Cricketing Legend Kapil Dev interacts with students at FLAME University
Nov 17th, 2018: Legendary cricketing icon and former Indian captain Kapil Dev interacted with the students of FLAME University at its campus in Pune. He spoke about the importance of originality and clarity about the future and how the young students have potential to bring positive changes in every sector of the nation. Amidst a rousing applause from the students, Kapil Dev was welcomed by Professor Dwarika Prasad Uniyal, Dean – Faculty of Business, FLAME University .
Addressing the students, the cricket legend said, “You are the future of this nation! Young people have the energy, the passion that is unparalleled.” He emphasized on the importance of originality and clarity. “Be original. The key to success is originality.” He implored the young audience to use their limitless potential to lead their personal lives, their nation and the world in the right direction. “One leads, other follows. The spark of leadership is what distinguishes between those who shall give an autograph in the future, and those who shall be on the receiving end.” He asks the audience to keep their thoughts clear, to declutter the mind, in order to make their speech, their message clear.
His message was simple, yet profound. He answered several questions from the audience like, “How did you convince your parents to allow you to follow your dreams, how did you discover your passion, what difficulties did you face, what was the one mistake that you regret, and how to regain confidence after failure?” All of these questions opened the door to a beautiful dialogue between him and the audience, as beautiful thoughts worth noting were expressed:
“Agar manzil khoobsoorat hai to raste ki fiqar kyu karte ho?” In other words, if the ultimate destination is beautiful and worth pursuing, then why do you worry about how tumultuous your journey would be. Keep the worthy destination in mind and your journey shall become beautiful on its own. He emphasized on the importance of having clarity in thoughts, desires and passions and not to jump on the band wagon or do what everyone else does. He cautioned the students to always take their education seriously irrespective of their passions as it is beneficial throughout one’s life. He cited not taking studies seriously as his only regret. He stated that the time one spends as a student is golden and they must make the most out of it. Finally, when asked how to regain lost confidence, his advice was simple, anecdotal and powerful: “When you can’t score, go back to the net and practice. If you don’t get marks, go study! Your scores do not denote your intelligence. People feel stressed and pressured if they do not work hard enough!” He advised the students to let their children follow their own dreams and act as a friend rather than an authoritarian. He emphasized the importance on the combination of intellect and street-smartness.
