The Moment is Now…


Today I encountered the moment of glory. What else could it be a 12 year old kid living inside a 26 year old banking professional? For 14 years the kid has been dreaming to see SRK in real flesh and the notice (read invite as it sounds more respectful) given was only an hour. Yes its me and my dream came true today evening, though the quest is still on..

I met my Boss around 2:00 pm and got to know that he was going to meet SRK in the evening. Struck by fascination, I told him that you have a long way to go. At that moment I didn’t know that my Boss PKS (Mr. Prashant Kumar Singh) who is as big a star as SRK was making a way for us to live that moment of glory. At 3:30 pm I got an SMS from him asking me to reach Taj Palace by 4:30 PM to attend a session with SRK, as per my convenience. Convenience?? To have a glimpse of the superstar I can walk any miles, though it was just about an hour drive and I reached bang on time. As soon as I entered the hall, I found my colleagues in equal enthusiasm or rather excitement. It was getting difficult to hold my breath as the clock was ticking. At pass of every individual, it felt as if it was he. And finally the superstar made an entry after an enthralling introduction of him by our NRI Business Head Mr. Khandelwal.

SRK was in front of us and it was unbelievable. Clad in a torn jeans, black V neck tee-shirt (his fav color & style) and a Dolce & Gabbana shiny royal blue jacket, he looked amazing, astonishing and extremely handsome. As he sat down and took the mic to address the gathering of all bankers, our hands got more active than our ears with camera mobile phones ready to capture the moment. Initially I struggled to click some of his pics in fear of not getting a chance later but in a short while I realized that the man was making a lot of sense in his monologue and it was worth listening to him, rather than keeping my mind occupied with the click job.

We all know about SRK.. His life, his struggle, his style of working, his hardwork, his humility, his sense of humour, his fan following etc etc. So what was it that the superstar had to say today? A lot! And those were really the words of wisdom. I am sure I would miss out a few of them but let me give my earnest try:

Fear of Failure: It is as important as the desire to win. You win because you have a fear of failure. You don’t want to see the ramification of failure happening to you. It’s the situation that you dread that keeps you working in the right direction to achieve you objective. For me right now, it’s the trepidation of the forthcoming October 6 review.

While is important to win, acceptance of loosing/failure is equally important: Although I am a die hard SRK fan and a banker with good number crunching skills, but only today I came to know that SRK has acted in seventy odd films and out of which only twenty have been hits and the rest fifty have been unsuccessful (if not flops). He says its difficult to accept failure (difficult to see knight riders loosing every time) but if you don’t agree to yourself that you’ve failed, you would not be able to get a learning out of it which would eventually lead to success. He supported his statement by giving a wonderful example of a banker who was once asked what the secret behind his success is and the gentleman answered “right decisions”. And what gives you the acumen to make right decisions and he answered “Experience”. And what is it that gives you experience and the answer was “wrong decisions”.

The moment is now: Among many other things, the best was living for the moment. While it is critical to plan for future, but the life exists in present. No matter what, end of the day its today that we live in. Neither can we fast forward ourselves to future nor can we go back to past. If I live for the moment, I enjoy its entirety, I focus well on the task given, and I learn better and quickly and put concentrated efforts.

While writing this I do not know whether I am living in this moment or the moment of meeting The Khan, but this is absolutely certain that I am enjoying this post entirely, writing with sharp focus, trying to memorize and imbibe as many things as possible and looking beyond the possible.

I had never thought of meeting Mr. Khan as it happened today and it was truly unimaginable, all thanks to my employer ICICI Bank, but the quest to meet him is still ON as the dream is only half realized. About the other half I would write only after it comes true.

As for the photograph, there is special gift for the person who can identify my inset. I can assure you that I am there.