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It's my birthday and the last day of the five-day TOGAF program. The overall program was pretty interesting as there was no technology involved and five participants included, a senior executive from WHO and people having profiles and serious images. And yes, it was their misfortune to have me as one of the participants.
The session was beautifully planned and executed by industry veteran Mr. Jay Prakash. He is 76 years old and still has a very charming and worry-free face, lean body constructs, and a wonderful smile. Age is just a number to him. He shared his plans to teach till the age of 90 and then get "retired."
We enjoyed his examples which reflected on life and his perspective towards business problems. And in the last four days, we learned a lot on both the business and human side. He cracked jokes in between and delivered training in the most memorable way. Every session ended with a round of questionnaires and he was amused by the funniest responses thrown back to him. But, on the other hand, the audience thought that I was just a hacker and that I was trying my best to derail the overall training schedule.
It's my birthday and the last day of the training, so the rest of the participants were soft with me and each one of them wished me happy birthday again and again. Lunch was a part of the program and I must say, this not-so-known hotel has a wonderful chef. Every food item was just mouth-watering by the looks and tasted great. We had Gulab Jamun and then I sang a Tamil song "Uyi re" from the "Bombay" movie. Rest of the participants including the fascinating personality Mr. JP went on appreciating the talent. I was humbled and enjoyed that they made more requests for a few more songs before we joined back the session.
The session ended with the final assignment and luckily, I secured maximum marks. Everyone was just looking at me with strange looks and to their surprise, our facilitator concluded with this statement,
"I thank you to have such an engaging participation. I know this was not a very interesting subject, but still, you made the best out of it. Though you are all very qualified and well-established professionals, I wish to share one learning. And that is, 'Never Let A Kid Die'. At my age for most of you, this childish behavior will be the only source of being social and will allow you to lead a happy life. I certainly travel a lot and meet young professionals like you, but it is very rare that I see the child inside any of them. A zeal to learn, to make pranks, to apologize, spread happiness, being engaging though learning, and always smiling; are the few traits of this child inside each of us. But in the endless chase of money and more possessions, we end up losing this child forever. I know that Naveen was being witty throughout the session but his final score teaches a great lesson to everyone. And that is - never let this child die. This kid is what makes us a best friend, an honest person, a good citizen, and undoubtedly a great person itself."
And then, he focused on me with a serious look and said "So Naveen, keep spreading your cheers and maintain this charm. This is your beauty and you must nourish it more."
I was speechless, and had some deep thoughts, "Could there be a better birthday gift than a compliment like this?". Until the time I share my next post on MS Azure Cloud, please share your such experiences in the comments below. Do let me know if you feel there is a kid inside you and you feel very happy about it.