knowledge”. The ground level foundation to your degree must be your core “Inspiration”. The pillar connected to your apartment is your “mentoring process.” Without proper foundation and strong elevated pillars, apartment collapses. Hope you understand the importance of inspire and mentoring.

Let me explain further with another anology. Once one boy enquired me on which course I should join so that I get job quickly and earn lot of money. Then I asked what inspires you in your life. He didn’t have much answer and again he told me, “Sir, I want SOME job quickly and EARN money.” I clearly see vacuum within 2 words – SOME and EARN. Both words bring down the objectivity in our life. When we don’t have passion towards particular course and study that course for short-term job, first, we cannot enjoy the job and we cannot earn money as well. I firmly believe this philosophy. Let me share a story. Once there is a company called “Ultra Woodcutting Services Pvt. Ltd.” They cut trees using most sophisticated machines, shape them and export wood. This company is growing fast as they are cutting trees fast and delivering them to market quickly. This company is located near a village called “Bhuvannagar”, close to Eastern Ghats forest region. Lot of boys from this village are aspiring for woodcutting job as this company is paying high and you get job quickly. Once a boy called “Lumana” approached this company for job. They asked the boy to learn certain skills related woodcutting operation. He is not really interested in this work but money and job lured him to this profession. He shared his heart to one wise man from his village. Wise man advised him not to take this profession, because 1. You don’t have interest. 2. You want to earn money 3. Woodcutting is destructive work. Over a period, you will lose your job anyway as there will be no trees left. In spite of the wise man’s advice, Lumana joined this company. Days passed and things are going fine. He worked for three years. Ruthlessly company started cutting old trees (some of them are as old as 50 years). Over a period, entire forest region got wiped out. There are no trees left. One day company asked Lumana to find new job. Lumana doesn’t know any skill outside woodcutting. He could not earn money as any trees left. The moral of the story is whichever course you choose, you need to be inspired first. Such skills should be helpful to the society in the long-term. Then money / name / fame become by-product. They come automatically. But money / name should not be criteria to search for a job.

Let me share few real stories of amazing people. Recently I was reading the life of Jadav Payeng from Assam (greenerpasturesind.wordpress.com). Jadav witnessed many snakes washed away ashore onto the sandbars during 1979 Assam floods. Many of them died as there is no tree protection in the sandbars. The 15 year old Jadav inspired to do something in these sandbars. Though sandbars are not conducive for plantation, Jadav single handedly started planting bamboo trees. Then government also supported his cause for 5 years. Jadav didn’t leave it there. He continued this noble effort for past 32 years. You know what? As a result of his unflinching effort, today this man-made forest has grown to 1000 hectares in size. Now this forest is home for tigers, rhinoceros, special birds, elephants and so on. Jadav got inspired! Result is 1000 hectares of man-made forest! Jadav is known as the forest maker of India. Do you agree now, how inspiration is so important?

Let me share the real story of another amazing man, called as “Mountain Man.” Dashrath Manjhi was a poor labourer from Gehlaur village, Gaya, Bihar. In 1959, Dashrath’s wife died from lack of medical access. The nearest doctor was available only 70km away, traveling around the hills. Dashrath inspired to help other villagers and his next generation. He started carving a path through a mountain using a hammer and chisel. You know what, he did astonishing work. After 22 years of hard and painstaking work, Dashrath shortened travel between the Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya town from 55 km to 15 km (wikipedia.org) !! He carved a path of 360-foot-long, 25-foot-deep, 30-foot-wide in the form of regular paved road!!! What kind of commitment he must be having? What kind of vision he must be holding? In today’s world, everybody is looking after their own stomach and family welfare. Very few people are committed for such societal cause.

I was reading a famous quote about good people from unknown source. Good people are like diamonds. They should not be tested too much. If they are hit, they will not break. But they will slip away from your hands. My dear friend, May be you are one among such diamonds? Inspire!

Let me share another visionary IAS officer’s story which I read in Times of India (Nov 3, 2012). Armstrong Pame, a young and dynamic IAS officer hailing from North East India, created huge impact with his societal concern. He proactively initiated a construction of a 100-km road that would link Manipur with Nagaland and Assam with the help of local people. Without this road, it takes two days for anyone in the village (Tousem, Manipur) to reach nearest hospital on foot. Armstrong hails from Tousem and faced lot of hardship during his childhood. He used to walk as much as 60 KM to reach district headquarters carrying 25KG of rice back home. After winning most prestigious civil services, Armstrong didn’t become silent about woes of his hometown. He donated from his own pocket and campaigned heavily in fund raising using social media towards this ambitious people driven road construction work.

Rabindranath Tagore says “I slept and dreamt- that life was joy. I awoke and saw - that life was service. I acted and behold- service was joy.” My Dear Friend, do you want to taste that joy? Joy for yourself, Joy for your parents, Joy for your mother land!

My Dear Friend, when we see tiny items through high-powered magnifying glass, same item appears big. In the same way, when we see small problems, through microscopic heart, issue magnifies, leads to confusion. Further, it leads to fusion of the problem. A wise thinking and noble acceptance of the issues are critical skills to survive in this world today. Let me share a tale published in O Homem que Calculava, a series of tales (Brazil in 1949) in the style of the Arabian Nights. I read this tale from wikipedia.org. Once there is father and he has 3 sons. He has 35 camels. When father died, he left WILL stating like this- 1^st son receives 1/2 camels (17.5 camels), 2^nd son receives 1/3 (11.7 camels), 3^rd son receives 1/9 (3.9 camels). Sons started fighting each other and finally reached to one wise man called Hanak. Hearing this, Hanak first donated his one camel, making total camel strength to 36. Now using this WILL, he distributed 18 camels to 1^st son, 12 camels to 2^nd son, 4 camels to 3^rd son. Not only they received their original share, but with this arrangement, all of them profited with extra number. Later this story mapped to 17 camels, brining 9 camels to 1^st son, 6 camels to 2^nd son, 2 camels to 3^rd son. My dear friends, attitude and negotiation skills are highly critical today. First we must believe there is solution exists for every problem. I wish you would agree with me and try to elevate your altitude by your attitude.

With Best Wishes

Dr. Ravi Saripalle

About Author: Dr. Ravi Saripalle is Believer and Mentor of Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement. He is also Director, Center for Innovation, GVP College of Engineering (A), Vizag, AP. Dr. Ravi is having more than 17 years of experience in Industry, Consultancy, Training, Mentoring and Research. Prior to this current role, Dr. Ravi worked with Wipro Technologies for more than a decade. Dr Ravi can be reached at saripalle.ravi@gmail,com or http://i2itm.blogspot.in/ or facebook.com/saripalle.ravi or https://www.facebook.com/i2ithinkingmovement

Disclaimer: The goal of this letter campaign is to inspire students through storytelling and live case studies 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 insightful stories. 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 spirit behind this effort. This effort doesn’t involve any commercials. Letter series is for free distribution.

Friday, 22 May 2015

INSPIRE TO INNOVATE (I2I) STORYTELLING MOVEMENT @ STUDENTS OF INDIA ( Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 1)

INSPIRE TO INNOVATE (I2I) THINKING MOVEMENT @ STUDENTS OF INDIA

Inspire through Storytelling - Innovate for Life turning

Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 1

===============================================

My Dear Student Friends,

Greetings!

This is Dr. Ravi Saripalle, Believer and Mentor, Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement. It gives me immense pleasure writing to you because you are our hope, you are our future, you are the backbone of our Nation’s strength. This effort is most successful if this letter inspires you, makes you think, to be creative, innovative and connects you to your role model.

Friends, recently I was reading about Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920), one of the self-made mathematicians on famousscientists.org. It was fascinating to hear that at 14 years old, Ramanujan was able to get hold of all the theorems of cosine and sine, the most complex trigonometry. He was not having proper books hence he had to solve on his own for multiple questions he got! Friends, we are going to be good problem solvers when we are constrained. Constraints are valuable resources. They are important teachers. Please don’t be afraid of hardships! Invite them dearly! They mould you to be strong! This is my first message to you.

In this context, I want to share couple of recent stories. I was reading an article by oneindia.com (May 19 2015). It was about 17-year-old girl, Shalini, who secured 85% marks in Karnataka PUC exams. You might ask me what is great about securing 85% where now a days, students are securing 99% and 100%! Yes, someone can secure 100% when home situation is favorable, having good financial backup, good parental support, good school and so on. However, we should really appreciate the fact that Shalini’s life is different. I am really admiring her determination to study in spite of various challenges she has been facing. Her father had been bedridden for over 10 years. Brother is suffering from cancer. Mother is busy taking care of both. Fate left Shalini to take the whole family responsibility. She joined as house maid in 5 houses. Her day starts from morning 4:30AM! She studies between the jobs! It is a true example of determination.

Recently I was reading similar article in EENADU, vernacular NEWS paper of AP. It is about teenage girl Ammaji. She born in Peeleru, Chittoor District of AP. Her mother expired during her childhood. She has a sister and brother. Father was manual worker. Grandmother who used to take care of them also expired. Father became ill hence could not go to work. Over a period of time, he also got expired. Ammaji has to take care of the entire family at that young age. She became laborer. However, she has lot of interest towards education. She approached nearby college. She got admission with free of charge. She has to switch to stitching profession because it gives flexibility to work anytime. Morning to evening, she spends in the college, studies and works till mid night for livelihood. I really hats off to this girl. You know what? She secured 885/1000 in recent Intermediate examinations (+2 of AP) in CEC (Commerce, Economics and Civics) Group. When there is fixed goal, when there is commitment, when there is focus in our approach, all constraints get defeated.

My Dear Student Friends, You are born with some talent. You are born with one particular natural characteristic. You need to bring out and keep it in the practice. In the book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell says, it takes roughly 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in a particular chosen field. It means, for e.g. if you want to be core agricultural scientist, you need to practice for 10,000 hours. The early you start is always better. You can have personal goal (satisfies your heart) and professional goal (satisfies your needs). If both match, you are most lucky. Successful people try to match both. For e.g. if you start spending 4 hours per day towards your goals achievement, it takes roughly 7 years to become proficient in that field.

Friends, is your goal fixed? If not, it is getting late. Fix it now. Are you game for this?

Defining goal at early age is always boon, most advantageous! Recently one boy, studying 6^th class came to my house. He was asking me, “Uncle, I want to set my goal. I am confused as I hear most of them telling only 2 goals- want to become engineer or doctor. I want to think beyond!.” Infact this boy’s question made me to think beyond normal.

Thanks to Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, I could able to elaborate this discussion in structured way. Howard Earl Gardner is an American developmental psychologist and Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. Gardner proposed that there are nine intelligences- Verbal-Linguistic (e.g. I want to become orator or teacher), Mathematical-Logical (e.g. I want to be computer programmer or statistician), Musical Intelligence (e.g. I want to become musician and run music company), Visual-Spatial Intelligence (e.g. I want to become interior designer), Bodily-Kinesthetic (e.g. I want to become sports star and commentator), Interpersonal (e.g. I want to become marketing manager), Intrapersonal (e.g. I want to become writer or R&D scientist), Naturalist (e.g. I want to become horticulture scientist) and Existential Intelligence (e.g. I want to understand spirituality and lead spiritual life). When I listed these intelligences, without hesitation, the boy told me that he is possessing naturalistic intelligence. He loves plants, animals, flora and fauna. Without much thinking, this boy tells me, “Uncle, I want to become farmer, no, no, beyond farmer; I want to study agriculture science and become Scientist farmer”. Great, it is highly appreciable and noble goal. I was telling him, what he can do from this age to reach that humble goal! I told him to read books about various plants and environment. Start seeding, plant saplings and get connected to practice of planting. It gives appreciation to the study, develops and nurtures the goal. Finally I told him to search and connect to his role model. That day, I could see glow on his face, enthusiasm, energy and so on!

What about you? I am sure naturally you must be strong in one or two of these intelligences listed above. Also, you can aspire to be strong in another intelligence which is not natural to you. My Friends, introspect now! What is your natural quality? Please define your goal today.

Since we are talking about the boy who wants to become scientist farmer, it reminds me to talk about one great person whom I met few years ago in TEDx Vizag conference. He is Mr. R Madhavan, an alumnus of IIT-Madras, studied mechanical engineering. From childhood, Madhavan is passionate about gardening. Though he wants to be agriculturist, due to some compulsions, he started his career in ONGC. After saving some money, he started purchasing land and finally he became full-fledged farmer. He became agricultural scientist, made multiple experiments and finally started making money. He used his mechanical engineering knowledge in customizing farming tools according to the needs. Today in my view, Madhavan is most successful Agripreneur (successful entrepreneur in agricultural domain). He became role model to many farmers today! Now you can appreciate how one can set a goal in childhood, study something different, change track over period of time, finally fulfill the childhood goal and also leverage the education to its favour. Hope you understand the essence of goal setting and execution.

My Dear Friends, Hope you enjoyed reading this letter. I appreciate your valuable time. I wish it is informative and useful. Start your journey today. I will again see you in my next letter. Thank you for giving me this great opportunity to write to you and help me to learn, unlearn and relearn in this process.

With Best Wishes

Dr. Ravi Saripalle

About Author: Dr. Ravi Saripalle is Believer and Mentor of Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement. He is also Director, Center for Innovation, GVP College of Engineering (A), Vizag. Dr. Ravi is having more than 17 years of experience in Industry, Consultancy, Training, Mentoring and Research. Prior to this current role, Dr. Ravi worked with Wipro Technologies for more than a decade. Dr Ravi can be reached at saripalle.ravi@gmail,com or facebook.com/saripalle.ravi or https://www.facebook.com/i2ithinkingmovement

Respected Principals/ Head of Institutions / Directors

Greetings!

This is Dr. Ravi Saripalle, Believer and Mentor, Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement. It gives me immense pleasure writing to you for a national cause- inspiring young minds through storytelling and nurture them to be innovative leaders.

I am writing letters to students of India and trying to inspire them through storytelling and quoting live case studies. As per our research, this kind of model quickly inspires and motivates students and helps them to set solid goals and execute them enthusiastically. This way schools can also quickly mould students and nurture them to perfect citizens.

Here I am attaching Student Letter Series Volume 1 and Issue 1. I request you to disseminate this information to students in following ways

School can post it in its notice board
Teacher can have classroom discussion around this information
Teachers and Students can register to the blog- http://i2itm.blogspot.in/ where this letter is posted
Any other method suitable to your school environment

There are no commercials involved and the mission is to inspire students for good.

If there are any questions, please send mail (saripalle.ravi@gmail,com) or you can reach me on my facebook - facebook.com/saripalle.ravi or https://www.facebook.com/i2ithinkingmovement

Thank you very much for your valuable time. Hoping your school and students get inspired through this letter and help to grow our nation.

Warm Regards

Dr. Ravi Saripalle

Believer and Mentor, Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement

saripalle.ravi@gmail.com