The Road Not Taken

On the 17th of July, Mr. Sanjay Tambwekar, Software engineer, X and XII topper from Goa and an IIT’ian in his own right( JEE Advance AIR of 220), was invited to speak at the Mushtifund Aryaan Higher Secondary School, to the students of STD Xi. The much awaited session with the esteemed guest began with a little bit of crowd interaction, where Mr. Tambwekar asked the students what their goals were. He then proceeded to tell his own story, with the help of a powerpoint presentation, explaining in parts the impending challenges that lay ahead of anyone aiming for success, whether in engineering or medicine or any other field for that matter.. sharing his life experiences and philosophies and breaking down the thought process behind the most productive version of oneself.

“You are your own biggest competitor”, he said, stressing on the need to always try to be better than you were yesterday, giving the example of the famous Olympian pole vaulter Bubka, who set the world record when he was around 18,and then went on to beat his own record 35 times during the span of his career.He also quoted Sachin Tendulkar, the way he practiced in net to counter Shane Warne and blasted him out of attack. He also spoke about what you do, and emphasized on always thinking differently and creatively, stating that if a problem seemed like it couldn’t be solved, you were just not looking at it the right way. He continued to give tips and tricks to solving difficulties, and when the session came to an end, an hour after it began. Everyone was left enlightened but yet not unmindful of just how much effort and hardwork it takes to make your dreams come true.

The Director, My. Vyankatesh Prabhudesai, then conducted a short question and answer session, where Mr. Tambwekar answered all sorts of queries, speaking about creating opportunities, finding your true passion and never giving up on something that you believe in.

This was followed by another short session by Mr. Tambwekar and his wife Dr. Shubhangi who told us the story of their daughter who, at the height of her academic career had been killed in a road accident for no fault of her own( during her internship after M.D. in Medicine). They have gone on to start a movement, called the Arundhati Foundation, in her honour, and go all over the country raising awareness about road safety and how one careless move could leave someone else’s family broken. They explained how a few precautionary measures that could keep one safer, showing shocking statistics about the number of road accidents that took place in India everyday, claiming hundreds of lives annually. He explained a few techniques that if put into practice, could bring down those numbers exponentially. The Arundhati Foundation, continues to do an immense amount of work in trying to bring about a change in the system, trying to throw some light where ignorance and carelessness prevail.

The class signed a pledge promising to do their best to be safe and not compromise the safety of others. At the end of the session everyone was left deeply moved, and filled with a new fire to make the world a better, safer place.

– Prepared by Noah Martins ( Student of STD XI)