Go Kiss The World BA Summary

Go Kiss The World is an extract taken from the Welcome Address by Chief Operating Officer, MindTree Consulting, Mr.Subroto Bagchi. The address was delivered on 2nd July 2004 at the Indian Institute of Management, Banglore. Being a successful entrepreneur, Subroto Bagchi has become a business author and has written a book of the same name, directing his teachings to the whole world.

The speech delivered by Subroto Bagchi tells us his words of wisdom and the lessons taught to him by his parents. The lessons are directed at lighting the meaning of success and are related to the events from Bagchi’s life.

Lessons Taught By Subroto’s Father

Go Kiss The World BA Summary: Subroto’s father was a District Employment Officer in Koraput, Orissa, and Subroto was their fifth and the last child. Koraput was a district without electricity and water did not use to run through taps. There were no primary schools due to which Subroto’s schooling was done at home only. Subroto’s mother had come as a refugee from East Bengal and was raised by a widow.

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Subroto’s father used to get transferred every year. Therefore they had to move frequently and travel in the government provided jeep. There was no garage in his father’s office due to which the jeep used to stay at home always. His father never used the jeep to commute to the office and taught the same lesson to Subroto, telling him that it is an expensive resource given by the government. From this came Subroto’s first lesson, the lesson to never misuse public facilities.

Subroto and his brothers were also not allowed to call the jeep’s driver by his name and were always told to add the suffix “Dada” before his name. When Subroto grew up, he taught the same lesson to his daughters and they were supposed to call their driver “uncle“. Subroto used to cringe every time he used to hear other people disrespecting their drivers. This made up their second lesson, telling them always to respect their subordinates more than their seniors as it is more important to respect small people.

Subroto’s father had put the habit of reading the newspaper daily in Subroto. He and his brothers were supposed to read the newspaper aloud with the morning tea. Although Subroto did not understand much of what was written in the newspaper, he still contributes his good English to that habit. After reading the newspaper, he was taught to fold it correctly. Another lesson which his father taught him and his brothers was “You should leave your newspaper and your toilet the way you expect to find it.*”

In their childhood, Subroto and his brothers were always attracted by various property and radio advertisements in the newspaper, but their father always refused to buy them, telling them that they don’t need a radio because their family already have five (referring to the children). This made up another lesson, “not to measure personal success and sense of wellbeing through material possessions.“

Subroto Bagchi | Source

Lessons Taught by Subroto’s Mother

Go Kiss The World BA Summary: The houses which the government gave to the Bagchi family rarely had fences. Subroto along with his mother used to to make the fences with twigs and decorate the house with little plant seedlings. When other people asked Subroto’s mother that what’s the need to beautify a government house, she replied them that she has to create a bloom in a dessert and for that, she has to leave every place given to her more beautiful than what she had inherited. Subroto calls this his first lesson in success, “It is not what you create for yourself, it is what you leave behind that defines success.*.”

Subroto’s mother started developing cataract in her eyes when he was very small. That time his eldest brother has got a teaching job in Bhubaneswar University and was also preparing for civil services examination. It was decided that Subroto’s mother and he will move to Bhubaneswar too for the eldest brother’s cooking purposes. This was the first time that Subroto saw electricity in houses and water coming from taps. Subroto’s daily job there was to read the Oriya script newspaper from head-to-toe for his mother. While reading the newspaper, Subroto used to feel a sense of larger connectedness with the world that made up another lesson for him which meant to be connected with a larger world.

During that time, India was at war with Pakistan and Lal Bahadur Shastri’s words “Jai Jawan Jai Kissan“ sparked the country into unitedness. Subroto Bagchi felt the need to become a hero and dreamt of catching a terrorist to read his news on the newspaper’s first page. He decided to spend hours guarding the university’s water tank, imagining that a terrorist would come to poison it and he would be the one to catch him. His imagination became another lesson for him, a lesson that taught him that if he can imagine a future, he can create it and if he can create it, others will live it.

In the next few years, Subroto’s mother’s eyesight deteriorated. Therefore she went under operation and saw Subroto’s face for the first time. Subroto still pleases every time he remembers his mother’s words that praised him. Within few weeks of getting her vision back, Subroto’s mother developed corneal ulcer and became blind in both eyes. She lived 32 years with her blindness but never even complained once. When Subroto asked her what did she see with those blind eyes, his mother replied that she do not see darkness but only sees the light. Till 80 years of age, Subroto’s mother performed her morning yoga every day, cleaned her room and washed her clothes own too even after being blind. This way Subroto’s mother taught him another lesson – Succes is not to see the word but about seeing the light.

Subroto’s Father’s Death

Go Kiss The World BA Summary: As Subroto grew up, he got a job as a clerk in a government office, became a management trainee and finally settled with a job in IT industry for which he moved to the USA in 1992. During this time his father was living a retired life with his brother when he suffered third-degree burns and was admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi. Safdarjung Hospital was a poorly maintained place with untidiness and overworked nurses. Subroto had returned to see his father, one morning he realised that the blood bottle is empty and air could have entered his body. Therefore, Subroto asked the nurse to replace it but got the reply to do it himself by the tired, overworked nurse. When the nurse finally agreed to change it, Subroto was surprised to see the man who himself was on his deathbed was asking his nurse that why she hadn’t gone home yet. That day Subroto learned that there’s no limit to how much a person can concern for another person and the limit of inclusion he can create. Subroto’s father died the following day but left his principles behind.

According to Subroto’s father, success is the person’s ability to rise above his discomforts and not about creating material comforts.

Difference in Subroto’s Parents’ Ideology

Go Kiss The World BA Summary: Subroto’s father was the believer of British Raj and doubted the capability of post-Independence political parties to govern the country whereas Subroto’s mother believed the exact opposite. When she was young, she has garlanded Subhash Chandra Bose and had learned to spin khadi and using swords and daggers. Although Subroto’s parents had different ideologies but still they lived together, this taught Subroto another lesson that success is not the ability to create a dogmatic end state but a process of continuous thinking.

Subroto’s Mother’s Death

Subroto’s Mother died due to a paralytic stroke at the age of 82 in Bhubaneswar hospital. Subroto Bagchi had come from the USA to see her and remained in the hospital for two weeks. His mother was not getting better but was neither getting worse. Subroto eventually has to return to work and therefore, was leaving. He bowed down his head to kiss his mother’s face before leaving and in a paralytic state his mother replied him to not to kiss her but to kiss the world. The words “Go, Kiss the World” were said by Subroto’s mother to him on her deathbed. Subroto’s mother had come to India as a refugee and was raised by a widow, her husband’s salary was just Rs300, and she had lost her eyesight but still was telling the author to go, kiss the world.

The Epilogue of Subroto’s Speech

Go Kiss The World BA Summary: In the end, Subroto says that success to him is about the vision and the ability to rise above pain. It is about imagination, about sensitivity to small people, about building inclusion, about connectedness to the larger world, about personal tenacity. It is about giving back more to life and creating extraordinary success with ordinary lives.

Subroto Bagchi thanks the audience, wishes them luck, tells them, “Go, Kiss the World” and leaves.

Go Kiss The World BA Summary: Question and Answers

Q: Why do you think Subroto Bagchi’s children were not allowed to call their driver by his name?

A: “Go, Kiss the World” is a Welcome Address given to the IIM Banglore students by the famous entrepreneur Subroto Bagchi. In the speech, Subroto is telling the audience the principles taught to him by his parents, the lessons that define success and in his childhood, Subroto Bagchi and his brothers were not allowed to call their driver by his name due to one of the lessons taught to their father. The lesson which taught them to treat small people with more respect as according to their father, it is more important to respect your subordinates than your seniors.

Q: What was the state of Koraput as remembered by Bagchi?

A: As said by Subroto Bagchi in his speech, “Go, Kiss the World” which he delivered on 2nd July 2003 to the students of IIM, Banglore, Koraput was a district with no primary schools. There was no electricity in the whole district, and Bagchi had never seen a single fan running in it. The presence of water flowing in the taps was also not there. If put together, we can also conclude that Koraput was a very less developed town during Bagchi’s childhood.

Q: List three lessons taught to Bagchi by his father and three lessons taught to him by his mother.

As said by Subroto Bagchi in his speech, “Go, Kiss the World” which he delivered on 2nd July 2003 to the students of IIM, Banglore, his parents taught him various lessons due to which he became a successful person. Some of those lessons are:

• Not to misuse public facilities.
• To respect our subordinates more than seniors.
• To not to measure personal success and state of wellbeing through material possessions.

These lessons were taught to Bagchi by his father.

• Success is not about what you create for yourself but about what you leave behind.
• Success is about a sense of larger connectedness with the world.
• Success is not about seeing the world but it is about seeing the light.

These are some lessons taught to Subroto Bagchi by his mother.

Q: What do you think the last words of Subroto Bagchi’s mother, “Go, Kiss the World” mean?

A: “Go, Kiss the World” is a welcome address delivered by Chief Operating Officer, MindTree Consulting to the students of IIM, Banglore, 2nd July 2003. The last words of Subroto Bagchi’s mother, “Go, Kiss the World” are said to Bagchi and are telling him to stay connected to a larger world existence and live his life instead of being sad for his mother. This is also what Bagchi’s father and mother taught him when he was a child and has helped in becoming what he is today.

*actual words said by Subroto Bagchi in his speech.

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