e-Paper
V.K. SANTOSH KUMAR
Like the Japanese word ikigai which means reason for being, 25 Indian teenagers found their calling thanks to the Singapore Airlines (SIA) scholarship they received for studying engineering and science at the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University.
Currently following successful careers in dance, filmmaking, entrepreneurship, mountaineering, philanthropy, research and even spiritualism, their stories of how they found their ikigai are narrated in the book You Know the Glory, Not the Story: 25 Journeys Towards Ikigai, which was launched by noted Indian motivational speaker Shiv Khera on Oct 9.
"This is a book of dreams: how starry-eyed teenagers left their homeland and sailed across the seas to pursue their dreams in a foreign land," noted India's High Commissioner to Singapore Periasamy Kumaran in the foreword.
"Exemplifying India's talented and ambitious youth spawned by the post-liberalisation era, (they) came to (Singapore) on a full scholarship extended by Singapore's Ministry of Education. Today, such millennials, apart from being the living bridge in our (Singapore and India's) deep and wide friendship, also help to create a wide economic and social impact."
Published by World Scientific, the 400-page book, written by SIA scholarship beneficiaries Rahul Singh and Naresh Agarwal, documents 25 lovely Ikigai journeys of grit, perseverance and resilience.
"Between 1993 and 2012, about 60 Indian students came to study at NUS and NTU under full scholarship," said Mr Singh, a bank employee and community builder. "In all there are about 1,000 scholars who benefited from the programme. We selected the very best.
"Our aim was not just to document the stories but also have the book serve as a motivation for people between the ages of 15 and 35. From dancer to painter to world traveller to professor to entrepreneur, the book has something for everyone.
"The idea is that the reader will be able to identify with at least one of these stories and find his own Ikigai."
Mr Agarwal is an associate professor and director of information science and technology concentration at Simmons University in Boston, United States.
The book narrates the stories of Indian scholars such as Vishrut Jain, who embarked on a career in consulting, financial services, arts and digital transformation and co-founded Kanya, a charity that adopted 18 poor girls and ensured holistic nutrition, healthcare and education for them; Pranoti Nagarkar-Israni, the inventor of Rotimatic, the world's first fully-automatic roti-making robot; and Anoj Viswanathan, who in 2010 co-founded Milaap, India's largest crowdfunding platform that has raised Rs12 billion ($220 million) for around 290,000 causes.
"I am not even sure of the kind of person I would have been had I not got the scholarship and stayed back in India," said Ms Aarti Kumar, who is a social entrepreneur from Lucknow.
"NTU allowed me the space to experiment with myself, my personality and my life choices in a way where there were no expectations from anyone. There was no judgement. It was an entry point into the lab of my life."
The SIA scholarships have ceased. But it ignited the "fire within" in many Indian youngsters. "While writing the book, I realised Ikigai is not one thing but a spectrum," said Mr Singh. "When going inside Sudhanshu Ahuja, it makes an entrepreneur out of him. Similarly, when inside Karthik Natrajan, it makes him an academician and Sussan De a dancer."
You Know the Glory, Not the Story: 25 Journeys Towards Ikigai is available for purchase (except in India) via https://www.worldscientific.com/world scibooks/10.1142/12103 and https://www.amazon.com/ You-Know-Glory-Not-Story/dp/ 9811230439. Price: $46 (in Singapore).
A paperback edition by a different publisher is available in India under the title Engineering to Ikigai. Price: Rs325.
