Career Chat @ K Square

At yesterday's career discussion, the keynote speaker Sufi Mizanur Rahman shared numerous life secrets. He began as a bank officer on a monthly salary of 100 taka and reached his present position entirely through his own efforts. He now pays six crore taka in taxes every month. Watching his resolute speech, his radiance, his work ethic, it's hard to believe this man is seventy-three. He sings beautifully too. The spark he tried to ignite among all of us last evening is undoubtedly worthy of praise. Some words are worth etching in memory. Let me share one. How much more you work compared to others will determine how much further you go than them. If you do only as much as required in your job, you'll receive only as much as you're supposed to get from that job. Even at his age, he works twenty hours a day. He calls his own life secrets 'tablets' for growing great. Yesterday, he gave us many such tablets through his stories.
What he didn't give—perhaps because he's never consciously thought about it, it being so innate to him—is speaking to people with profound respect. Despite being such a great man, he speaks to everyone with deep reverence. Trees bow under the weight of their fruit. A.R. Rahman has said: "To succeed in any endeavor, we must first learn to be humble." Words from a great soul. We must listen to great souls. We must wait centuries for an A.R. Rahman. So when such people speak, we must heed them—for our own sake. Could you or I, even with decades of practice, create one of his compositions? You might ask, what's the need? Why must we? I ask: what have you or I done that brings joy to humanity? What loss would the world have suffered if we had never been born? Respecting another increases our own respect. I never saw my father mistreat anyone. He says, "If you mistreat someone, you'll never know what you're losing in life because of that mistreatment. Never cause anyone pain." Imagine you mistreat someone. Later, you need help with some task. That person happens to know the one you mistreated. If they speak ill of you, you might not get that help. We must say 'no' to people with a smile.
Here's another: never interrupt someone mid-sentence. Life isn't a talk show. Just as your speaking is important, another person's speaking is equally important. Especially when you're seeking someone's help, you must let them say things that won't benefit you, but if you don't allow them to speak, their desire to help you will diminish, if not disappear entirely. The rule for seeking help is remembering that no one is obligated to help you. Like yesterday, when Sufi Mizanur Rahman spoke of sending his ailing wife alone to Bangkok for treatment while he came here to spread light among us, purely from goodwill and duty—you or I might think, "His wife is ill, what's that to me? That lady means nothing to me. Why should I listen to such talk?" Suppose I had stopped him and moved to what I needed to discuss.

Just think about it — if I don't honor his feelings, why would he speak on my behalf? What obligation does he have? Many people succeed in this world, but how many do you see sharing the secrets of their success? Let me speak of my own situation. Just a few days ago, my father suffered a stroke. Anyone who has lived through it knows how it feels when your parents fall ill. It doesn't hurt as much when you yourself are sick. I left my ailing father to come to the career discussion — driven solely by an urge to inspire people. Everyone had taken such trouble to come hear me speak; how could I not show up? Daud Sir had especially asked me to come. What would have happened if I hadn't? What would it have mattered to Sufi Mizanur Rahman if he hadn't come to yesterday's career discussion? The person who has brought me to where I am today, the person whose very existence makes me want to spread light among everyone — if speaking about him for a minute or two deeply irritates you, if you feel it's a waste of time, if you think I'm speaking irrelevantly, then I would humbly ask you: please don't come anywhere near me. I have no obligation to help someone who won't respect my emotions. If you were trying to help someone selflessly and they behaved this way with you, can you imagine how hurt you'd feel? The wisdom in seeking help from someone lies not in getting what you need, but in letting them say what they love to talk about. I can bet that you'll receive far more than the help you're seeking. Wait, be patient — you'll surely get what you're looking for.
I listened to Ayan and Nixon. They always speak well. Yesterday was Ayan's birthday. I requested everyone to say together: Happy Birthday! Everyone did. We all cut the cake together. Such a heartwarming scene! It feels so much better when you can make someone happy. People are most honored at three times in life — on their birthday, their wedding day, and the day they die. (If someone thinks, "It's his birthday, what's it to me? How will this help me with BCS?" then I fold my hands and request: please don't come to the career discussions. I teach people here to dream, to respect their own and others' emotions, to change perspectives. Creating BCS cadres is not my purpose.) Nixon spoke about how my words led his brother-in-law to decide he would engage his English-medium educated child in serving the country. Earlier, the gentleman had intended to send his son abroad after completing A-levels. The gentleman works in our department; I had the opportunity to take a class for them at the training academy. There's no need to elaborate on Abu Daud Sir. Seeing him reminds me of Leo Tolstoy's profound question — What do men live by? I would request Sir to always remain by my side like this. We have many obligations to this society, to people, to our country. We may live only briefly — that's no problem. But as long as we live, we won't live alone. We'll teach everyone to live, and live together with everyone. Thanks also to sister-in-law for standing by us and giving us courage. Thanks to Shamina Madam for always extending a helping hand. The Rotary Club of Khulshi has once again made us grateful by organizing this event. This time, Finlay Property and TK Group have joined us. Thanks to them.
A flock of young dreamers, eyes bright with vision, helped in every way to make this event successful. Yesterday's news has appeared in many media outlets today. My thanks to them.
Yesterday's gathering wasn't really a conversation with me, though I spoke—albeit briefly. In other sessions I usually speak for 5-6 hours; yesterday I managed barely three-quarters of an hour. I don't know how much I was able to give. When the heart is heavy with sorrow, one cannot give much. I took many photographs with everyone, most of them showing me posing with a wan expression. Please forgive this failing of mine and pray for my father. If I am ever able to give you even the smallest thing, I ask this of you—please pray for my parents. I believe with all my heart that human prayers matter. From the depths of my soul I pray to God: "O Lord! Give some years from my life to my parents." Please pray for my younger brother too. The poor soul has to manage everything at home all by himself. Yesterday evening I reacted to something in a way that was inappropriate. I was wrong. I've been tormented by this since then. If anyone was hurt by anything I said, please forgive me. I am ashamed and repentant.