My Favorite Guest Lecture in 2018


After launching the Global Institute of Sports Business in October of 2018, we were fortunate to have a number of global sports industry influencers visit the campus to deliver a Guest Lecture for our students. People like former US Soccer President, Sunil Gulati, Premier League’s Head of International, Kate Hodgkinson, Chelsea FC’s Director of Fan Engagement, Jon Scammell, Delhi Dynamos CEO, Ashish Shah and many others. While each session was informative, insightful and entertaining, my favorite GISB Guest Lecturer in 2018 happened to be the person who has the least experience working in professional sport – My Father.

On December 21, 2018, the eve of his 76th birthday, my Father delivered a powerful talk to our students about how he went from growing up in India as the oldest son of a village farmer to becoming a senior member of the global automotive industry and settling his whole family in the United States.  The 2 hour presentation was filled with stories, insights, humor and specific life lessons that had the students amazed, inspired and motivated to dream big and work hard. 

In my whole life, I don’t remember seeing my Father smile as much as he did during the 20 minutes after the talk when the students were sharing what they took away from his story.  Even now as I write about this experience, I have tears in my eyes and goosebumps on my skin. These are the type of moments that have me feel that my move to India had much more to do with re-connecting with family with our roots than building a sporting ecosystem. 







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