Go Kiss the World Subroto Bagchi, CEO and Gardner-

Mindtree
This speech was delivered to the Class of 2006 at the IIM (Indian Institute of Management), Bangalore on
defining success ! "uroto Bagchi C#$ MindTree%
I was the last child of a small&time government servant, in a famil! of five rothers% M! earliest memor!
of m! father is as that of a 'istrict #mplo!ment $fficer in (oraput, $rissa% It was, and remains as ac) of
e!ond as !ou can imagine% There was no electricit!* no primar! school near! and water did not flow
out of a tap% +s a result, I did not go to school until the age of eight* I was home&schooled% M! father used
to get transferred ever! !ear% The famil! elongings fit into the ac) of a ,eep - so the famil! moved from
place to place and without an! troule, m! Mother would set up an estalishment and get us going%
.aised ! a widow who had come as a refugee from the then #ast Bengal, she was a matriculate when she
married m! /ather%

My parents set the foundation of y life and the !alue syste, "hich a#es e "hat $ a today
and largely, defines "hat success eans to e today%
+s 'istrict #mplo!ment $fficer, m! father was given a ,eep ! the government% There was no garage in
the $ffice, so the ,eep was par)ed in our house% M! father refused to use it to commute to the office% 0e
told us that the ,eep is an e1pensive resource given ! the government& he reiterated to us that it was not
2his ,eep2 ut the government3s ,eep% Insisting that he would use it onl! to tour the interiors, he would
wal) to his office on normal da!s%% 0e also made sure that we never sat in the government ,eep - we
could sit in it onl! when it was stationar!%

&hat "as our early childhood lesson in go!ernance a lesson that corporate anagers learn the
hard "ay, soe ne!er do%
The driver of the ,eep was treated with respect due to an! other memer of m! /ather3s office% +s
small children, we were taught not to call him ! his name% 4e had to use the suffi1 5dada3 whenever we
were to refer to him in pulic or private% 4hen I grew up to own a car and a driver ! the name of .a,u
was appointed - I repeated the lesson to m! two small daughters% The! have, as a result, grown up to call
.a,u, 5.a,u 6ncle3 - ver! different from man! of their friends who refer to their famil! driver, as 5m!
driver3% 4hen I hear that term from a school& or college&going person, I cringe%
&o e, the lesson "as significant you treat sall people "ith ore respect than ho" you treat
big people% $t is ore iportant to respect your subordinates than your superiors%
$ur da! used to start with the famil! huddling around m! Mother3s chulha - an earthen fire place she
would uild at each place of posting where she would coo) for the famil!% There was neither gas, nor
electrical stoves%The morning routine started with tea% +s the rew was served, /ather would as) us to
read aloud the editorial page of The "tatesman3s 5muffosil3 edition - delivered one da! late% 4e did not
understand much of what we were reading% But the ritual was meant for us to )now that the world was
larger than (oraput district and the #nglish I spea) toda!, despite having studied in an $ri!a medium
school, has to do with that routine% +fter reading the newspaper aloud, we were told to fold it neatl!%
/ather taught us a simple lesson%

'e used to say, ()ou should lea!e your ne"spaper and your toilet, the "ay you e*pect to find
it+% &hat lesson "as about sho"ing consideration to others% Business begins and ends "ith that
siple precept%
Being small children, we were alwa!s enamored with advertisements in the newspaper for transistor
radios - we did not have one% 4e saw other people having radios in their homes and each time there was
an advertisement of 7hilips, Murph! or Bush radios, we would as) /ather when we could get one% #ach
time, m! /ather would repl! that we did not need one ecause he alread! had five radios - alluding to his
five sons%
4e also did not have a house of our own and would occasionall! as) /ather as to when, li)e others,
we would live in our own house% 0e would give a similar repl!,2 4e do not need a house of our own% I
alread! own five houses2% 0is replies did not gladden our hearts in that instant%

,onetheless, "e learnt that it is iportant not to easure personal success and sense of "ell being
through aterial possessions%
8overnment houses seldom came with fences% Mother and I collected twigs and uilt a small fence%
+fter lunch, m! Mother would never sleep% "he would ta)e her )itchen utensils and with those she and I
would dig the roc)!, white ant infested surrounding% 4e planted flowering ushes% The white ants
destro!ed them% M! mother rought ash from her chulha and mi1ed it in the earth and we planted the
seedlings all over again% This time, the! loomed% +t that time, m! father3s transfer order came% + few
neighors told m! mother wh! she was ta)ing so much pain to eautif! a government house, wh! she was
planting seeds that would onl! enefit the ne1t occupant% M! mother replied that it did not matter to her
that she would not see the flowers in full loom% "he said, 9I have to create a loom in a desert and
whenever I am given a new place, I must leave it more eautiful than what I had inherited2%

&hat "as y first lesson in success% $t is not about "hat you create for yourself, it is "hat you
lea!e behind that defines success%
M! mother egan and galvani:ed the nation in to patriotic fervor% $ther than reading out the
newspaper to m! mother, I had no clue aout how I could e part of the action% "o, after reading her the
newspaper, ever! da! I would land up near the 6niversit!3s water tan), which served the communit!% I
would spend hours under it, imagining that there could e spies who would come to poison the water and
I had to watch for them% I would da!dream aout catching one and how the ne1t da!, I would e featured
in the newspaper% 6nfortunatel! for me, the spies at war ignored the sleep! town of Bhuaneswar and I
never got a chance to catch one in action%% ;et, that act unloc)ed m! imagination%

$agination is e!erything% $f "e can iagine a future, "e can create it, if "e can create that
future, others "ill li!e in it% &hat is the essence of success%
$ver the ne1t few !ears, m! mother3s e!esight dimmed ut in me she created a larger vision, a vision
with which I continue to see the world and, I sense, through m! e!es, she was seeing too% +s the ne1t few
!ears unfolded, her vision deteriorated and she was operated for cataract% I rememer, when she returned
after her operation and she saw m! face clearl! for the first time, she was astonished% "he said, 9$h m!
8od, I did not )now !ou were so fair2%% I remain might! pleased with that adulation even till date% 4ithin
wee)s of getting her sight ac), she developed a corneal ulcer and, overnight, ecame lind in oth e!es%
That was <=6=% "he died in 2002% In all those >2 !ears of living with lindness, she never complained
aout her fate even once% Curious to )now what she saw with lind e!es, I as)ed her once if she sees
dar)ness% "he replied, 9?o, I do not see dar)ness% I onl! see light even with m! e!es closed2% 6ntil she
was eight! !ears of age, she did her morning !oga ever!da!, swept her own room and washed her own
clothes%

&o e, success is about the sense of independence- it is about not seeing the "orld but seeing the
light%
$ver the man! intervening !ears, I grew up, studied, ,oined the industr! and egan to carve m! life3s
own ,ourne!% I egan m! life as a cler) in a government office, went on to ecome a Management Trainee
with the 'CM group and eventuall! found m! life3s calling with the IT industr! when fourth generation
computers came to India in <=@<%% Aife too) me places - I wor)ed with outstanding people, challenging
assignments and traveled all over the world%
In <==2, while I was posted in the 6", I learnt that m! father, living a retired life with m! eldest
rother, had suffered a third degree urn in,ur! and was admitted in the "afder,ung 0ospital in 'elhi% I
flew ac) to attend to him - he remained for a few da!s in critical stage, andaged from nec) to toe% The
"afder,ung 0ospital is a coc)roach infested, dirt!, inhuman place% The overwor)ed, under&resourced
sisters in the urn ward are oth victims and perpetrators of dehumani:ed life at its worst% $ne morning,
while attending to m! /ather, I reali:ed that the lood ottle was empt! and fearing that air would go into
his vein, I as)ed the attending nurse to change it% "he luntl! told me to do it m!self% In that horrile
theater of death, I was in pain and frustration and anger% /inall! when she relented and came, m! /ather
opened his e!es and murmured to her, 94h! have !ou not gone home !etB2 0ere was a man on his
deathed ut more concerned aout the overwor)ed nurse than his own state% I was stunned at his stoic
self%

&here $ learnt that there is no liit to ho" concerned you can be for another huan being and
"hat the liit of inclusion is you can create%
M! father died the ne1t da!% 0e was a man whose success was defined ! his principles, his frugalit!,
his universalism and his sense of inclusion%
+ove all, he taught me that success is !our ailit! to rise aove !our discomfort, whatever ma! e
!our current state% ;ou can, if !ou want, raise !our consciousness aove !our immediate surroundings%
"uccess is not aout uilding material comforts - the transistor that he never could u! or the house that
he never owned% 0is success was aout the legac! he left, the memetic continuit! of his ideals that grew
e!ond the smallness of a ill&paid, unrecogni:ed government servant3s world%%
M! father was a fervent eliever in the British .a,% 0e sincerel! douted the capailit! of the post&
independence Indian political parties to govern the countr!% To him, the lowering of the 6nion Cac) was a
sad event% M! Mother was the e1act opposite% 4hen "uhash Bose Duit the Indian ?ational Congress and
came to 'acca, m! mother, then a schoolgirl, garlanded him% "he learnt to spin )hadi and ,oined an
underground movement that trained her in using daggers and swords% ConseDuentl!, our household saw
diversit! in the political outloo) of the two% $n ma,or issues concerning the world, the $ld Man and the
$ld Aad! had differing opinions%

$n the, "e learnt the po"er of disagreeents, of dialogue and the essence of li!ing "ith di!ersity
in thin#ing%
Success is not about the ability to create a definiti!e dogatic end state- it is about the unfolding of
thought processes, of dialogue and continuu%
Two !ears ac), at the age of eight!&two, Mother had a paral!tic stro)e and was l!ing in a
government hospital in Bhuaneswar% I flew down from the 6" where I was serving m! second stint, to
see her% I spent two wee)s with her in the hospital as she remained in a paral!tic state% "he was neither
getting etter nor moving on% #ventuall! I had to return to wor)% 4hile leaving her ehind, I )issed her
face% In that paral!tic state and a garled voice, she said,
94h! are !ou )issing me, go )iss the world%2 0er river was nearing its ,ourne!, at the confluence of
life and death, this woman who came to India as a refugee, raised ! a widowed Mother, no more
educated than high school, married to an anon!mous government servant whose last salar! was .upees
Three 0undred, roed of her e!esight ! fate and crowned ! adversit! was telling me to go and )iss the
worldE

Success to e is about .ision% $t is the ability to rise abo!e the iediacy of pain% $t is about
iagination% $t is about sensiti!ity to sall people% $t is about building inclusion% $t is about
connectedness to a larger "orld e*istence% $t is about personal tenacity% $t is about gi!ing bac# ore
to life than you ta#e out of it% $t is about creating e*tra-ordinary success "ith ordinary li!es%
&han# you !ery uch- $ "ish you good luc# and God/s speed% Go0 #iss the "orld%