Life Journey is a Sum of People’s Contributions to Your Success! How can I say I made myself without---------Read this to Unfold the Riddle!

Dear Friends and Students,

There are famous quotes that boast about how you can do everything, how you are self-made, how you make your own luck, and how luck is a dividend of your sweat, etc. These statements may be partly true, but we need to understand the real essence: many people contribute to your success! This is absolutely true. When I started introspecting, it became much more evident.

When I was 1 month old, I was seriously sick and was taken to a government hospital 50 kilometers from my birthplace, where I was kept in an oxygen-filled container to help me breathe. In a filmy-style night, my mother and grandmother (father’s aunt) waited in the hospital for a specific injection, while my father, drenched in the rain, searched for it. Many shops were closed or said it was unavailable, but he finally succeeded! How can I say I made myself without thanking my parents, my grandmother who stayed with me for a month, the unknown doctor, and that one medical shop owner who procured the medicine?

Predominantly, I studied in government-owned or Maharaja-sponsored educational institutions. There were specific teachers during specific times who intervened and helped shape my education. How can I say I made myself without thanking those teachers who elevated my educational attainments without any expectations?

After my post-graduation, it was highly critical to complete an internship in a well-established IT company, which was not practical for students like me living in a super village environment. On top of that, my parents didn’t have such an established network. It was the intervention of a specific professor's reference to a senior IT professional and the special intervention by the entire family that made my day in the industry. How can I say I made myself without thanking them?

When I first landed at JP Morgan in New York way back in 1999, in a one-man project, I was asked to deploy the application in a Linux environment. It was Greek and Latin to me on that day. I don’t remember the name, but a customer-side employee from Gujarat deployed it on my behalf and helped me successfully present before the Vice President of JPM. How can I say I made myself without thanking those team members and customers?

During another trip to the US in 2001, while I was in critical deployment days (again a single-man army without any backup at the customer location), I heard my father was on his deathbed. How can I say I made myself without thanking my manager, who asked me to travel immediately, leaving the project half-deployed, without worrying about reputation and financials?

After I left my IT job, I was fascinated with experimenting to instill a design mindset and innovative traits among students. I visited multiple schools (tribal, urban, village), colleges, and universities for a platform. Many of them rejected me, but one institution founder agreed to offer a platform and allowed me to experiment for a long time. How can I say I made myself without thanking the founder of that institution?

I am turning 50 this year. From the age of 16 to the present, I have spent more time outside than at home. My family has been accommodating and allowed my free will (leaving my well-established job and lifestyle and dragging them to a super village again, leaving them in an uncomfortable financial zone). How can I say I made myself without thanking the true cooperation rendered by my spouse, children, and mother?

Many teachers, friends, and relatives have provided timely help, many incidents averted accident risks, many colleagues gave their best to uphold my reputation, and many strangers contributed without knowing anything about me. How can I say I made myself without thanking them?

How can I say I made myself without thanking God, who gave me this life and the memory to remember these events until tonight? Of course, tomorrow we may or may not remember this sequence or the circumstances to appreciate, live in this form or not, but thank God for today, at present, and now, as the next minute is not in our hands and the mind is not in our control.

How can I say I made myself without---------

Ravi Saripalle