Subroto Bagchi Speech

8/12/2019 Subroto Bagchi Speech

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I delivered this speech to the Class of 2006 at the IIM, Bangalore on dening

success. This was the rst time I shared the guiding principles of m life with

oung professionals.

I was the last child of a small!time government servant, in a famil of ve

"rothers. M earliest memor of m father is as that of a #istrict $mploment

%&cer in 'oraput, %rissa. It was, and remains as "ac( of "eond as ou can

imagine. There was no electricit) no primar school near" and water did not

*ow 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 t into the "ac( of a eep - so the famil moved from place to place

and without an trou"le, m Mother would set up an esta"lishment 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.

M parents set the foundation of m life and the value sstem, which ma(es me

what I am toda and largel, denes what success means to me toda.

+s #istrict $mploment %&cer, m father was given a eep " the government.

There was no garage in the %&ce, so the eep was par(ed in our house. M

father refused to use it to commute to the o&ce. e told us that the eep is an

e1pensive resource given " the government! he reiterated to us that it was not

his eep "ut the government3s eep. Insisting that he would use it onl to tour

the interiors, he would wal( to his o&ce on normal das. e also made sure that

we never sat in the government eep - we could sit in it onl when it was

stationar.

That was our earl childhood lesson in governance - a lesson that corporatemanagers learn the hard wa, some never do.

The driver of the eep was treated with respect due to an other mem"er of m

/ather3s o&ce. +s small children, we were taught not to call him " his name. 4e

had to use the su&1 5dada3 whenever we were to refer to him in pu"lic or

private. 4hen I grew up to own a car and a driver " the name of au was

appointed - I repeated the lesson to m two small daughters. The have, as a

result, grown up to call au, 5au ncle3 - ver di7erent 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.

To me, the lesson was signicant - ou treat small people with more respect than

how ou treat "ig people. It is more important to respect our su"ordinates than

our superiors.

%ur da used to start with the famil huddling around m Mother3s chulha - an

earthen re 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 8tatesman3s 5mu7osil3 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 %ria medium school, has to do with that


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routine. +fter reading the newspaper aloud, we were told to fold it neatl. /ather

taught us a simple lesson.

e used to sa, 9:ou should leave our newspaper and our toilet, the wa ou

e1pect to nd it. That lesson was a"out showing consideration to others.

Business "egins and ends with that simple precept.

Being small children, we were alwas 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

;hilips, 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

ve radios - alluding to his ve 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. e would give a similar repl,

4e do not need a house of our own. I alread own ve houses. is replies did

not gladden our hearts in that instant.


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fervor. %ther than reading out the newspaper to m mother, I had no clue a"out

how I could "e part of the action. 8o, after reading her the newspaper, ever da

I would land up near the niversit3s 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 dadream a"out

catching one and how the ne1t da, I would "e featured in the newspaper.nfortunatel for me, the spies at war ignored the sleep town of Bhu"aneswar

and I never got a chance to catch one in action. :et, that act unloc(ed m

imagination.

Imagination is everthing. 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.

%ver the ne1t few ears, m mother3s eesight dimmed "ut in me she created a

larger vision, a vision with which I continue to see the world and, I sense, through

m ees, she was seeing too. +s the ne1t few ears unfolded, her vision

deteriorated and she was operated for cataract. I remem"er, when she returned

after her operation and she saw m face clearl for the rst time, she wasastonished. 8he said, 9%h m =od, I did not (now ou were so fair. 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

ees. That was >?6?. 8he died in 2002. In all those D2 ears of living with

"lindness, she never complained a"out her fate even once. Curious to (now what

she saw with "lind ees, I as(ed her once if she sees dar(ness. 8he replied, 9?E>. 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 8, I learnt that m father, living a retired life

with m eldest "rother, had su7ered a third degree "urn inur and was admitted

in the 8afderung ospital in #elhi. I *ew "ac( to attend to him - he remained fora few das in critical stage, "andaged from nec( to toe. The 8afderung ospital

is a coc(roach infested, dirt, inhuman place. The overwor(ed, under!resourced

sisters in the "urn ward are "oth victims and perpetrators of dehumanied life at

its worst. %ne morning, while attending to m /ather, I realied that the "lood

"ottle was empt and fearing that air would go into his vein, I as(ed the

attending nurse to change it. 8he "luntl told me to do it mself. In that horri"le

theater of death, I was in pain and frustration and anger. /inall when she

relented and came, m /ather opened his ees and murmured to her, 94h have

ou not gone home etF ere was a man on his death"ed "ut more concerned

a"out the overwor(ed nurse than his own state. I was stunned at his stoic self.


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There I learnt that there is no limit to how concerned ou can "e for another

human "eing and what the limit of inclusion is ou can create.

M father died the ne1t da. e was a man whose success was dened " his

principles, his frugalit, his universalism and his sense of inclusion.

+"ove all, he taught me that success is our a"ilit to rise a"ove ourdiscomfort, whatever ma "e our current state. :ou can, if ou want, raise our

consciousness a"ove our immediate surroundings. 8uccess is not a"out "uilding

material comforts - the transistor that he never could "u or the house that he

never owned. is success was a"out the legac he left, the memetic continuit

of his ideals that grew "eond the smallness of a ill!paid, unrecognied

government servant3s world.

M father was a fervent "eliever in the British a. e sincerel dou"ted the

capa"ilit of the post!independence Indian political parties to govern the countr.

To him, the lowering of the nion ac( was a sad event. M Mother was the e1act

opposite. 4hen 8u"hash Bose Guit the Indian

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Subroto Bagchi Speech