Fauja Singh runs a marathon at an age when others struggle to walk 100 yards. Inspired by his feat, Amit Trivedi draws lessons for IFAs
In June 2009, SEBI issued a circular that changed the face of financial intermediation in India. With effect from August 1, 2009 mutual funds in India became no-entry load products. We understood this as a major change and started conducting various programs for the IFAs.
Naturally, emotions were running high during these programs. Many senior IFAs - both in terms of age and experience, were outraged. Their arguments were: How can one force me to change at this age? At 50 years, I am too old to make a fresh beginning.
In the emotional burst, there was no place for a counter-argument or for that matter any other argument.
Fast forward to 2011. October 16, 2011 saw one of the greatest examples of a man defying age. Fauja Singh, of Indian Sikh origin ran a full marathon, the first centenarian to do so. He took to serious running at, hold your breath, 89. He seemed to be mocking at his age. I immediately remembered the remark of our IFA friend made in 2009, “At 50 years, I am too old to make a fresh beginning.” Fauja Singh would have asked, “What has age got to do with it?”
There cannot be a better example of strong will. One wonders what motivation he would have to make a fresh beginning at 89. What would he be looking forward to? What benchmark will someone of that age consider? As one of the news items reported, “At that age, people talk of walking 100 yards, not running a marathon.”
Running a marathon is a very difficult activity even for healthy youngsters. Fauja Singh’s feat should be remembered by all of us that age is just a number and it cannot be a reason for starting something new.
Change, as they say, is the only constant. However, those who make change happen are among the happiest people in the world.
History is replete with many examples. Change happens and often it appears to happen suddenly. Yes, you read it correctly; it appears to happen suddenly. We are often blinded by our own optimism or overconfidence that nothing can go wrong with us.
A bluechip company of yesteryears, Kodak missed the digital revolution and invested further in the camera film technology. Other companies benefited as Kodak missed out on the convergence of digital technologies with cameras being now bundled with mobile phones.
It is important for businesses to keep watching around. Sometimes the players change, sometimes the rules of the game change, sometimes the ground changes, sometimes the game itself changes.
Change is the only constant. Enjoy the change, participate in it and benefit from it. Make a new beginning. As Fauja Singh showed, age has nothing to do with it.
It is not the strongest of the species that survive or the most intelligent but the one most responsive to change
Charles Darwin 1809-1882, English biologist and father of the evolution theory
Wish you a wonderful future ahead.
The author runs Karmayog Knowledge Academy. The views expressed are his personal views. He can be reached at amit@karmayog-knowledge.com