“The man who can drive himself further once the
effort gets painful is the man who will win.” ~ Roger Bannister
The night of Feb 1, 2013 was
chilly and perfect for staying indoors. And yet thirty
minutes past ten in the evening, after a meal fit enough to put you to sleep,
people were seen pouring into the TMDC auditorium. They had gathered here to
listen to Capt. Navin Gulia – whose military career was cut short after he
injured his vertebrae in a freak accident during the training period. He was
declared a quadriplegic, paralyzed below the waist. The doctors had little hope
of his survival. That was in 1995. 17 years have passed since. The excitement
in the air was understandable as the audience waited to catch a glimpse of this
man, who had snatched his life back from the clutches of death.
On
the face of it, Mr. Navin Gulia is a simple man. He is confined to a
wheelchair. But don’t let that mislead you. He is the only person in this
condition to drive a manual transmission vehicle. And he puts his abilities to
good use. He drove to the top of Khardung La – an 18340 feet tall mountain pass – all by
himself in an 18 year old Maruti 800. That success spurred him on to conquer
the tallest pass in the world – the Marsimik La at 18,634 feet. He did
that by driving for 55 hours nonstop and in the process created a world record
that stands till date. The man has won several accolades too – one of them
being the President’s National Role Model Award. Confined, did anyone say?
If the audience had expected a grim story full of
hardships and setbacks, they were in for a surprise. Not one to brood over his
misfortunes, Navin amused the crowd with colorful anecdotes from his army days
and life after the accident. While carrying him after his fall from a great
height on that fateful day, Navin’s friends forgot to support his head. To
which he replied tongue-in-cheek - Please take my head along too. I would need
this later!!
His passion for living and his never say die
attitude is what sets Navin apart from the rest. As a speaker, a writer, a poet
and an avid sportsman and adventurer, this fighter has conquered more peaks
than many of us can aspire for.
This is his speech – a talk on life, attitude and
winning - that was interspersed with the speaker’s own shayaris and poems.
On
focusing your energies in the right direction
We all have limited energy. Use that wisely.
Focus on your dreams; focus on what is most important to you. It doesn’t matter
how high that dream is because the only people who achieve their dreams are the
ones who consistently work towards it. The people who are smarter or more
talented than you need not be the ones who succeed twenty years down the line.
Frustration is a great tool, if you use it to
your advantage. Some of the best decisions in our lives are taken out of sheer
frustration, and not when we are in our comfort zone. My confinement to the
hospital bed for 4 months could have been an awful time for me, except that I
used that time to sharpen my mental skills and my abilities to play chess.
True victory is not about crossing the line or
getting that brownie point. True victory is your attitude towards winning and
towards life. Even in a game of football, if you knew you are about to lose,
play with the same enthusiasm as you would have if you were winning the game.
Now that’s what makes a true leader stand out.
Dealing
with adversity and why it is important for your growth
They say that the enemy always attacks you from
the direction you least expect. The same can be said about life. Your worry,
you plan, you worry some more. And then life serves you blows in places you
least expect. Learn to accept it with grace. Often, you have no control over
the situation, but you can definitely choose how to deal with it.
You may think that life has dealt me a bad hand,
but that has not stopped me from enjoying it. No matter what situation you are
put into, learn how you can win the game from there. Learn to adapt and grow or
else you shall perish. That is the law of Nature.
I am yet to meet someone who has succeeded
without facing difficulties. You don’t succeed despite your difficulties or
despite the people who oppose you. You succeed because of them. The trouble is
opportunity always disguises itself as a problem.
On
success and why you should not chase it
You want to succeed in life? Go ahead; the world
is your oyster. But don’t let what others think about you stop you in your
tracks. Their opinion is their concern but what you think about yourself is far
more important.
And don’t let success drive you. Desire for fame
cannot take you anywhere. Learn to love what you do, or do what you love. That
is the only mantra for success. Along the way you will meet people who will try
to define what you can do in life, or maybe what you cannot do! Don’t let that stop you. You are the one who
should define your limits.
Don’t worry about the recognition or the glory.
Your right is only your work. When you focus on your work, without a care for
what others say, one day success will come knocking at your door.
On the
importance of being genuine
Have trouble convincing someone? First be
convinced yourself. For someone to believe in you, you must first believe in
yourself. Always remember that substance matters. Be it
your work or your personality, being genuine is important.
On life
and death and all things in between
Learn to live without regrets. Learn everything
you want to, be everything you want to be. We all have such limited time with
us. When I was paralyzed, I did not question why me?
I did not let that injury consume my life either. Even on my journey to the
pass on a Maruti 800, it was possible that we would have perished on the way –
and no one would have even known about it. मुझे न मौत की परवाह है और न ही प्रतीक्षा. Everyone has to
die one day, so why worry about it every day and die a slow death instead?
When I was all set to climb Khardung La, I was
asked what motivated me to take up this arduous and seemingly impossible task.
My reply was – If you haven’t found something to die for, life is not worth living. There is no point in a life without meaning, a
journey without a destination. Choose your goals and play to win them.
How to be
a winner?
Want to get good at something? You should spend 99.99%
of your time on thinking and learning. And spend only the remaining 0.01% of
your time for writing and speaking about your ideas. I believe in having a
clutter free mind, devoid of worries and illusionary obstacles. It helps me to
think better and focus my energy on more important activities.
And no one becomes a champ overnight. To become
really good at anything, you must work for years at perfecting it. Practice,
practice and some more practice will help you become perfect. And when you win, plan on winning by a huge
margin. There is no fun in just crossing the line, but in crossing it in record
time.
Remember
when you train hard, you will not only be hard, you will also be hard to beat!
It was well past
midnight when Capt. Navin
Gulia bade us goodbye and as we
were walking back his couplet was still reverberating in our heads,
ऐ खुदा, दे कुछ और तकलीफ़ मुझे, नई कोई चुनौती तो दे
के ज़िन्दगी को
और जीने को जी चाहता है
कुछ तो आंधियों
को उठा,
कुछ तूफ़ान तो
हों
कि आसमानों को
फिर छूने को जी चाहता है
Anu Girija Senan
GMP Co2013
[Note: The speech has been paraphrased by the author]
