Another Tree Story

Words of encouragement. Uplifting, belief giving words. They cost nothing, but can change lives for the better.

I have shared my story hundreds of times with audiences of all types and sizes. I have talked about people who have showered me with great, empowering words that contributed to my success in life- my parents, my wife, my sisters, a couple of high school teachers,  and business leaders who came into my life in my mid twenties. However, I have failed to acknowledge a few of them that came into my life, primarily during my college years. In this post, I want to talk about one such person.

In an earlier post, Lessons from a Mango Tree,  I talked about my spectacular failure in a singing contest. Despite the encouraging lesson I learned through that, I became a reluctant performer. While I would sing in class during free periods, I shied away from auditions and competition. I suppressed my strong desire to pour my talent and heart out on stage.

And then I met Tree in undergraduate school (REC Trichy, now NIT). There were a couple of Srirams in college, and because of his towering height and persona, he was christened Treeram (Tree for short).

I remember distinctly the day before my first college audition, we met in a hostel (dorm) room. Tree had one foot on a chair, his guitar cradled between his thigh and left hand, and strummed along when I sang Yeh Kya Hua, from an epic Hindi film Amar Prem. 

In his characteristic, dismissive manner, he basically declared that I was a fantastic singer and seemed to nonchalantly imply  that together, we were going to conquer the world. His belief empowered me.

If you consider undergraduate college in India as a world of its own, our music team, with the help of other talented musicians like Deepak Swami and Saraswathi, did conquer it. Mental pictures of our music rehearsal sessions and bus trips to Coimbatore, Chennai, Dalmiapuram, Tanjore etc completely dwarf any classroom memories. We won many trophies and awards, and I won “Best Male Vocalist” more often than not. I also won “Best Actor” in skit competitions more than once.

Tree was a towering influence in my life at the time. Our years in college were filled with stage performances, ranging from  Hindi to Tamil to Western, and some crazy skits and acts. Today he lives in the Bay area in California with his wife and three kids, a Silicon Valley success story.

I realize now that much of my confidence in public speaking has its roots in those formative years in college.

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If you have a talent, express it boldly. Find someone who will encourage you and stay away from the naysayers. Do not let temporary setbacks set you back permanently.

Everyone needs someone to encourage them. If there is a dearth of uplifting words around you, I recommend two things  (1) Find a way to deliberately surround yourself with great words – through association, and audio visual aids like  empowering CDs, streaming audio,video & books and (2) Remember Gandhi’s quote “Be the change you want to see in the world“. Make it a habit to be a good-finder and make it a habit to uplift and encourage all around you.