Early morning messages wishing me on this Guru Purnima got me thinking. Who are my Gurus ? I am learning everday, from everyone around me.

I had the opportunity to yesterday visit a tribal school in a remote village near Mumbai, and saw an adivasi school girl address the audience extempore, she spoke of her dream to come back one day as the Principal of the school ! There was so much to learn from the struggles of these children. Listening to stand-up comedians on the weekend, I heard about vlogs and made my first one on Sunday. These are people who have taught me something, without meaning to, in one interaction. I have colleagues and bosses who I have worked with for years, learning and unlearning many times in my interaction with each of them. And then there are friends and family with whom I share a personal relationship, where conversation is not seemingly about growth or self-development, but in every setting, I am learning from them. Spent 2 weeks recently with 3 young boys (11 – 14) on a Tanzanian safari, and learnt so much from them, through the games we played and the conversations we had.

As I have got older, I have realised that my learning is not specifically based on the olden days of a traditional guru – shishya model. I am not learning from one person or even in one forum. I learnt a lot from several people in school, college and the early years of my career. But I have had to unlearn, discard, relegate some of those learnings over time. Does that make those people less of a Guru today.

The world I live in is changing rapidly, and that is forcing me to evolve faster than I assumed I would ever have to. Becoming a dinosaur in today’s world is a real risk. And this makes the imperative to learn, unlearn, relearn constantly so much greater for me.

In such an enviroment, I believe every human interaction has the power to be a learning moment for me. I am thus a shishya, all the time. To all those around me, who touch my life, I say thankyou for giving me the opportunity to learn from you. Each of you, are a Guru to me, in some way. 🙏