Why Nipun Mehta's commencement speech is making waves around the world

NIPUN MEHTA

Nipun Mehta has never applied for a job. He has also not worked for pay in nearly ten years. Nipun writes on his website, Inner Net, that he wants to live simply, love purely, and give fearlessly. His life, he says, is "an attempt to bring smiles in the world and silence in my heart".

Given his background, it may seem odd that Nipun was chosen to address the graduating class of 2012 at the University of Pennsylvania in May. But what he said was so inspiring that not only did he receive a standing ovation but his commencement speech also began making waves around the world.

The theme of Nipun's address was... the benefits of walking. "You are some of the world's most gifted, elite, and driven college graduates — and you are undeniably ready to fly," he told the students. "So what I’m about to say next may sound a bit crazy. I want to urge you, not to fly, but to — walk. Four years ago, you walked into this marvellous laboratory of higher learning. Today, heads held high, you walk to receive your diplomas.  Tomorrow, you will walk into a world of infinite possibilities."

And then Nipun elaborated on his theme by talking about the 1,000-kilometre walking pilgrimage through India's villages which he undertook with his wife Guri in 2005.

Nipun told the students that soon after he and Guri ended their pilgrimage, his uncle wanted to know what he had learned from his walk. "I didn't know where to begin," Nipun told the students.

But quite spontaneously, an acronym — W-A-L-K — came to mind, which encompassed the key lessons we had learned, and continue to relearn, even to this day. As you start the next phase of your journey, I want to share those nuggets with the hope that it might illuminate your path in some small way too.

Those nuggets are sure to illuminate our paths, too. Read Nipun Mehta's commencement speech in full here: "Paths are made by walking".

• Incidentally, Daily Good, the website that has published the transcript, is an unusual one because it features only good news from around the world. Surely, a site worth bookmarking.

• Inner Net is Nipun Mehta's website. Access it here.

• Also read: "Wisdom and inspiration from Neil Gaiman".

• Thank you, Gabrielle Gonsalvez, for sending us the link to Nipun Mehta's speech. 

“I can’t believe people like Nipun Mehta even exist”

POORVI KOTHARI

By Commitscion Poorvi Kothari (Class of 2014)

What amazing thoughts! I can’t believe people like Nipun Mehta even exist. His speech is truly inspirational.

We are all taught that life is a race and to win you have to make sure you are the fastest. Yes, in some ways that’s true but what about the other side? If you run all your life what is it that you have experienced? You have just “passed through” all the experiences without actually experiencing them.

I particularly liked a few lines from Mehta’s speech:

• "When the things around you are seen as gifts, they are no longer a means to an end; they are the means and the end."

• "When you come alive in this way, you'll realize that true generosity doesn’t start when you have something to give, but rather when there’s nothing in you that’s trying to take."

• "Which is to say, don't just go through life — grow through life. It will be easy and tempting for you to arrive at reflexive answers — but make it a point, instead, to acknowledge mystery and welcome rich questions ... questions that nudge you towards a greater understanding of this world and your place in it."

Thanks for this one, Sir!

Wisdom and inspiration from Neil Gaiman

He is the multi-talented, multi-award-winning author of brilliant works such as The Sandman and The Graveyard Book. He is also a hero to many young people. And that is why the commencement speech Neil Gaiman gave earlier this month at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia is drawing raves on the Web.

I watched the speech on YouTube this morning after receiving the link from Commitscion Natasha Rego (Class of 2014). She wrote she found it to be "beautifully inspiring". I agree, and I think you will, too.

YOU LEARN BY MAKING MISTAKES: NEIL GAIMAN

While there are many thoughtful and thought-provoking aspects to what Gaiman said, what I found striking was that he got his start as a journalist:

I wanted to write comics and novels and stories and films, so I became a journalist, because journalists are allowed to ask questions, and to simply go and find out how the world works, and besides, to do those things I needed to write and to write well, and I was being paid to learn how to write economically, crisply, sometimes under adverse conditions, and on time.

Gaiman also makes a lot of sense when he speaks about learning from failure:

The problems of failure are problems of discouragement, of hopelessness, of hunger. You want everything to happen and you want it now, and things go wrong. My first book — a piece of journalism I had done for the money, and which had already bought me an electric typewriter  from the advance — should have been a bestseller. It should have paid me a lot of money. If the publisher hadn't gone into involuntary liquidation between the first print run selling out and the second printing, and before any royalties could be paid, it would have done.

And I shrugged, and I still had my electric typewriter and enough money to pay the rent for a couple of months, and I decided that I would do my best in future not to write books just for the money. If you didn't get the money, then you didn't have anything. If I did work I was proud of, and I didn't get the money, at least I'd have the work.

Every now and again, I forget that rule, and whenever I do, the universe kicks me hard and reminds me.

To plug into Neil Gaiman's very original philosophy and to understand why what he said is such a hit, watch the full commencement address yourself here.

If you would rather read up on the six key points of Gaiman's address, go here.

• Also read: Neil Gaiman talks to the New York Times about his favourite books, his reading habits, and other book-related matters: By the Book.

• Neil Gaiman is not the only journalist who has gone on to do other things in the media. Read A marketing whiz and the lessons she learned from journalism to know why good journalists make good media professionals.

• Also read: "Want to be a journalist? Rejection is good for the soul (and other advice from a media veteran)" — An uplifting commencement address by CNN-IBN's Suhasini Haidar.