Science City recently hosted the 21st foundation day of Salt Lake Shiksha Niketan where students performed, trustees shared future plans and a motivational speaker had the audience laughing, applauding and paying heed to his words of wisdom.

Chairman of the school Lalit Beriwala recalled how his late father, the founder trustee Shyam Sundar Beriwala, began the school with 40 students behind Sector V. “Now we have 3,000 students. We are a charitable institute that provides quality education at modest fees. We even provide scholarship to those who need it,” he said.

Secretary Sanjay Agarwal added that they are coming up with a new campus in Rajarhat for 5,000 students. “The existing campus will be getting a new auditorium too,” he said. A galaxy of industrialists dropped by to support the event and were honoured on stage.

Students then put up a brief show. The school band presented numbers like Give me some sunshine from 3 Idiots and there was a dance fusing Bharatnatyam, kathak, and salsa. “I love all dance forms and was longing to perform all,” sighed Oishika Roy of Class XII, who choreographed and danced to the kathak portions. “Fusion enriches art.”

Students also enacted a skit explaining the Good Samaritan law that protects passersby helping accident victims from being held liable for any harm caused while providing assistance.

“People often ignore road accident victims fearing police harassment but this law shields them from it. Worse, today’s generation will patiently make reels out of other’s sufferings but not lend a hand,” said head boy Ishiraj Palchaudhuri, who directed the skit.

Knowledge is not power

The spotlight then turned to Haryana-based motivational speaker Sonu Sharma, who began with a lesson on transformation. “Transformation is not the same as change — think of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. It’s painful, but the second form has greater value and is permanent. People click selfies with a butterfly, but brush off a caterpillar on their shoulder,” he said.
Similarly, one has to struggle to transform into a better version of themselves. Students think life will be fun after their Board examinations, but Sharma warned that the next five to seven years would be the real test. “Endure this pain and then reap the pleasure. I myself was an average student with unproductive habits but I’ve transformed and found success. Today my old friends tell me they’re sad to see I’ve changed. I tell them I’m sorry that they haven’t,” he said.

Sharma dismantled the belief that knowledge is power. “Every obese person knows how to lose weight — so what you know won’t change your life. The purpose of knowledge is action. Potential plus process equals greatness. Everyone can be great — but most won’t be great as they shirk from the work hard.”

Credibility is currency

Sharma called credibility the most important skill. “During the Kurukshetra war, when rumours reached Dronacharya that his son had been killed, he would believe neither his favourite student Arjuna, nor Krishna, a god himself! He only believed Yudhishtir as he was the most credible,” Sharma reasoned. “Credibility is built through discipline: deliver on your word time and again.”

He also asked the audience to honour their commitments to themselves. “If you keep hitting the snooze button on your phone every morning, you subconsciously believe that you can’t trust your own word. And if you don’t have faith in yourself, no one else will,” he said.

Sharma also urged students to reject negative labels. “If a teacher says you’ll amount to nothing — prove her wrong! Only what you believe about yourself is true. In the jungle, the elephant is the strongest, giraffe the tallest, cheetah the fastest, and fox the cleverest but who is the king? Just a big cat who decided he is king,” said Sharma.

“The lion needs no one’s certificate and so when the elephant and lion meet, the lion thinks ‘lunch’ and the elephant thinks ‘I’m his lunch’. It is this self-belief that turned Mohandas into Mahatma, and a bus conductor into a superstar (Rajnikanth),” Sharma said.

Freedom on track

He asked the audience to have one goal at a time and create 24-hour goals. “Like Dashrath Manjhi moved a mountain, one stone at a time. Complete something daily and feel good at day’s end. Be clear about what you want and write it down on pen and paper — it motivates you best,” he said, asking students to sacrifice screen time for success.

Sharma told students that all was acceptable save addiction. “After a sheltered childhood, students often don’t know how to deal with the freedom they get in college. Remember, that a train is fine as long as it stays on the tracks. If it skips track, it crashes. Addictions are a one-way road so just stay away,” he said.

School principal Madhusmita Bezbaruah appreciated Sharma’s talk. “Teenagers usually turn a deaf ear to advice from parents and teachers. But when someone so popular motivates them they listen,” she said.