Between Change and Constancy | Mr Srinivasulu IFS | TEDxRUAS

0:08 Good evening everybody.

0:11 I'm so happy today being Children's Day.

0:15 I'm addressing 21st generation children.

0:18 Okay, and it is a right form.

0:21 Thank you.

0:22 So, to start with

0:26 [clears throat]

0:28 change is constant in life.

0:31 Many times, like evolution, change can be gentle.

0:37 But sometimes, like mutation, it can completely turn everything upside down.

0:46 In such time, what really matters is not change per se.

0:52 It's actually how we navigate that change.

0:57 Significant achievements that you heard now are

0:59 made not despite these changes and challenges,

1:04 but indeed they do because of them.

1:08 Somebody I heard how Okay,

1:11 these 21st generation Gen Z kids are not just impatient,

1:15 but they are very aspirational.

1:17 Okay, wait.

1:17 I'm telling you.

1:18 I'm giving you some clues.

1:22 What really carries us forward are not great ideas or perfect plans.

1:29 They are simple, timeless values like devotion,

1:35 dedication, discipline, resilience, never say die attitude.

1:44 And if I may add a healthy competition to it.

1:50 [clears throat]

1:50 If I may add healthy competition to it, the competition is not with with others.

1:57 It is not defeating others.

1:59 It is It is becoming better of yours.

2:03 Okay.

2:04 Uh I'm I'm sounding very philosophical.

2:08 If so, I would like to reiterate

2:10 this and establish this with real-life scenarios.

2:16 I serve in Indian Forest Service.

2:18 My job is to protect something that must last.

2:24 Forest.

2:25 But in a in a in a world that continuously changes.

2:30 Uh in fact, every day we face challenges.

2:34 Uh people, policies, politics, pressures.

2:41 What I understood one thing.

2:44 In such uh challenging, changing situations,

2:48 uh the ability to stay stable doesn't necessarily come from training.

2:56 It begins much earlier.

2:59 The timeless values that we inculcate during our formative years of life.

3:08 Now, talking about formative years of life, uh I did well in graduation.

3:15 But what defined me was not the meritorious gold medal that I secured,

3:21 but the exam I blew in my third year.

3:24 Okay.

3:25 Unfortunately, I lost a lot of marks in the very first exam.

3:29 And my A grade was hanging by a thread.

3:32 As usual, friends came, "Srinivas, relax.

3:35 After all, it is one subject.

3:37 B is also a grade." Uh but something deep inside me whispered, "Don't give up.

3:45 It is difficult, but not impossible." Only way to secure

3:50 my A was to ace every exam that follows.

3:56 So, I worked harder than ever ever before.

4:00 Every test, every exam, every record, every class.

4:06 Miraculously, I stood on my A.

4:11 And I consolidated my stake on gold.

4:15 Uh after the results, professor pulled me aside and said, "Srinivas,

4:21 I also for a minute thought you might give up, but you did not.

4:25 This grade is not just for your talent.

4:28 It is for your fight." That day,

4:32 I lived timeless truth of my life where uh universe

4:38 conspires to make things happen if your effort is true.

4:45 Because luck favors the brave.

4:49 And that belief became my strength.

4:51 Uh I'm from a small town.

4:56 Like how Kermani I was telling, I had no definite road map.

5:01 Uh never knew how big the world was.

5:05 So, as usual, after graduation, I joined post graduation in the same university.

5:11 Uh I had handsome fellowship.

5:14 My academic life was cruising comfortably until the destiny had other plans.

5:20 My beloved professor one day called me and said,

5:22 "Srinivas, there is lot to learn.

5:25 And there are better places to learn like premier

5:28 national institutes in Delhi." He gave me two biochemistry books.

5:33 Uh you might be knowing Lehninger and White and White.

5:36 And he told, "Why don't you try?" Uh I'm from a small town.

5:43 I having never seen state capital.

5:47 Thinking about national capital was not even in my dreams.

5:51 Okay.

5:52 But because my professor told, I told, "Yes,

5:54 sir." I came back and then from that day for months library became my temple.

6:03 Biochemistry became my Bhagavad Gita.

6:07 I studied with devotion, not ambition, sheer joy of learning.

6:13 When exam dates were announced,

6:16 I took 48 hours long train journey in a packed general compartment to Delhi,

6:23 went straight to the exam hall, wrote my paper,

6:29 came back on the same day by return train.

6:32 There I realized it's not thousands,

6:36 it's lakhs of students across the country were competing for four seats.

6:46 Uh coaching, mentoring, mock tests, so on and so forth.

6:53 I had no idea of competition.

6:56 I had no idea of significance and aura around that admission.

7:01 This very innocence and lack of expectations,

7:05 lack of weight of expectation had indeed worked in my favor and I had made it.

7:12 Suddenly I was in the uh national league.

7:17 That day I realized I lived my second truth wherein

7:22 surrendering to the karma can take you where you truly belong.

7:27 Very famously said, Karmanye vadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadachana.

7:33 Uh now I'm there in the national league.

7:38 Now, how Kirmani sir will endorse me?

7:41 Reaching national league is simple part.

7:44 Being there is the most difficult part.

7:48 Okay.

7:49 So, when I was there then like similar to the sports

7:56 person how continuously they try to outperform their previous best.

8:04 Everybody should compete with himself.

8:08 And during my post graduation days, I'm lucky that I had wonderful teachers.

8:14 One professor often said in class, "Uh my evaluation is toughest.

8:20 Nobody ever had completed my paper.

8:23 It is so exhaustive.

8:25 Forget about acing it." Every time he says, you know,

8:29 at that age uh sometimes that challenge was the challenge really stung me.

8:36 How can he say that?

8:37 Okay.

8:38 On the day of exam, I raced against time.

8:43 When everybody were trying to strangling to, you know, complete the paper,

8:47 I wanted to make it a point that I completed in time,

8:51 stood up, went straight to him, gave my paper uh with a sense of pride.

8:59 His cheeky smile towards me only had doused my adrenaline rush.

9:04 Okay.

9:05 And uh similarly, uh one more professor always said in the class,

9:09 "His evaluation is toughest.

9:11 Uh he's going to give open book exam.

9:15 You can go and consult anybody.

9:17 You can go and take consult any book,

9:19 and you give me paper." Every time when he was saying,

9:22 uh I was thinking, "He wants to give open book exam.

9:25 Why should I take open book exam?" Okay.

9:31 So, why should not I test my uh you know,

9:35 understanding limitations kind of a thing.

9:38 So, you know, I did not do.

9:39 So, these small choices we make at the formative

9:44 years taught me big lessons in life wherein [clears throat]

9:49 truly competition is not with others.

9:52 Competition is with the limitations that we set for ourselves.

9:57 Every time you beat one, you become the better one.

10:02 Okay.

10:03 And uh these I don't know,

10:06 simple values that I don't know I cultivated during the college

10:10 days or formative years were put to test in my professional life.

10:16 Uh I took charge as director of a tiger reserve.

10:21 And as usual as a as a forest officer,

10:25 the job is to administer forest, wildlife, and manage conflicts.

10:32 Very soon I realized the real challenge is not there in forests.

10:37 It is there in the villages in and around it.

10:42 When I met those people,

10:43 I could see uh unemployment, poverty, unrealized dreams.

10:51 They were living in one of the most beautiful landscapes

10:54 of the country without knowing protecting it could secure their future.

11:02 Then I started new conversation.

11:06 Conversation of hope, conversation of future, conversation of livelihoods.

11:12 Uh but to drive home the point like how you make AVs,

11:18 I made a documentary called Kali showcasing the real bond between people,

11:25 forest, and their future.

11:28 Uh much less I knew this small effort of documentary

11:34 Kali found its place in the biggest platform of the globe.

11:41 Paris COP 21 summit where [applause]

11:47 the documentary was screened before our beloved

11:51 honorable Prime Minister and other global leaders.

11:55 It received national attention international awards.

12:00 But more importantly it had convinced hundreds

12:04 of families to find their new future.

12:09 Parallelly it it also created lot of inviolate

12:13 areas in forest for wildlife to flourish.

12:17 Win-win situation for people and wildlife.

12:22 And incidentally that small effort and experience also

12:27 gave me the prestigious state environment award also.

12:33 Now this small idea or lateral thinking

12:40 that conservation succeeds not when we protect wildlife

12:46 from people but when we only when we

12:50 empower people with wildlife had really worked wonders

12:55 and in fact the name of the tiger

12:57 reserve was also changed from Dandeli Anshi Tiger Reserve

13:01 to Kali Tiger Reserve that you hear you

13:03 know listen today and that was the my experience.

13:07 So now that day I realized one more truth of my life.

13:11 I think not honest approach to your problem can really give you solutions.

13:21 Now that small you know lateral thinking or whatever

13:26 great you know small idea that I was mentioning.

13:29 But friends, again uh these small ideas that we

13:33 mean uh not necessarily they originate on corporate boardroom tables.

13:40 Sometimes they can even originate on like our kitchen counter also.

13:45 Okay.

13:47 When I became member secretary of pollution control board I saw a pattern.

13:52 Every year during Ganesh Chaturthi there is a definite pattern.

13:57 Devotion celebration and unfortunately pollution.

14:03 And board was running a campaign no POP idol.

14:08 Uh but somehow it was not working.

14:11 Because uh we were addressing a fluid problem with rigid no.

14:19 Uh that was in 2021.

14:20 Incidentally, it was the COVID year.

14:23 The communication with common man was also difficult in those times.

14:27 So, suddenly I had a real problem on my hand.

14:31 What to do?

14:33 That day I noticed uh my wife

14:37 making small Ganesha idol with turmeric offering puja.

14:45 After puja she dissolved that small Ganesha in water poured that to her plants

14:52 and sprinkled that holy water all around me and on me also.

14:55 Okay.

14:57 That moment asked a better question.

15:01 How about uh you know,

15:03 putting forth instead of a loud no why not we put a joyful yes?

15:10 We appealed people to make Ganesh small Ganesha idols with either

15:17 turmeric or any organic material that is available in their kitchen.

15:21 Offer puja and perform eco-friendly turmeric Ganesha.

15:26 Uh you'll be surprised.

15:28 The idea or I don't tell campaign, the idea spread viral.

15:35 It went into families.

15:37 It across cities, across state, and across country.

15:43 Uh we had a successful eco-friendly turmeric Ganesha campaign.

15:47 And this campaign uh it it it received

15:52 national attention and gave me Guinness World Record recognition.

15:59 Okay.

16:01 [applause] So, you know, these things like, you know, life is a timeless flow.

16:11 Flow or flux time, the timeless flow.

16:13 And these small ideas like turmeric Ganesha or lateral thinking like, you know,

16:19 I did in Kali Tiger Reserve or you know, devotion over ambition like graduation.

16:27 Uh you These, you know, you know, discipline or you know,

16:32 surrendering to the cause, what I was telling Karmanye vadhikaraste.

16:36 You know, these are some of the typical values as mutations,

16:42 as paradoxes, whatever we say here.

16:45 They really and finally shape the timeless flow of life and shape our future.

16:52 And today being November 14th, uh Children's Day,

16:56 and uh mhm for Gen Z generation, hope, you know, these, you know,

17:04 timeless values as an example of a real-life scenario real-life experiences will

17:10 definitely help and motivate the Gen Z generation to make our India powerful.

17:17 [applause] Thank you.

17:18 Thank you very much.