Post by Michael (Mike) Cruz PCC-ICF

"You see my disability. I respond with my unbreakable spirit." — Sai Kaustuv Dashgupta I first heard Sai Kaustuv Dashgupta speak at the ICF National Conclave. His subject was happiness. We live in a time that sells the next shiny thing as the shortest route to it — a bigger title, a newer phone, one more upgrade. Sai spoke from his own life instead. The hall went quiet in the way a hall does when something true is being said. So when the IIMB Orators Club needed a keynote speaker for its installation, the choice made itself. My only doubt was whether he would say yes. He did more than that. He graciously waived his fee. He travelled over two hours to reach us. And he gave a speech that has stayed with everyone who was in that room. That evening he also shared his formula for happiness — the first time he had said it aloud on a stage. That connection deepened when Tony V Francis led a fireside chat with Sai after the keynote. The speech moved us. The conversation let us meet the man behind it. What I see in Sai, is the spirit William Ernest Henley named in his famous poem Invictus: Invictus Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. The head that stays unbowed under the bludgeonings of chance. He does not treat his condition as a limit. He treats his life as a gift and proof that anyone can make theirs an inspiration. The formula was never the point. The man was. Master of his fate, captain of his soul. The day had one more turn to give. On the way out, by sheer providence, we crossed paths with Raja Krishnamoorthy — inspirational speaker, leadership coach and more famous as an actor and director. A man whose work on screen I have long admired, and whose work with leaders and organizations is something I wanted to learn more about. Meeting him was something I had long wanted, and there he was. As Paulo Coelho wrote in The Alchemist, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. The best of it, though, was the circle we became for a while — my wife Glady and our son Joseph, Sai, Tony, Raja and good friend Sunil Koshy, standing together, in no hurry, simply talking. But that is a story for another time. Thank you, Sai — for the inspiration, and for your friendship. And yes, Sai — we see your unbreakable spirit and are inspired by it.