As the Class Representative, here goes my speech for Academics in the new year and semester:
If anyone wants to stand up and say fuck you Som please do so and get done with it. I totally deserve that for treating everyone I know with indifference, and always creating this fake image of self importance which made me think others are less than me. I sincerely apologise for that.
We are all taking this course so let’s do it. Don’t lie to yourselves. I’m also probably never going to read this stuff ever again but that doesn’t mean I don’t have fun while taking this course. So treat it like a game or treat it like your life, don’t waste time while you have it, really love the subject, just for knowledge, or to find something new. In general concepts always help in life, don’t judge don’t be biased, be here while we are here. Its just a path which we have decided to explore so Let’s all give our best. I love you all and have great respect for each single one of you. I also want to applaud the commendable effort you guys are putting into whatever you’re pursuing. I truly wish you all you want in your pursuits. I am here to say that I have a dream too. I have a dream for all of us. I want to see for the first time in the history for everyone to score so well that the entire class gets an A. Now don’t stress out. What I really mean is that I want you all to have fun with this course. All I want is you to be honest to yourself and promise yourself that you will put in a sincere effort. We might even build companies out of the things we learn in these courses. Just get inspired and get ready to live. We are in the premier institute of India, let’s believe in ourselves and make our country proud by making it the best in the world. And I really don’t think that it’s asking too much. Just have a good sleep, pay attention to what the profs say and revise. Just do what you’re told assignments or projects. They respect your time too. They know how much a person can do and if I can do it you can too. I just don’t understand when people say priorities change and at one point it’s not that important. If it’s not that important why are you here. Why are you doing something that’s not important to you. Stop lying to yourself and go do what you really want. Then don’t cry that I didn’t score well. You didn’t score well exactly because it wasn’t important to you. You said to yourself that it’s not that important. And now you’re crying pretending that it was important.
I’m not saying don’t take your Position of Responsibility (POR) seriously, I’m saying treat this with the same importance that you give to other pursuits in life. Our first POR that was given to us right when we started college was that of being a student here and doing these courses. So while I respect that you are fighting your own battles, while we are here together in this, let’s fight this together too. I’m ready to declare a war against top institutions elsewhere but I can’t unless I know that we have an army capable of fighting that battle. I mean think about it, we are the best in this country. If we can’t create a difference who will? These teachers have been trying to do their best, so that you, you and you can create a difference. Everyone is dying to have an opportunity to have these kinds of resources, these teachers so I don’t think it’s fair that we show up to class and don’t try to do our best because there’s thousands of others who are dying to be offered that chance. If you don’t want this, don’t be here, walk out and stop lying to yourself that getting a good degree will help you get a good career. No matter what you do, if there’s someone out there who’s professionally studying finance, he will beat the shit out of you when you go to do a finance job with him. Because the time that you wasted here doing nothing in class thinking this is useless, he was studying finance. Now the only way to be better than that guy is if you not only learn what you have been taught in class but also relate that to finance or whatever you want to do. Dissolve the boundaries and biases you have towards acad, POR, extra curricular and everything else, there’s only one thing- you and your efforts. I want you to see that this battle is the same as any other in the sense that every battle is not against an enemy but just your own fears. Defeat your own fears and you will have defeated your enemies. Don’t be afraid of anything. Don’t be afraid of dreaming big. Im here to tell you that you can dream big, you can make a difference, you can be part of history which everyone wants to remember, you can make India a superpower. I want to dream of that too, I want to dream that I can make a difference so I’m starting from you guys who are closest to me. So please look out for each other as we go into this battle. Believe that we are very fortunate to be given this opportunity and believe that we will be remembered as that class which inspired everyone else. I want to make history here right now and so should you. Let’s go into this war together and outdo ourselves.