The greatest teacher

Our capabilities are beyond our limitations Bruce Lee. I learnt the truth of this statement through a
number of events.
Let us go to the year 1993. Two little brothers are playing inside a house in the city of Calcutta, India. The
younger boy is 3 years old and the elder one is 10 years old. The elder one picks up the younger one in his
arms and they begin climbing the stairs. It is an open staircase and there is nothing to keep the boys
falling off the side. Because by Murphys law, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong, the elder boy trips
and his brother falls from his arms. There are some oil barrels stored beside the stairs, and boy slams his
head into one. His skull is cracked. Sitting in his own pool of blood, he looks up at his brother and asks,
Why did we stop playing?
I still carry the scar from that incident. I realize now that I am lucky to have survived several such
incidents. My childhood friends keep telling me, We cant believe you made you made it so far.
Fellow toastmasters and guests, such incidents taught me a lesson that I want to share with you tonight,
which is: You can die any time(silence)
Knowing that is not a bad thing. Because then, you eliminate the fear of death and take on the task of
living.
I have two more lessons that I want to share with you, taught by the greatest teacher, life.
Between 2008 and 2012, there was group of four friends that were crazy about robots. All did they did
every day was work on making robots. As a result, one guy had a breakup with his girlfriend, and he
almost committed suicide out of depression.
And if you are wondering, I am not that guy. The only reason that guy is still alive is because he wanted
to make more robots. They participated in every competition they could lay their eyes on and got better
with time. A time came when they won any competition they attended. Do you know why they became so
good? Because they were doing it every day. So the second lesson from that: The only thing you need to
do to get good at something is, practice.
Time for the third lesson.
It is March 2006, the national level middle school examinations in India are about to begin. All students
appearing in the exam are expected to dig their head deep into the books.
However, this kid, who has an exam the next day, is out in the garden. What is he doing? He is killing
mosquitoes.
Why? Because with a magnifying glass is watching ants carry the mosquitoes into their holes. He was
fascinated with ants. Whether it was a rat, a bee or a mosquito, the ants could transport anything by
forming extremely efficient groups. Such small creatures, but such great capabilities. However, one ant
was nothing on its own. Its strength depended on all the ants in the group.
This is the third lesson, coming straight from the ants. It does not matter how tough the journey, if you are
open to help from others, you can conquer anything.
Who does not want to be a good speaker? I want to be too, and I found the best way to do that is to take
help from all the great speakers in this club.
To conclude my talk, I am sharing with you three lessons taught by the greatest teacher I know, our own
lives. And the lessons are:
1. You can DIE any time. So give up all fears and start living.
2. If you want to be good at something, the only thing you need to do is, practice.
3. The journey of life is tough, so take all the help you can get.