"I collect role models just like people collect stamps": Athul Krishna A from XLRI Jamshedpur

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Some people collect stamps. I collect role models. Role models are people you aspire to be, people whose thoughts, actions and lives inspire you to be better, to live a fuller life. Over time, I have had several such people. They are varied and from widely different backgrounds - family members, friends, public figures, kind-hearted strangers - all had some quality that I could aspire to achieve. Some I knew personally - my mother and father, the friend in school who made sure every classmate had something to eat for lunch, the professor who treated us like her own child. 

There are some whom I have but caught a glimpse of fleetingly - the driver who got out of his car and helped an ambulance stuck in a traffic jam traverse through it, the fishermen who risked their lives during the Kerala floods of 2018 to save a fellow human, the Bravehearts who stood up against institutional injustice and oppressions. And then there are the people I know from other sources - by stories and history lessons, biographies and documentaries. Let me take this opportunity to mention a few from the last category.

The Father of the Nation

First and foremost, I would like to mention the father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi. All of us are extensively familiar with Gandhi; we all grew up listening to some story or another about him. I was already a fan of the man, who Winston Churchill once described as the "half-naked fakir", who brought down the Empire upon which the sun would not set to its knees with no weapon stronger than non-violence and the iron will of a new nation. 

But it was when I read his autobiography, "My Experiments with Truth", that my respect for him truly exploded. Here was a global icon, a legend, and a man revered by millions, if not billions, even at the time he was writing the autobiography. And yet the frankness and almost painful truthfulness with which he goes about this task, never once even attempting to show himself in a better light, always self-critical and seeking the truth - it was a lesson in consciousness. 

Although some of his actions and thoughts expressed in the book are controversial, in the end, you can't help but get awed by this frail man who only sought to explain what truth is and to help his fellow countrymen have a better life. The man who won us independence went on to state that India will only ever be truly independent when there is no poverty, and not one of our countrymen will have to go to bed hungry. Such was the grandeur of his vision for India. Gandhi and his life ("My life is my message", as he famously said) were instrumental in shaping my core moral and spiritual values. He has established within me the reality of what India is and what India could be.

The Nation Builders

While Gandhi was the father of the nation, my next two role models are nation builders - Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and Dr Verghese Kurian. I came to know about both of these great personalities through their biographies - Wings of Fire and I too had a Dream. While India's missile man helped build the confidence of a young nation in technological capabilities, the father of the white revolution helped India realise the power within herself. APJ Abdul Kalam taught me about humility - about remaining humble, grateful and grounded even if you are flying among the stars. Verghese Kurian taught me about the importance of standing up for and defending what you believe in. 

Both taught me the importance of perseverance, of setting goals and striving to achieve them regardless of the obstacles that may come your way. They also showed me, through their own life and experiences, how a good leader could transform an organisation and a nation, and bring a lasting change for the betterment of all of humanity. My decision to take up a course in MBA was on a major part inspired by these two icons.

The Neurosurgeon 

The fourth and last person in my list of role models here is an outlier from the above three. Paul Kalanithi was an American born neurosurgeon with Indian roots, a father and a husband who, alas, was visited by the crab of cancer and taken from us at the young age of 37. I came to know him through the memoir he wrote in his last days - When Breath becomes Air. Paul's words have a striking effect, almost poetic in his prose, and that which is left unsaid has an almost equal impact as that which is said in his book. 

Paul taught me, in part, about what it means to be alive. Through his life, both before and after he was diagnosed with cancer, he showed me about the importance of hard work, or rather, he showed me the moral responsibility that each one of us has to excel in the fields we chose for ourselves. His life may have come to an end way too soon, but he will leave an indelible and lasting effect on those who read his work.

This article was submitted as an entry to Become an Author 2.0 with Dare2Compete.