Good bye dear students! It will be so hard for me not to come back to campus without your stressed faces , yet seeing you grow up into people who took challenges ...sacrificed the life of a normal student and opted for something far more demanding and totally unexpected ..Adieu and of course I salute your courage and your humility. I salute your resoluteness in the midst of all adversity. You never lost your cool. This is the stuff leaders are made of. As I look back at the entire year I cannot even begin to list the amount of work you have done in just doing your Major. I am sure it was more like a full time 24x7 course, more demanding than anything you faced in your life before!
Our first session was on the film called "An Enigma Called Entrepreneurship" ...with an assignment of 2500 words..returned back a few times until you got it right!
In the same session I gave you less than 7 days to finish a 10,000 words essay on several books. Most of you had never finished a book back to back before! then came the mother of all cases "Dharavi"!!! It was so amusing to see you people go through the case and not be able to figure what is happening !
But you never gave up! Not once did you guys complain about anything! Not even once! I am sure the back office talk was all foul, but you did respect me enough not to vent it out in front of me!
Then as the Dharavi case began to be put together , I could almost see your eyes glow in confidence and you began to believe that you can do anything.. no matter how demanding it was...
You then had Boris And Ala and you went through the Innovation workshop with them and with Prof.Sandip Mistry.
Subsequently, you had to start your own enterprise with a small seed capital , work at it, maintain accounts, be raided ... it was ll learning and fun..
You had Psychology classes, then you had Theology and Ethics and writing classes. Then Dalia gave you Anthropological insights into rural marketing... The Drama "Sheer and Utter Nonsense" was a revelation!
The mother of all challenges was the Discover India Project. The jury was truly international. PG's are supposed to be "constipated"...they proved me totally wrong .! Both the groups did a fabulous job and were so immersed into the creation... I just cannot tell you how happy and proud I felt...I had goosebumps when I saw you present your work .. The jury was just too stunned!
And then Bala came. Huge reputation. Ex Harvard Professor. Teaching Strategy. I was putting my reputation on the line and you made my day when he said your students are as good as anyone he has seen! Thank you guys!
Remember, you may or may not find everything useful, but this course taught you 2 important lessons...to believe in yourself and to have the confidence to work very hard..
To Keval for his unflinching faith and fabulous intellect,
to Amol for his Love and devotion,
to Anirudha for his dedication,
to Sukirti for her transformation,
to Siddhartha for his insights,
to Kushal for his endearing smile,
to Aarshin for his perseverance,
to Mayank for his faith in the course..
to Monil for his admiration and faith ...
to Vidhi for her love and care...
to Himay for transforming into a man...
to Ankit for his positive energy
to Smit for his fabulous observations and hard work...
to Kruti for her sincerity and hard work..
to Ritika for her faith in me...
to Mini for her quite contributions,
to Shreyas for his passion ,
to Samkit for his Project Report,
to Aditya for his amazing ability to manage his anger...
to Ayush for his questions to everyone I may have missed ,
to Shivani who has the potential to make a unique music academy,
to Archit who always did his work on time...
to Naman who actually started working!
to Trauneet who saw life beyond his horizons!..
to Ankush who trusted me so much!
to Parth for his cool attitude and calm demeanor (sorry mate!)
to Rachit who has great creativity and intellect.. My hats off to all of you...
This teacher will always miss you ... Go make your family , institution, organisation proud of you.. To my dying day I will not forget what you taught me most...to believe in the youth of tomorrow...to believe that if you give the young a challenge...there is a Dhoni in every one of you.. Captains enough to win the nation glory and pride...
Goodbye.. God bless.
You were a wonderful teacher, you always believed in your students. You had faith in them, how could they not make you proud!
ReplyDeleteOne thing comes echoing is that when you have faith in someone; they would never let you down.
The article is a good read and message is clear - to believe in yourself and to have the confidence to work very hard (though I did not attend the course myself). It also expresses the confidence a teacher has in students.
Thank you for being a great leader and inspiring us every time.
M sure these students have really really done a gr8 job to get you to express how beautifully they've touched your soul!
ReplyDeleteI am also sure that in each of your student of entrepreneurship you've left a part of you ...a part of you that is always going to
-Wack the warm fat asses to slog it to their best ;)
- Shout not to humiliate or ridicule but to ring a bell to them of what they are truly capable of ...
- Question the most simple but important facts ought to be known (I vividly remember you shot a series of questions rapidly on each of us that embarrasses each of us still!)
- Be a devil’s advocate to goad each of us to make our point clear
And most importantly be sensitive to each of us as an entrepreneur and teacher who shall hold his hand for life and lift us up everytym we fell making our attempts.
I not only thank you today as a student who will remember you for life for all the wisdom imparted during the lectures but also as an entrepreneur who learnt and picked up the critical strategies an entrepreneur must possess.
Love you unconditionally Teacher. Your students will always need you.
Feel extremely fortunate to have been taught by you. Hoping many more are blessed !
Thank you .Entrepreneurship course ROCKS undoubtedly. Take care
Regards Rupali
You always keep saying that it’s ONLY 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. But I think that 10% inspiration can sometimes bring about the remaining 90% perspiration. And this is what has happened to me most of the times. You have always inspired me!
ReplyDeleteSomething you have missed mentioning is the sessions we had with you. I remember days’ having classes starting from 8.30 am and then your session from 5.10 pm onwards till depends. At 5.10pm I entered class with fatigue but during the class, the fatigue just disappears; the interest and concentration levels are at its best. This is what your sessions do! Then there is a different feeling while leaving the class room………sometimes excited, sometimes quite; sometimes feeling top of the world, sometimes feeling bottom of the world; sometimes feeling elated, sometimes feeling belated; sometimes with fire in the belly, sometimes constipated; but along with all this, always feeling……inspired.
Thank you for inspiring us!
You have always confused me by always raising so many questions!! Perhaps, this is your style, as you want us to think and question. Entre course did the same. There were questions raised on cost of project, PnLs, Balance Sheets, Cash Flows, tally…;questions on acreage, regulations, deeds,……;questions on culture, philosophy, religion……questions which had direct answers; questions which did not have direct answers; questions which had no one answer………so on…………………
Thank you for giving us the questioning attitude!
For what I am aware of, Entre course has reached a new level this year. Things like DIP (which I really wanted to do since I heard of it), meeting Entrepreneurs like DS Kulkarni and Anil Seolekar, Ethics, Theology, and the list goes on……………and I know that it was not easy for you to set up and make all happen amongst so many obstructions.
Thank you for having faith in us and giving us such an opportunity!
I hope we make the best use of the learning we had from this year long training.
While you have said good bye, I think there is a lot left. We will need guidance, support and the mentoring that we had at FLAME. I know that you are always there for us and I feel super fortunate for the same.
Keep inspiring and transforming lives!
Sir first of all as i always tell you...you made me evolve as a person. the transformations was immense. From a narrow minded person to a broad minded person. you gave me a insight as to where i am aiming to go in life.
ReplyDeleteThe course was demanding and lectures on strategy, business plan, our live venture, negotiations, ethics and those guest lectures etc. this all have given us a vision and to look where is the world heading and where we are to reach and how we are to catch it....
Coming to you...i can still remember when i use to come to you for some stupid reason you literally use to fire me but at the same time you nurtured me and always taught me.
One of the biggest learning is actually as you said, Now i truly believe in myself and don't get scared with any obstacles coming to my way.
The fighting spirit will never die, the fire in us that you have evolved will never disappear.
And how can you say goodbye!!!
We don't consider you as a professor or just a mentor, you have nurtured us like a father and we respect you like a father not like a professor...
now coming to me i won't agree that i started working but i would say i started working HARD..lol....
LAst thing i would say taking entrepreneurship was the best decision of my life and without your valuable insights and those one on one sessions i would have not found my way...
And in end i would say it's not an end sir it's just the starting......
We are still to prove other whose students we are...!!!
Thank you sir for all the inspirations, nurturing, and changing our lifes...
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ReplyDeleteWhen you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
ReplyDeleteThis quote for me sums up everything ! Right from your lectures, to your assignments, and everything !!!
The 2 years at FLAME have been wonderful, full of new challenges, fun and a new life. The second year specially has been the most wonderful year I have ever had.
Your course has given new dimensions to my thinking. It has empowered me with perseverance, dedication, self belief and positivity.
There was cribbing about the work load and almost everything to do with the entrepreneurship course at almost all times, BUT I knew deep inside me that it would not go waste.
Your course has been exceptional ! Everything we did had an objective, right from I-TRIZ to Tally workshop, to Prof. Bala's class on strategy, to DIP, to THE DHARAVI CASE ( which was awesome ! i never thought i would make excel spreadsheets the way we made it in that case ), to the theology and psychology classes, to the numerous guest lectures, (to BOTTOM'S UP ( which was AWESOME again....i dont know of any other place where i could have learnt so many things from accounts to inventory to procurement to marketing to HR to PR.........).
Finally i would like to give you a big THANK YOU for all the efforts that you have put in for this course. It has been a wonderful journey full of takeaways'.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!!
Reading this yet again, as it confirms for me that Parag Shah has left a lasting influence on the lives of everyone whom he touches, but the only person who doesn't seem to know to what extent, is the man himself. I join these young people of Flame in saying a great thank you, for all that I know you did, and will always do for everyone for whom you care.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYou are the reason I am an entrepreneur sir. The way you taught us with no textbooks,real knowledge we can never forget in our life.the whole course was so practical and I remember the main thing you taught aboht business is it can't be divided into categories like finance,marketing , production ,you taught us how everything falls under one decision, how everything is so closely related to other. There were so many guest lectures from experienced people.
ReplyDeleteMain thing is we all actually got an opportunity to run a real business on campus ,I think very few courses will allow you to do that. You taught us that entreprenship is not knowing everything from beginning but to just jump with your faith and figure everything out on the way. Whatever I do ,I relate back to what you taught.I remember giving up elite program for joining entreprenship, but it was and is definitely worth everything we gave up for it.Thank you sir for this wonderful write up. :)