(Image Courtesy: Michael Marsland/Yale University)
We were detained at the airport as always. For one and a half hours. It was nice. It always happens when I come to America. Whenever I start feeling too arrogant about myself I take a trip to America.
(Image Courtesy: Michael Marsland/Yale University)
I have memories of being in Yale five years ago. It was December and so damn cold that while professing love to my leading lady and singing a Bollywood ditty, which went something like this - Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna - my mouth froze itself to death. I say death because as I inched closer to kiss her, mouthing the words Kabhi Alvida Na... my mouth and jaw just got locked.
So I am hoping my second outing to your wonderful university turns out differently because it would be highly embarrassing if I said "good evening Yaleites" or "Yalers" or whatever you guys are called, and got stuck at...yaaaaa....that wouldn't make for much of a speech.
(Image Courtesy: Michael Marsland/Yale University)
I read this lame joke on Google the other day (yes I pick everything up from Google, even the script of my next movie and I'm not ashamed of it - you can pick me up on Google too if you like!).
Anyway, the joke went like this - a dying man, gasping for breath, desperately gestured to the priest by his side for a piece of paper. With great effort, he then wrote a few words on it, handed it to the priest and passed away. The priest kept the paper in his pocket and forgot all about it until the final service. Here he suddenly recalled the dead man's last scribble. Unfolding the paper, he told the funereal congregation that he was about to read great words of inspiration to them. The piece of paper had these words on it - "You are standing on my oxygen tube...fool."
So I am not going to be the priest tonight. Instead, I will tell you simple experiences of my life's journey with simpler words, which may not leave you inspired, but will help you survive this life. And if you can do that - happiness, creativity and success will follow on its own - or maybe not but you will have to live this life nevertheless. Only I hope my words will give you enough insight so that you can tell the world, "hey guys you are standing on my oxygen tube...move over and let me breathe."
(Image Courtesy: Michael Marsland/Yale University)
The day my father died seemed longer than my entire childhood. The day I felt my first success seemed fleeting, hour-long, not long enough perhaps. I wondered where it went. Even the cycle of time confounds me. I work the dark until sunrise on most days and fall asleep as the world awakens to light. My friends call me an owl, I like to think of myself as a bat...Batman...the prince of darkness.
(Image Courtesy: Michael Marsland/Yale University)
As for my destination, I don't think I ever knew one. I walk, I run, in the direction of my dreams. Things change along the way, people change, I change, the world changes, even my dreams change. I don't have a place to arrive, I just keep doing what I know how to do the best that I can do it. I'll probably end up a deluded geriatric in a wheelchair wearing a cape and tights, imagining my own flight out of this world, but of course with a young girl in my arms.
(Image Courtesy: Michael Marsland/Yale University)
When you are in this place of despair, where the world is staring you down into yourself - there's only one thing you can do to survive - hang on to who you are inside. The world will be unkind to you, it will not be able to see you. You must learn at such times, to be able to see yourself.
(Image Courtesy: Michael Marsland/Yale University)
Life as a creative person is like being on a tight rope. I begin to lose myself, in my own melodrama. It's frustrating that I find myself living up to other people's interpretation of what I ought to be. And when faced with dissent, I start losing my love affair with my audience. It becomes a tight balance act, to keep doing what I do best and not be bothered by the reactions of people I do it for, in the first place.
(Image Courtesy: Michael Marsland/Yale University)
Do not try to feed your stomach with creativity; it is food for your soul, not your stomach. Do not be afraid to defy conventions. Do not be afraid to destroy systems that kill art and your souls. Do not be afraid to be hungry. Do not be afraid to walk alone if necessary. Because on a tightrope we all walk alone. Remember, if you are a creator you are a funambulist and not very many people know that word, let alone be it.
(Image Courtesy: Michael Marsland/Yale University)
I want you to understand this business of happiness well because I know at one level, all parents are the actually the same. Some look sterner, some are less fun, some are embarrassingly weird but for each parent the bottom and the top line of their lives is this - you kids are their greatest source of happiness. Parents want nothing in return, just that you respect that feeling, that's all.
Whatever you do, whichever mistake you make, however you react to them, your parents are your best friends. They might be boring, silly or stern at times. Maybe some of you are embarrassed of yours, I know my kids are of me, but if ever any of you are in trouble of any kind - the best friends you can always trust to watch your backs are your parents. They will always come good.
(Image Courtesy: Michael Marsland/Yale University)
I believe the true path to success is through the fear of failure. If you aren't scared enough of failing, you are unlikely to succeed. It's not pleasant to fail, it's tough. All of us experience it. You will too if you haven't already. Use it to succeed.
