Countdown to countdown - Day 13

The great Sunday is here again, the day to do what you love doing.... yes nothing is also doing something! Dayala has reported sick bay, its 3 days and he continues to nurse the fever and a sore throat. Hopefully our man should be fit and fine today. He has another round of running around waiting for him.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

~Henry David Thoreau

Today let’s talk about self worth.  My motto has always been, “Be your own cheer leader” and I have done that. If you can’t cheer yourself, who can? If you can’t value yourself who will? Find the best friend in yourself and standby that person, no matter what! Spend some time with him, try to understand him. It’s your responsibility to make that person happy.

The confidence was always ingrained, it came from my parents as they valued us so much, they taught us what self worth really meant. I found that at an early age. Before even participating in an event I practised the winning speech. Even before embarking on Dream Live I have thought of the speech that we’d give in the interview. This might sound funny but that’s the vision we have and have been going along. Whether that happens or not we are prepared. The castle is built and now let’s put the foundation under it. We all can achieve that.

When, I first interacted with Bharadwaj Dayala he spoke in the same language and I connected with it.  I knew what he meant. He said that 100 days from 1^st March, he would start off on his second world tour. This is the castle and now building the foundation is on. I have noticed with a lot of Gemini, they think of the result first and work backwards. In fact I read the newspaper and magazines back to front, subconsciously. Even while reading a book, it’s the first few pages, a couple of them in the centre and then to the last page. If it interests may be read the whole book otherwise we are done. For Dayala, there was no plan, no money but the tour had to start on the 100^th day! Can there be a bigger example of self worth?  This is what is meant by being your own cheerleader and staying inspired.

I have conducted many soft skills training programmes for various groups of individuals, be it college students, hotel staff, bank employees, call center or the government staff dealing with customers. But what has remained etched in my memory is an elderly gentleman who worked as a porter at the Dadar Railway station, (in Maharashtra, India). As a part of the government’s Capacity building programme where training had to be provided to the people who worked in the service sector and dealt with tourists. These people had no formal training so this programme was an initiative by the government to help such individuals. It was a well structured programme the candidates attending the full day classes were given wage for the day and also a certificate validating and acknowledging their training. I used to conduct the soft skills training consisting of the basic conversation, for the porters on the weekends. Believe me, that experience made me continue working as a teacher. I was on a two years teaching assignment but I decided not to return back to the corporate world. 

The incident

I started by class at 9.30 am and it went on till 5.30 pm. There were about 40 of them in a batch. I found this gentleman to not even blink his eyes. He looked at me throughout, I couldn't read his thoughts; I was about 25 years old then, on my first teaching assignment. I was also learning, it made me a bit uneasy but I carried on. The class was very participative, it was a nice mixed group. I learnt a lot about their job. Then was the time for the distribution of certificates. My HOD was present at the function but he asked me to give away the certificates while he assisted by handing them to me. Then it was the turn of this elderly gentleman. He had tears in his eyes and he touched my feet. He said that he was glad to have been able to sit in a class and listen to Goddess Saraswati,  he did not go to any school, didn't know how it felt sitting in a classroom. It humbled me I too was reduced to tears. That face and that gesture I can never forget. It made me understand the role of a teacher and what self worth was all about. I am nowhere close to what he said but it was his greatness and I am thankful to him for inspiring me.

When you meet Dayala, he inspires people with his passion for the things that he loves doing. The bikers simply adore him.

Would love to hear your dream stories. A lot of us believe in the magic of that secret. 

Tell us your stories too and will share them with others, you never know when someone gets inspired and your story changes a life.

Follow #DreamLive to witness how dreams become reality. Bharadwaj Dayala, the first Indian to go around the world on a motorcycle, will show us how to live our own dreams by realising his dream of riding from Russia to South Africa in just 100 days from 1st March 2014,starting with nothing.  He'll then help 12 to 24 passionate bikers to live their dream of riding in a foreign country by getting sponsors for them.

DreamLive: Dare to dream and care to achieve it.

https://www.facebook.com/BJsDreamLive
@letsdreamlive