I thought I had failed at Ashoka because I wasn’t able to deliver what I had set out to do. It wasn’t to create sporting infrastructure alone. That any project manager, along with any vendor can.
I wanted sports, exercise and fitness to become a way (part) of life. I wanted it to integrate with education, to hold the students in good stead throughout their lives, to be able to survive and thrive when thrown in the wild or deep sea, and to make them connect with themselves and become better human beings. And spread it.
The view from the department (room at that time) of Sports-Exercise at Ashoka University in 2015.
About a month back I received a WhatsApp message from Abhinay wanting to catch up. We couldn’t then, but I showed keenness to meet too, so he followed up and we met up last Sunday. As a bonus Akshay joined in too.
And it was wonderful to see how successful they’ve become in life, and I’m not talking about the money they are making. Sadly, most take forever (if at all) to understand & appreciate that money is important but you can’t become slaves to it. I’m extremely happy for both of them.
They both thanked me for the role I played because of me having introduced chess & the sports team (Sonam) encouraged participation in tournaments. Abhinay was reintroduced to chess after more than a decade. They both got their rankings courtesy the tournaments. Even though they ran before, the running culture that was created helped them make it an integral part of their lives.
Abhinay wants his kids to pick up both chess & running for life too. He also runs an organization which has trained about 2,000 people around the world. And this is not even his job. For Akshay, Chess & Running are important, but he also plays football on a regular basis.
I would have liked to have impacted 90+ percent of the student body. I would have liked the whole faculty to be on board appreciating that education just isn’t about the mind and the founders that the only role of institutions isn’t to get jobs for the students but to make them great human beings.
Of course, a Maverick like me was trusted with the job that I wasn’t qualified to do. I’m no PE teacher. But in my head my job wasn’t limited to that. My running buddy, Jonathan Gil Harris, and Vineet Gupta thought of me as the missing piece. And I got some faculty on board what I was attempting to do. Anu Prasad & Choubay sir were most helpful too.
As I shared with Akshay and Abhinay, I crib a lot in closed circles about what Ashoka could have been because I care, because it’ll always be family. I had joined there to make a massive difference in the lives of all the students who ever graduated from Ashoka.
I wish I had succeeded in creating that culture. But meeting Akshay and Abhinay made me realize that we, the founding team (Sonam & Kishan) of the department of Sports & Exercise at Ashoka University did do something right.
That ripple effect will still be on long after we are gone.