By Our Special Correspondent
SHILLONG: Chetan Bhagat, author of the book, Five Point Someone which later became the theme for the hit movie – Three Idiots, shared his idea of success with an enlightened audience of mainly young people, at the Aurobindo Institute for Indian Culture on Wednesday.
Bhagat was addressing audience at the CALM Festival.
A cool and composed Bhagat paced the stage and posed a few questions for the audience. He then made a power point presentation on what constitutes success and the motivation required to find success. Bhagat said most people fail because they use wrong motivation methods which he attributes to traits inherited from our primordial animal instincts. “98% of our DNA links us to chimpanzees and we continue to act out our animal nature,” the noted author illustrated.
In an easy conversational style Bhagat candidly shared with the audience how his first book was rejected on different grounds by some of the leading publishers. Finally Rupa Publications which was the tenth publisher he approached agreed to publish Five Point Someone. The book sold 13 lakh copies and the rest is history.
“I am not the best writer but my books sell so much,” Bhagat told the audience.
Talking about motivation, Chetan Bhagat said most people know the answers to life’s problems but what they lack is motivation. “My idea of success is to reach as many Indians as possible including those in rural India. How I do that? I don’t know but I have to reach the rural masses to be able to bring change,” Bhagat said.
Bhagat’s mantra for success is (a) Setting clear goals (b) Knowing the reasons behind the goal/goals (c) Finding the group (d) Detailed action plan (e) Setback dealing mechanism (f) Faith. He exhorted the audience to be specific and definite about the goal once they have identified it and to set a specific timeline within which to achieve the goal. About finding the group, Bhagat said a group can act as a constant motivator but the effort was be that of the self. At the question-answer session, six-year-old Jayvardhan Goyal asked Bhagat, “Why is success so important?” Bhagat was clearly floored by the question. A twelve-year -old girl asked him if his years at IIT and IIM were wasted. Bhagat’s answer was witty. He said he got a book out of the first and a wife out of the second.
Funnily, Bhagat who had earlier confessed to be a people’s person, walked out immediately after his talk and did not spend even a moment to interact with anyone.
“Shillong has been host to several national and international celebrities but no one has ever left so hurriedly. Bhagat looks like he is afraid of being mobbed. We don’t mob people here,” remarked a member of the audience.