Chairman emeritus of Tata Sons Ratan Tata has called upon youngsters not to lose hope when they face failure. He has advised them to pursue their efforts by looking at the brighter side of the issue.
He was addressing a huge gathering of students from 10 districts of northwest Karnataka who are keen on addressing problems in their surroundings. They had gathered at BVB College of Engineering and Technology for the third Yuva Summit organised by Deshpande Foundation. The event was part of Leaders Accelerating Development (LEAD) programme of the foundation.
At an interactive session Mr. Tata asked the youth to be optimistic. “Look at the brighter side of the issue, look for opportunities; look for the door, window or even a hole in the wall that you are facing.”
He asked them to continue doing the good work they were doing. “One thing that you should keep asking is that whether you are making any difference, whether you are making any benefit to society,” he said.
He said he was amazed by the kind of work being done by the youth, and added that he had great respect for them. The industry, however, was still focussing on marks cards and institutions from where the students pass out rather than looking at what they had actually done for society.
Apart from Mr. Tata, scientist Raghunath Mashelkar, founder of Infosys N.R. Narayana Murthy and chairperson of Infosys Foundation Sudha Murty spoke about their childhood and their upbringing, at the event moderator by co-founder of the foundation Gururaj Desh Deshpande.
To a query, Ms. Murty advised girls to realise their potential. Women could do a lot of things which men couldn’t, she said.
Mr. Murthy asked the youngsters not to be arrogant. “If you lose humility, you will lose the chance to learn from others,” he said.
Mr. Mashelkar said it would not be difficult for India to progress if everyone started thinking about the nation and worked for making the country a better place.
