Evening With Anupam Kher

On the second day of the NASSCOM HR Conference, the last session belonged to Anupam Kher, who regaled the audience with a very interactive talk on his life and times. He shared some beautiful stories from his life... how his father once took him to a party when he failed his 10th (yes, I am sure it was just a story to make a point, but it was a wonderful way to make a point!), and when Anupam asked him why celebrate when he had failed, his father said, because I never want you to have the fear of failing! What a wonderful way to parent!

When asked what kept him going for his dreams in his early days, he said, when you are young and poor, you are not exposed to the intellectual nonsense that you have to be depressed! And when you want to be happy, nothing can go wrong. After all, even a broken watch is right twice a day!

When I was young, and my hair was receding, I knew it was nothing to be ashamed of, he said. After all, there are only two kinds of men - baldies and future baldies :)

Sadly, when he was just coming into his element, a NASSCOM organizer walked up to him and handed him a note - which he read out aloud to the crowd in extreme irritation. "Some of us have to catch a flight, so please wrap up", the note said. Even though the crowd pleaded with him to continue, he stopped - although he obliged by taking dozens of questions from the audience.