Against All Odds: Benny Prasad (Full Transcript)

Full text of musician Benny Prasad’s talk titled ‘Against All Odds’ at TEDxIISUniversity conference.

Notable quote from this talk:

“There is so much to life than just a sheet of marks card. There’s so much to life than just money.”

Listen to the MP3 Audio here:

TRANSCRIPT:

Benny Prasad – Gospel musician and instrumental guitarist

Now you can start the clock please, and is there a clock anywhere, so we have to go by faith, not by sight here. Okay. Normally we get to see the clock, and it’s going to be interesting to keep.

Morning everyone. Come on, I got up at 4:00 in the morning to come here. Good morning everyone. It’s a joy to be here this morning, and I want to thank all the organizers for giving me this amazing privilege to finally come to Jaipur.

It took me after traveling to 257 countries to come and step here for the first time in my life. And it’s a short visit, but I hope to come back with my wife.

And I’m amazed every time I get an opportunity to speak at events like this is… what has gone wrong in our country? You know, this is the irony of our Indian educational system. My wife and myself… my wife is from Nagaland, and I’m from Bangalore; we both are educationally compatible, because my wife is nine-standard appeared, and I am 10-standard failed.

And could not really do well, even though my father was an amazing… he was an amazing scientist, who was an aerospace scientist actually, and being the first-born in the family, I was expected to become like him.

Now how can you medically prove that every firstborn son in the family will have the same brains like the father, with the same ideas like the father, with the same attractions to subjects like the father?

But this is the saddest part in our culture: Our dreams are not valuable, but what the society thinks is the most valuable thing. Society will always give you ideas, but they will never pay for your bills.

And it was hard for me when I grew up.

My father was a brilliant man, but he just followed what his father told. And I struggled, and I struggled, I’m saying… just journeyed along; I have a brother and three sisters… smart, good-looking talented, good character people.

And I was the odd guy in the family. I was born with asthma. From the age of two till the age of 16, I was on wrong medication. And as a result of that, 60% of my lungs got damaged; my immune system broke down, and had developed rheumatoid arthritis.

And by 16, the doctors had given me six months to live.

Now I’m a failure in my system. I was considered worthless, useless. First thing… my first challenge to fight against all odds was my entire voice. See, my voice sounds like a girl. Even till today when I answer the phone, they’ll automatically say, ‘Ma’am, how are you doing?’ Now I’m married; at least they think that it’s my wife speaking. But when I was single, it was a challenge.

And I would stand on the stage, and I would fret with fear, because all I have to say is good morning everyone, and people would start laughing, people would start making fun of me. Some would come and say, “Are you a boy, or a girl?”

It was: just my voice was my weakest part of my life, and I struggled. And today my voice has been my strongest weapon in a positive way to make an impact.

I want to tell you friends, regardless of who you are and how you have been created, if you can accept the way you are, that’s the first step to fight against all odds. Don’t have to become like someone else, or something else in order to achieve something.

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But I struggled. And here I was put in this school: Kendriya Vidyalaya NAL. Brilliant school; it was a Hindi medium school, and it was hard for me. My Hindi teacher and myself… we never got along well. As a result, even the subject got affected: I hated the subject.

I struggled. Everything was in Hindi: history was in Hindi; geography was in Hindi; civics was in Hindi. Thankfully, English was in English. Everything else was in Hindi. And I struggled every year. I was just pushed. The only reason I moved to the next class is, because the teachers did not like to look at my face.

Finally, in my 10th standard, they threw me out of school; they said “We have never had a single failure in the school. You are going to be the first-ever failure.” So they called my parents and diplomatically kicked me out of the school. Even till today I am a high school dropout, and I have no plans of finishing my high school in the future, too.

But I tell the world today that… no, the reason I failed in my 10th standard, is because the Indian educational system was not up to my standard. And they threw me out of school.

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Friends, I want to tell you: every failure is not a failure, because of your potential; it can be because of the system. And I struggled…

All over I had to start again. But at 16, it was the lowest point of my life, and doctors gave me 6 months to live. Now I am thrown out of school; my father looks at me and he says, ‘Benny, you are good for nothing. I go to school… you’re good for nothing. Everywhere I go, people say that ‘you are useless’.

And you see these words become reality in your life, if you start believing. That’s what happened. I journeyed with great difficulties, being compared… comparison will steal the joy of your life.

And at 16, at the lowest point, I thought the best thing I could do was to kill myself. I was very depressed, and depression is real. And so I thought the best gift I can give to my parents is my dead body. So I decided to kill myself.

And at the lowest point of my life is when I went to a church youth camp, which my parents told me to go. And I was completely against religion. For me it was just a concept that was put forth. The only reason I went to church is, because my father said, ‘If you don’t go to church, you’ll not get your lunch.’

So food was the only reason why I even thought of spirituality. But here I was completely an atheist. The lowest point of my life at 16, I heard the audible voice of Jesus Christ. He said, ‘Benny, even though you are called useless, I want you. I can transform your life and make you a new person.”

But I said, “Why? Why do You need me? I’m going to die in six months medically. I have no education, I have no talents.” I went for music lessons. And on the first day, the guitar teacher said ‘Benny, don’t come back again; you have no qualities of music.’

Today, at least with my long hair, I have the look of a musician, but those days, I had nothing. So with that point, that voice was the start for me to move forward.

And I said, ‘Okay, God, if you think that you can transform my broken life, and if you think that you can give me a fresh new start, I will postpone my idea of committing suicide.’ So that was the start of my journey, and I quit the idea of committing suicide, started to pursue what I would love to do.

At the age of 19, I picked up an old broken guitar. When you have to fight against all odds, you also have to fight against this whole idea that you need money to make a difference. I did not have much money.

So what I did… I picked up an old broken guitar… when musicians broke strings, I collected the broken strings, tied them together and put them on the guitar. So like that, I waited till I found six broken strings. And I started to practice every day seven hours… every day seven hours.

I still had arthritis in my fingers. There were times when my fingers used to bleed, but I would not give up. You see, friends, when you are passionate about something, and when you find your purpose… when your purpose and your passion, they meet together, even when it bleeds, you will not quit.

But when it is not your passion, you will find the silliest of silliest excuses to give up. And here I started with nothing… with broken fingers, with broken guitar, with broken strings tied them together, started to practice seven hours every day.

In two months, I became the best musician of the place where I was. That’s the start of my journey.

In 2004, I got invited to play at the Olympic Games in Greece. It was a magnificent opportunity. But I wanted to share my story… my story of shame; my story of faith; my story of failure, pain. But they said, ‘Benny, you’re a musician; we just want you to play music, and nothing else.’

But I cannot just stop with music. I want to be an inspiration rather than an entertainment, because entertainment will make you feel good for a small amount of time. But inspiration will make you stronger to go and fight against all odds in your life. And that’s what happened.

In 2004, I prayed and I asked God, ‘Help me to design a guitar the world has never seen.’ Why? So that this guitar will attract athletes and attract audiences to come and look at the guitar and ask me questions and in turn, I could share my journey and my story back to them, telling that no matter what you have gone through, and no matter what you’re going through, if you can find your purpose and your passion and work towards that, you will be able to achieve your goals.

So that’s how this guitar came into existence. And till today, it’s the only guitar in the world with drums inside.

Now the doctorate that I was given was not, because I studied. As I said, I’m a high school dropout. I still don’t have a ten standard education. But the reason I was given… I was given in New York for designing this guitar: the world’s first guitar with drums inside.

So I want to tell you, friends, education is good as long as it equips you to becoming what you want to become. Otherwise, it’s just a piece of paper. It’s there today and tomorrow it’s gone.

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One sheet of marks card cannot decide everything in life. There’s far too life just more… not just that one sheet of marks card… and here I started off with that.

And then came my journeys… my travels. My dream was to go to one country. My father has been to two countries; my mother has been to two countries. So I thought if I can go to one country, that would be a great achievement in my life. Stayed very close to the airport, since my father was an aerospace scientist.

All I dreamt was ‘God, if I can sit in this aeroplane, and take off…’ I was not even concerned about landing; I just wanted to take off.

I remember in 2002, as I prayed and I asked God, say ‘God, what is Your dream for my life?’ Since Your Word says that ‘You have plans for me, not to harm me but to prosper me, since Your ways are higher than my ways; what is Your dream?”

And that’s when I remember hearing the voice of the Almighty God, saying, “Benny, I have a plan for you. I want you to travel to every country by 2010.”

I said, “How is that possible?” Look at my finances; thousand rupees a month is what I have. Secondly, I have an Indian passport which needs visas to so many many many countries. By then I already had two rejected stamps; one from the US and one from UK, not a glorious way to start. Thirdly, you know I’m a musician but at the same time I have challenges with my health.’ I was hit by a javelin at the age of 12, so I have a problem with my spine. I can’t sit in a position for more than half an hour. And as I told you my lungs are only 40% left at the time. I said how can I travel with such weak health?

And when I looked at… for example, still today in the history, there’s never been a musician who’s been to every country in the world, whether it’s Michael Jackson or Mariah Carey or Shakira, whoever it is… nobody on this earth has been to every country.

I said, “God, how can a high school dropout who was going to die at 16 think of doing something the world has never seen?”

I want to tell you, friends, in order for you to be a pioneer, you don’t need examples. In order for you to create something new, you don’t need examples. All that you need is your passion and your purpose, and with the help of God I believe that you can do that. And that’s what happened.

Let me show you how my passport looks today. I need a bag for my passport actually.

So this is my one cool Indian passport. There are 15 books inside; my favorite part of carrying this passport is at the immigration desk, when you put your passport across the counter, you must see the facial expression of the officers. Generally they don’t smile. When you put something like this, they’re confused. Imagine the combination of not smiling and then being confused.

Some of the smart ones would say, ‘Sir, don’t come as a family; come one person at a time.’ When I tell them that I am this one person, they are shocked. They said “Where did you get the money to travel?” That’s the first question.

But why do we think that money is the ultimate decider for our dreams to come true? Why do we run after money to define a career rather than the joy and the happiness that is there in our lives? Why can’t we allow talents and passion to define a career?

Rather we always allow money to be the defining factor, and at the end of the day there is no joy in your life. And I’ll tell you I made a commitment with God. I said “God, You be my provider; I will never ask for money, will never borrow money, will never take a loan from the bank or trust the credit card.”

Till today, I’ve not had a salary for 20 years; never been in debt, never asked for money; never have I taken a loan; and I’ve been to every single country on this earth. You can show the world map on the screen, please.

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Yeah so that is my world map, how I traveled to about 257 countries, and the challenge starts… you know, the challenge does not start in the middle; it can also start at the very beginning.

My first challenge to fight against all odds was to carry my passport with pride, dignity, and honesty. With pride dignity and honesty. When you are an underdog, it’s difficult.

2002, I stepped into my first country: Moscow, Russia. 19th of February 2002, to do my first ever concert, and people are waiting outside to do my first ever concert. They looked at my passport, a brand new traveler, a young boy. They asked me for a bribe of fifty dollars, or two thousand rupees.

But you see, I’m an Indian and I’m a Christian. I don’t give bribe, because it’s against my ethical moral and religious belief system. So I refused to pay the two thousand rupees, and as a result, they detained me in the airport for 30 hours.

For 30 hours, I was treated like a criminal, humiliated… I was really struggling what to do. Do I just pay the two thousand rupees, go forward? Or do I stick to my values? Because your character is more important than the fruit.

And here I stood my ground. 30 hours, treated like a criminal. And after 30 hours, they deported me back to Delhi. What a glorious opening ceremony I had? With this whole aim of travelling to every country in the world and the first country I’m deporting back. I struggled.

But today, I want to tell you when I look at this beautiful Indian passport, I’ve learnt a lesson: don’t allow your starting to shape the way you finish. Don’t allow your beginning to shape the way you end. But I believe that if you can find your purpose, your passion and with the help of God, you find integrity and honesty in your life, you will be able to achieve the tasks clean.

And today I could do this, and I have enjoyed my travels… travels to all over the world, every single country on this planet Earth: 257.

In 2010, I broke the world record and became the fastest man to travel to every country in the shortest time. 245 nations, including Antarctica in six years, six months and 22 days.

If an ordinary person like this: a failure according to the system could achieve something and still make my country proud, what is stopping you from pursuing your dreams, your plans?

As I conclude by playing this song… the song that I played in North Korea for the 100 birth anniversary of their founder Kim Il Sung, song is called “I STAND AMAZED”.

Just want to tell you, friends, there is so much to life than just a sheet of marks card. There’s so much to life than just money.

Today, my wife and myself, we run a cafe in Bangalore called Chai:3:16. C-H-A-I-3-1-6, it’s a large 400 seater café, completely non-commercial; we serve only tea. And our goal: is 80% listening and 20% talking. We sit and listen to students who come and share, pour out.

Every week we rescue one person from committing suicide, just by listening to them. The longest one sitting session… the longest one sitting session I had was 8 hours, when a depressed engineering student came at 11 in the morning and left at 7 in the evening.

I want to tell you: the world needs your listening ears, not your ideas. They need your listening ears.

If anyone is going through those challenges, I want to tell you: friends, please do not quit life. Suicide is not the answer to life. Look at me, at 16, I wanted to kill myself, having no hope. And today look at my life filled with adventure, filled with music, filled with life. If I could have something like that, the least of all of you I believe would have a beautiful future waiting for you. And you are created to impact our nation.

And I believe that you have the power to transform a nation, not just financially, not just economically, but even in character.

Let me play the song for you as I close.

[“I STAND AMAZED”.- Music played by Benny Prasad]