AP rarely asks, so when he asked if I would be Chief Guest for the Annual Day function of the Matrusri E&L High School at Nallakunta, on whose Board he sist, I instantly agreed despite my fear of going to school again. E and L stand for Entrepreneurs and Leaders and the school has a vision of promoting these qualities in their students which is laudable. The school has about 800 students and is till the 10th. The function was held at Hari Hara Kala Bhavan, after a gap of two years apparently.
The children did a great job of compering and the almost all-female teacher staff did a fantastic job of preparing them for the event. Dances, skits, jokes by the comperes kept it entertaining. A brief annual report by the Principal Smt Joshi and then a very brief speech by me. I know how bored people get at Chief Guest speeches in school functions so I kept it to 4 minutes (of the given 6).
I told them that their vision was laudable - to create entrepreneurs and leaders - courses which are not taught anywhere really. My two bits about entrepreneurship which to me was all about taking complete responsibility for ourselves and our lives. The second point was that leadership is not something exotic - it is the way we lead our lives and while we lead our lives, how we influence others. So parents, teachers, senior students etc all become leaders for those who are watching them. We must think about how we are leading our lives and whether we are influencing anyone with our life.
Among the many performances, I loved the ones by the young kids which is always fun.
The dances were choreographed very well, involved everyone, and I especially liked the Michael Jackson themes one as the other one with Rajasthani themes. As always, these functions end with this thought - they all look so good, so confident and ready to take on the world. What do we do to them?
I hope these students remain as they are and carry their idealism, energy and hope into the world as they go forward. Thanks AP, Raghu and the Matrusri school management for having me over. It was nice to meet Aparna, who is also on the Board and chat with her, something I normally don't get to do otherwise.
The children did a great job of compering and the almost all-female teacher staff did a fantastic job of preparing them for the event. Dances, skits, jokes by the comperes kept it entertaining. A brief annual report by the Principal Smt Joshi and then a very brief speech by me. I know how bored people get at Chief Guest speeches in school functions so I kept it to 4 minutes (of the given 6).
I told them that their vision was laudable - to create entrepreneurs and leaders - courses which are not taught anywhere really. My two bits about entrepreneurship which to me was all about taking complete responsibility for ourselves and our lives. The second point was that leadership is not something exotic - it is the way we lead our lives and while we lead our lives, how we influence others. So parents, teachers, senior students etc all become leaders for those who are watching them. We must think about how we are leading our lives and whether we are influencing anyone with our life.
Among the many performances, I loved the ones by the young kids which is always fun.
I hope these students remain as they are and carry their idealism, energy and hope into the world as they go forward. Thanks AP, Raghu and the Matrusri school management for having me over. It was nice to meet Aparna, who is also on the Board and chat with her, something I normally don't get to do otherwise.
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