Go Kiss the World
I delivered this speech to the Class of 2006 at the IIM, Bangalore on defining success. This was the first time I shared the guiding principles of my life with young professionals.
I was the last child of a small-time government servant, in a family of five brothers. My earliest memory of my father is as that of a District Employment Officer in Koraput, Orissa. It was, and remains as back of beyond as you can imagine. There was no electricity; no primary school nearby and water did not flow out of a tap. As a result, I did not go to school until the age of eight; I was home-schooled. My father used to get transferred every year. The family belongings fit into the back of a jeep - so the family moved from place to place and without any trouble, my Mother would set up an establishment and get us going. Raised by a widow who had come as a refugee from the then East Bengal, she was a matriculate when she married my Father.
My parents set the foundation of my life and the value system, which makes me what I am today and largely, defines what success means to me today.
As District Employment Officer, my father was given a jeep by the government. There was no garage in the Office, so the jeep was parked in our house. My father refused to use it to commute to the office. He told us that the jeep is an expensive resource given by the government- he reiterated to us that it was not ”his jeep” but the government’s jeep. Insisting that he would use it only to tour the interiors, he would walk to his office on normal days. He also made sure that we never sat in the government jeep - we could sit in it only when it was stationary.
That was our early childhood lesson in governance - a lesson that corporate managers learn the hard way, some never do.
The driver of the jeep was treated with respect due to any other member of my Father’s office. As small children, we were taught not to call him by his name. We had to use the suffix ‘dada’ whenever we were to refer to him in public or private. When I grew up to own a car and a driver by the name of Raju was appointed - I repeated the lesson to my two small daughters. They have, as a result, grown up to call Raju, ‘Raju Uncle’ - very different from many of their friends who refer to their family driver, as ‘my driver’. When I hear that term from a school- or college-going person, I cringe.
To me, the lesson was significant - you treat small people with more respect than how you treat big people. It is more important to respect your subordinates than your superiors.
Our day used to start with the family huddling around my Mother’s chulha - an earthen fire place she would build at each place of posting where she would cook for the family. There was neither gas, nor electrical stoves.The morning routine started with tea. As the brew was served, Father would ask us to read aloud the editorial page of The Statesman’s ‘muffosil’ edition - delivered one day late. We did not understand much of what we were reading. But the ritual was meant for us to know that the world was larger than Koraput district and the English I speak today, despite having studied in an Oriya medium school, has to do with that routine. After reading the newspaper aloud, we were told to fold it neatly. Father taught us a simple lesson.
He used to say, “You should leave your newspaper and your toilet, the way you expect to find it”. That lesson was about showing consideration to others. Business begins and ends with that simple precept.
Being small children, we were always enamored with advertisements in the newspaper for transistor radios - we did not have one. We saw other people having radios in their homes and each time there was an advertisement of Philips, Murphy or Bush radios, we would ask Father when we could get one. Each time, my Father would reply that we did not need one because he already had five radios - alluding to his five sons.
We also did not have a house of our own and would occasionally ask Father as to when, like others, we would live in our own house. He would give a similar reply,” We do not need a house of our own. I already own five houses”. His replies did not gladden our hearts in that instant.
Nonetheless, we learnt that it is important not to measure personal success and sense of well being through material possessions.
Government houses seldom came with fences. Mother and I collected twigs and built a small fence. After lunch, my Mother would never sleep. She would take her kitchen utensils and with those she and I would dig the rocky, white ant infested surrounding. We planted flowering bushes. The white ants destroyed them. My mother brought ash from her chulha and mixed it in the earth and we planted the seedlings all over again. This time, they bloomed. At that time, my father’s transfer order came. A few neighbors told my mother why she was taking so much pain to beautify a government house, why she was planting seeds that would only benefit the next occupant. My mother replied that it did not matter to her that she would not see the flowers in full bloom. She said, “I have to create a bloom in a desert and whenever I am given a new place, I must leave it more beautiful than what I had inherited”.
That was my first lesson in success. It is not about what you create for yourself, it is what you leave behind that defines success.
My mother began developing a cataract in her eyes when I was very small. At that time, the eldest among my brothers got a teaching job at the University in Bhubaneswar and had to prepare for the civil services examination. So, it was decided that my Mother would move to cook for him and, as her appendage, I had to move too. For the first time in my life I saw electricity in homes and water coming out of a tap. It was around 1965 and the country was going to war with Pakistan. My mother was having problems reading and in any case, being Bengali, she did not know the Oriya script. So, in addition to my daily chores, my job was to read her the local newspaper - end to end. That created in me a sense of connectedness with a larger world. I began taking interest in many different things. While reading out news about the war, I felt that I was fighting the war myself. She and I discussed the daily news and built a bond with the larger universe. In it, we became part of a larger reality. Till date, I measure my success in terms of that sense of larger connectedness. Meanwhile, the war raged and India was fighting on both fronts. Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Prime Minster, coined the term “Jai Jawan, Jai Kishan” and galvanized the nation in to patriotic fervor. Other than reading out the newspaper to my mother, I had no clue about how I could be part of the action. So, after reading her the newspaper, every day I would land up near the University’s water tank, which served the community. I would spend hours under it, imagining that there could be spies who would come to poison the water and I had to watch for them. I would daydream about catching one and how the next day, I would be featured in the newspaper. Unfortunately for me, the spies at war ignored the sleepy town of Bhubaneswar and I never got a chance to catch one in action. Yet, that act unlocked my imagination.
Imagination is everything. If we can imagine a future, we can create it, if we can create that future, others will live in it. That is the essence of success.
Over the next few years, my mother’s eyesight dimmed but in me she created a larger vision, a vision with which I continue to see the world and, I sense, through my eyes, she was seeing too. As the next few years unfolded, her vision deteriorated and she was operated for cataract. I remember, when she returned after her operation and she saw my face clearly for the first time, she was astonished. She said, “Oh my God, I did not know you were so fair”. I remain mighty pleased with that adulation even till date. Within weeks of getting her sight back, she developed a corneal ulcer and, overnight, became blind in both eyes. That was 1969. She died in 2002. In all those 32 years of living with blindness, she never complained about her fate even once. Curious to know what she saw with blind eyes, I asked her once if she sees darkness. She replied, “No, I do not see darkness. I only see light even with my eyes closed”. Until she was eighty years of age, she did her morning yoga everyday, swept her own room and washed her own clothes.
To me, success is about the sense of independence; it is about not seeing the world but seeing the light.
Over the many intervening years, I grew up, studied, joined the industry and began to carve my life’s own journey. I began my life as a clerk in a government office, went on to become a Management Trainee with the DCM group and eventually found my life’s calling with the IT industry when fourth generation computers came to India in 1981. Life took me places - I worked with outstanding people, challenging assignments and traveled all over the world.
In 1992, while I was posted in the US, I learnt that my father, living a retired life with my eldest brother, had suffered a third degree burn injury and was admitted in the Safderjung Hospital in Delhi. I flew back to attend to him - he remained for a few days in critical stage, bandaged from neck to toe. The Safderjung Hospital is a cockroach infested, dirty, inhuman place. The overworked, under-resourced sisters in the burn ward are both victims and perpetrators of dehumanized life at its worst. One morning, while attending to my Father, I realized that the blood bottle was empty and fearing that air would go into his vein, I asked the attending nurse to change it. She bluntly told me to do it myself. In that horrible theater of death, I was in pain and frustration and anger. Finally when she relented and came, my Father opened his eyes and murmured to her, “Why have you not gone home yet?” Here was a man on his deathbed but more concerned about the overworked nurse than his own state. I was stunned at his stoic self.
There I learnt that there is no limit to how concerned you can be for another human being and what the limit of inclusion is you can create.
My father died the next day. He was a man whose success was defined by his principles, his frugality, his universalism and his sense of inclusion.
Above all, he taught me that success is your ability to rise above your discomfort, whatever may be your current state. You can, if you want, raise your consciousness above your immediate surroundings. Success is not about building material comforts - the transistor that he never could buy or the house that he never owned. His success was about the legacy he left, the memetic continuity of his ideals that grew beyond the smallness of a ill-paid, unrecognized government servant’s world.
My father was a fervent believer in the British Raj. He sincerely doubted the capability of the post-independence Indian political parties to govern the country. To him, the lowering of the Union Jack was a sad event. My Mother was the exact opposite. When Subhash Bose quit the Indian National Congress and came to Dacca, my mother, then a schoolgirl, garlanded him. She learnt to spin khadi and joined an underground movement that trained her in using daggers and swords. Consequently, our household saw diversity in the political outlook of the two. On major issues concerning the world, the Old Man and the Old Lady had differing opinions.
In them, we learnt the power of disagreements, of dialogue and the essence of living with diversity in thinking.
Success is not about the ability to create a definitive dogmatic end state; it is about the unfolding of thought processes, of dialogue and continuum.
Two years back, at the age of eighty-two, Mother had a paralytic stroke and was lying in a government hospital in Bhubaneswar. I flew down from the US where I was serving my second stint, to see her. I spent two weeks with her in the hospital as she remained in a paralytic state. She was neither getting better nor moving on. Eventually I had to return to work. While leaving her behind, I kissed her face. In that paralytic state and a garbled voice, she said,
“Why are you kissing me, go kiss the world.” Her river was nearing its journey, at the confluence of life and death, this woman who came to India as a refugee, raised by a widowed Mother, no more educated than high school, married to an anonymous government servant whose last salary was Rupees Three Hundred, robbed of her eyesight by fate and crowned by adversity was telling me to go and kiss the world!
Success to me is about Vision. It is the ability to rise above the immediacy of pain. It is about imagination. It is about sensitivity to small people. It is about building inclusion. It is about connectedness to a larger world existence. It is about personal tenacity. It is about giving back more to life than you take out of it. It is about creating extra-ordinary success with ordinary lives.
Thank you very much; I wish you good luck and God’s speed. Go! kiss the world.
54 Comments
Dear Mr.bagchi
Have always admired you…i used to buy the business world only to read your article..!
Now..i adore you..The teaching that i got from my old man,flashed before my eyes(while we were in posted in a limestone mines in a small town in MP)..the jeep episode / etc)..
I guess we guys got lucky to have such fathers!
Best regds..joy
9980521515
I found this article very inspiring. It reminds me of another quote my parents always say. “Earning money is good, acquiring things which money can buy is also nice, but in the process of earning money, one shouldn’t lose things which money can’t buy”.
Thanks once again for writing such an inspiring article and I now look forward to buying the book. I realize how few small quotes of yours make such a difference to the big young professional community I am a part of.
Thanks
With Regards,
abhisheksgumadi@yahoo.com
Dear Sir,
The article is inspiring & now eager to buy the book. But it isnt on the shelves in Pune. Probably it would take few days to come to shelves.
Thanks a lot,
Chandra
Dear Sir,
As mentioned by the people above , the article was really inspiring.Looking forward to ” Kissing the World ”
Thanks,
Sreeja
Dear sir,
This article can change the mind of people who stepped their life in wrong way,it was really inspiring great to have such an article from you
i’m ready to “Kiss The World”
Thanks,
Chandu.
Hi Mr.Bagchi,
I first of all would like to congratulate on great book authored by you.. “Go Kiss the World” is a great book, BTW this is the first book which I have read completely till date….. I am not a great reader, but after reading your book with those inpsiring words has some of my thoughts…not that I am very vulnerable.. but great words can always change minds.. I have bookmarked those pages which have special quotes,instances in the book.
I keep telling these words to my wife(who works for Mindtree), and has gifted this book to me at a very crucial juncture of my life(career)…. THANKS AGAIN… and Keep it going.
Dear Sir,
I am one of the thousands young professional who look up to. There are thousands of young professional especially from small town like me for whom you are the example of quality with integrity with social consciousness.
I am looking forward to learn more from your experience “Go Kiss the World”. Thanks for sharing your experience and learning with us.
Regard’s
Jayesh
Dear Sir
Many Congratulations. It is a wonderful book i have come across since a long long time. This is one book i must say i am moved by as i too have born and brought up in places like koraput, Nowarangpur & Rayagada in Orissa. Spent my childhood in these places and learnt a lot in life. I know what it takes to come out and prove oneself. I must admit this is one book i have read cover to cover non-stop.
Dear Subroto,
It is one of the most fascinating narrations of truth. World will be a better place only if everyone had the courage to disclose their weakness and strengths. There are so many instances of my life I could relate to. It is definitely an eye opener in this fast paced world of “Professionalism”. Most of the time, we forget our parents when we taste “success” in life, Your book reveals how that “success” is directly attributed to the sacrifice big and small made by our parents. The beauty of this book is how you correlate “Big Management Fundamentals” like Vision, sensitivity to small people, imagination, inclusion, personal tenacity, and perception. I hope this book will create hundreds and thousands of clones like you.
The sun, indoors these days
Bangalored for sure.
The chill has clasped us, all mates
Lost in the labirynth or
lazy languishing here.
The tree minds
Its own nature
As the second leaf unfurls
At CROSSWORD
This evening:
Harbinger of
The green galore
assaying in the wings….
All the best, SUBROTO,
ADITYA
c/o NABARD, Bangalore
THE MAIL SENT ON June 13 to subroto@mindtree.comBOUNCED
Dear Subroto,
I was brought here by google when I was looking for articles on leadership and management.. Now I feel that I got the right palce (mindtree.com) to mentor me. I have started feeling that I have been mentoring for BIG!!
Thanks
Kalirathinam
Dharmapuri, TN
Sir,
You are my role model.I have always been following your article eversince i know you. I have read both of your book. All i can say “WE ARE PROUD OF YOU !!”. I have read some other books as well, so called famous authors, but what strikingly different is they provide market trend, assumptions, based on true story on some otehrs life..etc… but there are very few people who have been successful by writting books based on their own experience or proof or let me put this way. There are hardly anyone who is as success as you are who thought to bring own proof ina form of books to encourage anyone and everyone who thinks “Yes, as an individual i can make the difference and encourage others by showing my own example”. unlike pepole people who look for excuses - i wish i could have this background or that background, i wish i could have born in this city or country etc… I wish you all the best and eagerly look forward to your next release….Trust me there are as many as like me who are looking forward to your next book.
Regards
Tito.
Dear Sir,
I am very impressed with both your books as well as your various other writings.
Rarely do you come across somebody asking you to do all the right things for the right reasons and wait for success. In todays world of how to make your fastest million, how to climb up the corporate ladder and so on, a simple message of ‘do the right things’ is indeed a refreshing change. The message is all the more powerful considering Mindtree’s as well as your stature in the Industry.
It is for me a reassurance that what we learnt at mother’s knees still holds and that it is not a BIG, BAD WORLD as many would have us believe!!!
Thanks
Veena
Dear Sir
I have always admired your speech and also your writings in business world. Your articles were thought provoking and that really helped me to give shape to my dreams. But till date I have a single query in mind that pricks me and I have always thought of asking you if I get the chance to do so. Hopefully, the day has come today.
You and your siblings are well established in life. Then why did your father and mother were admitted in government hostipals and that too in such dingy ones(referring to Safdergunj Hospital) as per your description.
I have been a great fan of Mr. Bagchi. Reading his articles in The Times of India used to be such an inspiring and elevating experience: I still have many cuttings of these.
Reading this piece was like a travel back in time, where I could quite relate personally to his experiences and values gained from these. You are one of the most valued gifts of Bengal and Orissa to the Indian corporate world, and to the world at large, Mr. Bagchi!! Keep guiding us with these masterpieces.
I would suggest that all institutions, for management education and other, include these writings in their curricula as essential reading.
Mr. Bagchi: One more compliment of a fan will drown in a chorus; so I ask of you - a favour - to go through, when you can. my one page essays on my experiences as a medical teacher. The link is here:
http://sites.google.com/a/kem.edu/intranet/chairmans-corner
Thanks
Ravi.
i am really touched professionaly by a new definition of success and actually i am also in search of real satisfation in my carrier ,now i will try to c the things in a broaader way
Hi
I completed reading your latest book yesterday. The best part was that I could relate it to very easily. My mind wandered around thinking about similar situations I am facing/have faced in my life and my actions/reactions then. To put it in your own words, you were successful in connecting to thousands of people like me.
It is a must-read for any professional.
Dear Bagchi sir,
I was always wondering why Indian entrepreneurs do not write their life story or how they build their empire or a book of their experiences. But, it seems you have filled that gap. I was fortunate enough to buy your first book, The High Performance Entrepreneur and what a great book it is for an aspiring entrepreneur. After reading the above article I am certainly going to buy the book. Thank you very much for inspiring young Indians. Hope you could provide a discount offer for college students. It looks this book is embedded with many moral stories which students can learn easily.
Kind regards,
Ravindra Kumbar
Hey… I see why u r a famous author? U remind people of what they have already done or felt in the past… and the same ppl are dumb enough to buy ur books… Frankly, I don see a reason why u shud be successful… but owing to our Indian mentality, ppl are suckers…
hope u get more suckers…
cheers
Dear Mr. Bagchi,
This post is with reference to your article
“The Board Room of the Future & the role of Professional Women”
I could not disagree more with what you have talked of a woman professional. I am not an MCP ; in fact far from it. You seem not to realise that a woman’s biology is different that of a man, her hypothalamus, her hormones and the way she will react to situations are very different, No man can ever feel what is to be a caring mother or a woman’s need to be a mother. To say that these should take back seat to a woman reaching the top of the professional ladder witl be a disaster.. imagine what you would have been had your mother been a globe trotting professional?
Today, we have worked things out, so it is OK to need to interfere with natural plans for a woman. the woman in may ways is the stronger sex as long as she is allowed to work within the realms of her biology; tinker with it too much and we have a calamity on our hands.
“Female mothers” are greater need of a sane society rather than female CEOs for a prosperous multinational.
Sorry, strong words; but, that is how strongly feel about it !!
Hi RaviRamakantan,
This is in reference to your words-
“Female mothers are greater need of a sane society rather than female CEOs for a prosperous multinational”.
I feel that you need to understand the fact that- an Educated Mother(CEO/Teacher/Professional etc ) also in greater greater greater need of a sane society.
Thanks Sunil for that response. I never said, the mother need not be educated; not even that a woman cannot be a CEO; I have seen better women Deans than men Deans. But, if it a case of this or that, my vote is for a mothers role when it is most needed.
Dear Subroto,
This will make you a smile.! I finished reading GKTW at 00130 hours using candle light . I did not know if I was studying for my ISC finals way back in the 1960s or enjoying a book so much I had to finish it. Inspirational & poignant ! I do hope our son will read it one day. So much was like looking into a ‘looking glass ‘ living my own childhood in Panchgani.
There is a lot more to say…
Gita
with every good wish to the Gardner to continue tending the youth & making them bloom.
Dear Mr. Bagchi,
I have been an ardent fan of your writings, and I do keep quoting them. Especially, those references connected to grit and determination of a young Bagchi to attain knowledge and education.
YOU MUST READ THIS - About two years back, we ventured out an entrepreneurs. Your book on how Mindtree was born, your interactions with your fellow founders, the incubation travails etd did motivate me. I circulated the copy of it to my fellow co-founders, and requested them to read it. I put my foot down and insisted that we carry forward our discussion only after they read it completely, and think through what could be the direction we might take.
Our founders meet actually was deferred by almost 7 days, for everyone to read your story.
I am particularly happy that we referred to that, and we hope to create a “tree” which could bear fruits and shade to all whom it touches.
I would definitely like to meet you on a cup of coffee someday, to pick you values, rather than just business ideas.
Thanks for motivating young India.
Regards. Ramesh Menon
Dear Sir,
I enjoyed and gave lot of thoughts on your articles. I used to forward times of mind writing among my colleagues & friends. I admire you.
God bless you Sir….
Regards,
Sunil Chore
9385 111 060
Dear Mr. Bagchi,
I have been one of your ardent fans for the past two years - ever since a friend of mine sent me the “Go kiss the world” speech of yours. Since then I have read it a hundred times & have referred it to my wife who teaches English literature & Business communication in a Suburban college in Mumbai.She in turn has circulated (without your permission though )a good number of copies to her students in the past one year & has given me the task of getting a few more of simmilar material written by you.
This one speech of yours inspired me to visit “the Crosswords” book store in Suburban Powai in Mumbai & buy the High performance Entrepreneur almost as soon as I read about its publication.The book store helpdesk kept on wondering why I have been enquiring about a book from “a little known author” on business process. I could not explain to him in those visits then that I was actually very keen to read a book from a story teller -so vibrant ,so compassionate, so real & so touching. I was convinced that this book will also be as interesting to read as your speech.
Needless to say I bought the book -not once but twice. The first time I read it from cover to cover in less than 3 days marking pages,paragraphs & sentences which I thought I would need to refer in many of my own presentations or to friends & collegues to get them interested to read. And interested I got at least one -who took this book & has not returned ever since. I was a bit saddened -more upset at having lost some notings which were made with a particular emotion & interest on a piece of thing which you wished to preserve. Only recently i have bought another copy & frankly have been waiting to read it once again.
I will buy your second book without doubt & read it with hopefully the same enthusiasm & interest as i keep reading your other writings.
Though it isn’t proper to praise anyone on the face as they say I have to say this with total honesty that you are a man gifted with a unique ability to connect with people. To touch their hearts & most importantly secure their confidence to deliver a message to perform in adversity. You also have this unique ability of delivering a message of positive thinking , of motivating to achieve & above all the capability to vividly sketch a picture as if it were happening to you & in front of you.
I must say & confess that every time I read your articles& writings, I get a strange feeling of having read a very comforting story.Most times it has left my eyes moist with long lingering pleasent feeling -of a kind one experiences after seing a good movie.
Sorry if I have been a little too long in my appreciation. This was waiting for a long time.
And a few things that I would want to share in this public domain is that besides sharing the same name as yours & ofcourse being a Bengali,I too am father of two lovely daughters of whom I am proud of.
And before ending with desire to meet you sometime, I must say that I saw you are ‘57 born which gives a ‘53 born the privilege to send to you & your family a huge basket of blessings & a wish that all of you stay healthy & energised to continue inspiring the world with all your capability
Stay well & do well
Subroto Roy
Dear Suborto,
I still recall very fondly the Wipro Training conducted by you, Ranjan and supported by everyone including Mr Soota (way back in 1988-89).
I cherish the drive and enthusiasm for accomplishment that you guys created in me and will always thank you for that.
I have still not been able to lay my hands on your Go Kiss the World but its reviews sound very interesting.
I fully endorse one of your statements about ‘your boss’. Through my carreer, I have learnt that nothing beats a Great Boss and you have to pray all the time to be lucky. I have been lucky a few times myself and enjoyed that time thoroughly.
Thanks for this service to Indian Porfessionals.
With regards
Rakesh Mittal
Dear Subroto sir,
This is with reference to the post: ‘Answer the call from within’
The ‘disregard for any sense of reward or recognition’, though is a key trait found in high achievers, I do not think it is easy to acquire. The young professionals between 25-35 have the need for recognitions - not as individual ego gratification but as an acknowledgment that their efforts are being valuable. Without this need being met it is rather difficult to attain the ‘detachment’. The detachment and the feeling of ‘being an instrument’ will come in the later phase of the career, but that journey must go through an earlier phase of rewards. And that is what the high performing young Minds look for and that is why the need for rewards and recognitions program in the organisation for Young Professionals.
Regards,
Girish
Dear Subroto,
After reading this article I realise the importance of constant learning in life. There is no end to what one can learn or extract from one’s own life. People like you, have set an example for the youngsters!
Best Regards,
Lakshmi Sudheendra
Hi Subroto,
I read your first book “High Performance Entrepreneur” a few months back and honestly loved it; I was really impressed with the writing style coming from a non-professional writer. Yesterday I picked up your second book “Go Kiss the World” from Crossroads ; the moment I saw it on the shelf I knew this is something I would loved to read. The feeling came because I really liked your first book ;its often said that there is no second chance for the first impression and you made an everlasting first impression with High Performance Entrepreneur on my mind.
I really liked “Go Kiss the World” and such was my excitement that I finished the book in 24 hours; I really liked the story coming straight from heart from a middle class boy who has made a big impression in the corporate world
However one factual (typographical error) I want to highlight which you may correct in your next edition is that you mentioned Rajiv Pawar as founder of NIIT whereas his actual name is Rajendra S Pawar.
Sir, all I would like to say is that I am ardent fan of yours, you inspire the young generation and motivate them to stretch their limits, your thinking should reach the underprivileged students who have intelligence , passion & energy but no guidance and money to get into premium institutions.
I would like to be under your mentorship, I had forwarded my CV to mindtree but everytime I receive a delivery notification failure, I would like to contribute to mindtree’s growth and enlighten myself by working under your leadership.
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
Sir,
Just three days back I purchased your creation “Go Kiss The World”. It just drove me to complete the whole book only in two days. It seemed, as if I am sitting in front of you and you are delivering your life lessons. I was mesmerized. What more I can say, it is just another gem in the world of literature. I always love to read life philosophies and try to be in the path as shown by Almighty. I have read “The Alchemist” by Paulo Cohelo and “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom. Your book falls in the same line as that of “Tuesdays with Morrie.” After reading the book “Tuesdays with Morrie”, I was searching for a book of same kind but for new theories and new principles. I saw your interview in “ETV Oriya” and from that day only I started searching for the book and finally got it in the bookstore in my company campus.
The characteristics of a good book is that, once you start reading, the book will drive you to go till the end. It will not let you to rest in peace until and unless you finish the whole book. The same thing happened for me while I started reading “Go Kiss The World”.
I feel proud that I am serving a company where Mr. Subroto Bagchi once served for 10 long years and was the pioneer for its strategic growth. At this juncture, India needs not one Subroto Bagchi but many hundreds.
Your lucid style in the book touches the heart and it is amazing that a small boy from a remote place in Orissa dared to set the example and what he created is a History.
It is a classic example of blending of one’s mind and heart. Thank you very much to deliver such a marvelous piece of creation for the whole young world.
I am looking forward to meet you and hope my dream will come true one day.
With best regards,
Aswini Sahoo
Dear Sir,
Your book has been quite amazing to read, you seem to have remembered the subtlest incidents in your life and also gauged the importance of those events in shaping up to what you are today. It also induces the confidence among many young professionals that they too can become a Subroto Bagchi some day.
Thanks for giving such a wonderful book to cherish and refer from time to time, it indeed facilitates in reviewing one’s stand in life about ethics and success.
Best Regards,
Gurudatta.
Dear Sir,
I am one of your great admirer. You are truly an inspirational leader. I picked up the book “Go Kiss the world” from a book shop and dropped it seeing the price in the back. Howm many of us can affort Rs 400 rupees unless you are working in IT. Is it possible that in future the price of the book might come down as number of circulations will increase.
Thanks
B.Raju
Hi Sir,
I just brought the book ” Kiss the World “last saturday
I finished reading it over weekend.Its a true Inspirartional book which changed my out look. I work in sales in a IT services company. Its just brilliant
Thanks and Regards,
Sree
Hello, this is just to let you know that I have linked to this post in my blog today
Thank you for sharing these words. I will be looking out for you book now
Thank you Swati for the thought and best wishes, Subroto
Dear Subroto,
I am so glad that you post your columns, including those that appear in Financial Chronicle on this website. However, I wish, it was possible to leave comments against each new post or perhaps this feature exists and I havent noticed it.
Best regards, Lubna
Dear Lubna,
It will be a nightmare for me to engage with readers on archived issues, after all I have a job as well! I know I am denying some, but at the end of the day there is only so much time.
Best wishes,
Subroto
Dear Subroto,
Sure, understand perfectly. What I perhaps meant was not the archieved issues, just the current one. The comments to the previous one would close as soon as a new one is posted. But, well, there is always a way out, we can always respond to your current columns here.
Looking forward to many more columns and many many more books.
Best regards,
Lubna
Dear Sir,
Since your roots are entrenched in Orissa,wud like to know what way your goodself can contribute to the development of the State to bring it to the IT map.
Best Regards,
Shivaji Mohinta
MindTree is trying to set up its third global delivery facilty there. We have been allotted 20 acres of land by the Government and a world-class facility is under design.
Thanks Sir,
In fact i have given your book “HPE” to all our first generation dealers as a part of the Welcome Kit.
Shivaji Mohinta
9741500422
Dear Subroto,
I was suggested “The High Performance Entrepreneur” by my friend Manav Jalan, am reading it currently, and finding it useful and enjoyable, while its inherent simplicity is a great pull for me.
Then I came to know about “Go Kiss The World” (had read your story before in a mail sent by Manav) but didn’t know about the book, so got hooked onto your blogs, posts, life lessons, and speeches in IIMB, etc. All in all, I understand that there is a lot to learn from you, the difference being a lot is directly applicable.
I got an idea to do a webinar-based Book Review of “Go Kiss The World” in my organization, as I think it’ll be really useful to the big lot (50K+), but instead of waiting to read the whole book, wanted to know if you can share a presentation or summary, in case you have one (please send it to my mail id). This will really help spread the message faster, and make the most of this opportunity.
Best Regards,
Rajiv
Dear Subroto,
I have been a die hard fan of yours, your speeches, your books (The High Performance Entrepreneur & Go Kis The World). Frankly speaking I came to know about you 7 years ago while going through your articles in TOI (Times of Mind). You are a true roll model for the rising entrepreneurs of India. It makes me proud that your origin is from Orissa and I am extremely happy to know about your plans for our State. I have been deeply inspired by your rise from the grassroot level. I am waiting to see you someday and listen to you.
Wishing you all good luck in future endevours.
Best Regards,
Sakti
Hello Subroto,
I have read thrugh your book “Go Kiss the World”. I agree to maximum of the lessons that you have shared in Chapter 25 but I do not agree to the fact where you mention that ‘Life is a constant negotiation’. Whatever I read about you in your book and whatever life has in store for all of us, its a fact that you cannot negotiate everything and change the circumstances to benefit all
Anyways, its a good read for people like us who come from small towns.
Regards,
Debraj
Dear Subroto,
I read this article. I must say that its inspiring in the sense that how a child can learn important lessons of life from his/her parents from a normal day to day activity. I am sure that my parents have also taught me these simple but very important lessons of life, but unfortunately I have not been able to develop the vision to understand it the way you have. Its never too late and I would like to start the journey of learning and giving back more to this world today!
Best Regards
Parimal
Hello… Sir I have read your book few days back. It is really an inspiring book for young and aspiring generation of India.
Thank you for sharing your story!
- Chandra
Hello Sir,
Cannot thank you enough for sharing your experiance of life. I would have to write tomes of material on the kind of inspiration you impart.
Would like to ask you a question very pertinent to me - what would your advice/musings/views be to the woman professional in India today.
Hope you notice my post and reply.
Warm Regards
Amali
Hello,
I am one of the lucky persons who chanced to attend your Seminar in Kolkata at a 5 star hotel.From then onwards I try to follow up all your articles or books. Recently I purchased GKTW and I am just delighted to read it.All your chapters have a message or a moral.What strikes me most is your humility and gratefulness to all those persons in your life who have made a difference. You really set an example for all the aspiring young professionals.
Dear Mr Subroto Bagchi,
Greetings!
I am extremely happy to read your book Go Kiss the World. This gives me a thought to seek your help and support in my endeavour to see that people in Orissa don’t remain needlessly blind due to curable causes of blindness. After working for 10 years at Aravind Eye Hospital as a manager and consultant helping many eye hospitals, it’s time to help my own state Orissa. Looking at Govt. Eye Units in each district hospitals I have lost hope as I don’t see any capsule produced by any company till date which keeps public servants motivated beyond the excitement phase. Worldbank spent huge amount of money building, equipping and capacity building of district eye units in 1995-1999. But today each one is a ghost house.
So, my thought of serving people in western orissa including patnagarh in bolangir is by encouraging NGO eye hospitals to perform better and be sustainable. Hence I have contacted few NGO Eye organisations to set up eye hospitals in Western Orissa including Dhenkanal/Angul disrict so that the six million population can get eye care services. I need your blessing and support.
Keerti
Dear Mr Subroto Bagchi,
I knew of Mind Tree Consulting as an upcoming IT company.
One of my friends had forwarded ‘the cucumber seller ‘ mail some 1.5 years back. I liked it . Read it twice
Your name registered at that time.
But honestly , i thought it was one of those stand alone good articles.
However , when i read the book ‘ Go Kiss the World’ i was awestruck with simplicity and ease with which you connected to me as a reader.
One more honest confession , I have become great fan of your articles.
Your story is very encouraging .
And it reminds me of my childhood days when my father was a government servant and lead a very good and composed life.
He expired when i was in second year of engineering and it was my mother who took care of me and sister.
Today , with all good values from parent , i am working in a decent company at a good post.
I had similar struggles in life till i completed my PG from IIT Delhi.
Your story touched my heart and moved me.
I wish you all the best and please do keep writing good books & articles.
This will encourage young minds and motivate them
I wish i get a chance to work in your company and contribute in a big way.
Warm regards,
Mahaveer Upadhye
Age 34
Asst General Manager
mauenthu@yahoo.co.in