“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
"That's your father's school," grandma said, pointing, as we gazed at the decrepit building in the village. Sitting on black stone steps to the school, I imagined my dad's tiny bare feet climbing them years back.
She told stories of how dad would finish all his books during vacations, how he taught himself English when school didn't. And I thought – wow, dad really liked studying! Forcing myself to study, teenager-me continued to dismiss him as a nerd. He was just so obsessed with education.
Of course, I was fortunate that he was – he became the first engineer from his village, educated his daughters rather than marrying them off, guided his brothers, supported his family. I wondered how his life would have been had he not studied – how my life would have been.
Power of education dawned on me at HBS as my mind opened up to new ideas. Entrepreneurship, business solving institutional failures, innovation – mere business buzzwords, or was my education showing me ways to the world I wanted to see?
Inequality, women disempowerment, corruption, failing democracy – every challenge that my world faces, my brain's algorithm reduces the solution to education. I know it's over-simplified, but I don't care. I guess I am the one obsessed with education this time.
In my country, nine out of ten children don't complete school.
I will open schools. I will educate India. I will hold as many hands and get as many kids to school as I can.
After all, all that it takes is two tiny bare feet climbing on stone steps to a school.
— Vibha Kaushik