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P. V. Sindhu inspires the graduating Class of 2026 @DAISMumbai — Transcript

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0:00[applause]
0:05[applause]
0:08>> Well, I know it was quite emotional, but
0:10let me make it a little bit
0:13exciting and let me make you guys a
0:16little bit, you know,
0:17smile.
0:19Well, a very good evening.
0:21Nita Aunty, good evening.
0:23Well, to the Dean,
0:26Ms. Basu, Mr. Basu, and the entire
0:28family of this remarkable school.
0:32To the proud parents,
0:34the even prouder grandparents, the
0:36friends, and the families. Thank you for
0:39being here.
0:41And to the stars,
0:43today, the graduating class of 2026 of
0:46Dhirubhai Ambani International School.
0:48Congratulations.
0:50>> [applause]
0:54>> Well, now when I found out I was
0:56speaking at DAIS, my first reaction was
0:59excitement.
1:01My second reaction was panic.
1:04Because I did a little research and I
1:07found out who has stood at this very
1:10spot before me. Shah Rukh Khan,
1:14Amitabh Bachchan.
1:17Well, no pressure, isn't it?
1:21So, well,
1:22I'm a badminton player standing where my
1:24hero, Shah Rukh Khan, once stood.
1:28Growing up, I absolutely loved him.
1:31Still do.
1:33This is either the greatest honor of my
1:35life or the most humbling experience of
1:38it, possibly both.
1:41At the same time,
1:43I thought Shah Rukh Khan also started
1:45somewhere unexpected. So, here we are.
1:48Before I go any further, I want to say
1:51something about this school's name,
1:54Dhirubhai Ambani.
1:56Every time I had the pleasure of
1:58visiting Antilia, the first thing that
2:01stops you before the views, before the
2:03warmth and hospitality of the family,
2:06before everything else, is that
2:08portrait.
2:09That massive, commanding portrait of
2:12Dhirubhai Ambani,
2:14watching over everything.
2:17It is not just a photograph.
2:19It is an acknowledgement.
2:22An ode
2:23to a man who built something from
2:25nothing and changed what India believed
2:28was possible.
2:30>> [applause]
2:35[applause]
2:36>> A man who looked at the word impossible
2:39and treated it like a suggestion.
2:42And then there is Mukesh Uncle.
2:46Dhirubhai handed him a giant and Mukesh
2:48Uncle looked at that giant and said,
2:50"This is just the beginning."
2:53From Reliance Industries to Jio, just
2:56incredible.
2:57And Nita Aunty, alongside him, building
2:59institutions, nurturing sport, nurturing
3:02people.
3:04What Reliance Foundation has done for
3:06athletes like me,
3:08I have
3:08>> [snorts]
3:08>> felt it first hand and I'm grateful.
3:11>> [applause]
3:15[applause]
3:16>> The fact
3:18that you go to a school named after him,
3:21that means something. Well, don't take
3:23it lightly.
3:25Now,
3:26I've been to a lot of graduations. Every
3:29speech that starts the same way.
3:32Well, chase your dreams, believe in
3:34yourself, the world is your oyster, very
3:37inspiring, very forgettable.
3:41So, today,
3:42I want to share with you my report card.
3:46Yes, a report card. Bear with me, guys.
3:49Please.
3:51Three higher level subjects, three
3:53standard level, and unlike my husband,
3:57I'm not doing higher level math or
3:59physics.
4:00Some battles you just choose not to
4:02fight.
4:05Not from school, I was barely in school
4:07long enough to get one, but from life.
4:11From 29 years of waking up before the
4:13sun, chasing something most people said
4:16impossible, winning some, losing more
4:19than I would like to admit, and somehow
4:22and somehow still standing here today.
4:25Six subjects, six grades, honestly
4:28earned.
4:29Oh, and one more thing before we begin.
4:32I have never actually graduated
4:35or I've never actually attended my own
4:38graduation. I was always competing at
4:40the World Championships, so technically
4:42I've never graduated. Which means, class
4:45of 2026, I'm fixing that. I'm graduating
4:49with all OF YOU RIGHT NOW.
4:52>> [applause]
4:54>> IN THIS ROOM.
4:57WELL, FINALLY, HELLO, CLASSMATES. Lovely
5:00to finally meet you. I'm sorry I missed
5:0211th and 12th. The IB looked very
5:05stressful, and honestly, I think I made
5:07the right call, guys.
5:09>> [laughter]
5:11>> All right, let's open the report card.
5:14Managing expectations. Subject one,
5:16managing expectations.
5:19Higher level, well, I would grade maybe
5:21five out of a five out of seven.
5:24I will explain the five in a moment. I
5:27did not always deserve it.
5:30When I was 29 years old, I walked into
5:33an Olympic 21 years, guys, let me take
5:35back. 21 years old, I walked into the
5:38Olympic final at Rio.
5:41Youngest Indian Indian woman ever to
5:44reach an Olympic final in badminton. The
5:46whole country was watching.
5:49>> [applause]
5:51>> I could feel it from the court. I lost
5:53the final, silver medal.
5:56I came off that
5:57court and somewhere quietly, privately
6:00to myself, I asked one question.
6:04Why not gold?
6:06Not with bitterness, just with honesty.
6:09And then it kept happening. World
6:12Championship silver, Asian Games silver,
6:14another World Championship World
6:16Championships final silver.
6:19I kept getting to the last step
6:21and something would slip.
6:24But that question kept following me
6:26quietly, why not gold?
6:29Eventually the media gave me a nickname,
6:31Silver Sindhu.
6:33Well, I did not love it.
6:35Nobody wants to be defined
6:37by what they almost did.
6:39But the truth was
6:41I've been asking myself the same
6:43question long before anyone else did.
6:47And then came the aunties.
6:49Oh, the aunties, you know.
6:53The one every family has a.
6:55Shows up at the wedding in a silk saree,
6:58adjusting her glasses, looks up and down
7:01and says, "Beta, silver is good, but
7:03gold would have been better, no?"
7:08I'm like, "Auntie, I just came back from
7:11the World Championships. I've not even
7:12slept in 3 days. I'm eating the wedding
7:15food for the first time in 6 months.
7:18Please, auntie, one samosa, ya. Please.
7:20Please
7:22let me have it in peace."
7:24And
7:25it was not just weddings.
7:27Lose the semi-final, fight back, win the
7:30bronze match, which means beating some
7:33of the best players on the planet just
7:35to get there.
7:37And someone still finds a way to frame
7:39it as falling short.
7:42You know what it feels like, guys? You
7:44know, right? Because, you know, it feels
7:46like
7:47getting a 43 out of 45 in your IB and
7:50someone asking why was it not 45. Come
7:53on, guys, you know it.
7:55>> [applause]
8:00>> But, here is what I did with that
8:02nickname. I used it. Every single
8:05morning when I woke up, it was there.
8:08Not a reminder of failure, of unfinished
8:11business. And then came 2019,
8:15Basel, Switzerland, the world
8:17championships.
8:18I became the first Indian male or female
8:21to win the BWF world championships. To
8:24this day,
8:25I still am the only Indian to have done
8:28it.
8:29>> [applause]
8:34>> You know what's the best part?
8:37The nickname disappeared overnight.
8:39Every auntie who'd been saying "Silver
8:42Sindhu" for years suddenly showed up at
8:44the next wedding saying, "I always knew
8:46you would do it."
8:50I always knew that. From the beginning,
8:53I always said. I'm like, "Auntie, we
8:56both know it, yeah. We both know it it's
8:58not true, but I will take it. It's okay.
8:59It's fine."
9:01>> [laughter]
9:03[gasps]
9:03>> Here's what I've learned, guys. The
9:05expectations
9:07other people carry for you will always
9:10move. You meet one,
9:12they raise another.
9:14You cannot chase that. You will run
9:17forever arrive nowhere.
9:20But, your own expectations, the honest
9:23ones, the ones you whisper to yourself
9:26at night, those are worth everything.
9:30Those are the ones that got me out of
9:32bed every morning and brought me to
9:34Basel 2019.
9:36>> [applause]
9:40[applause]
9:42>> The trick is
9:44knowing the difference.
9:45And that, class of 2026,
9:48is why this subject is higher level.
9:51Managing expectations, five out of
9:54seven, because I am still learning.
9:57The aunties are still talking.
10:00And honestly, I would have it
10:03I would not have it any other way.
10:07Subject two, comparing yourself to
10:10others. I would actually give it a six
10:13out of seven.
10:16In badminton, there is a world ranking.
10:19Updated every single Tuesday morning.
10:22The most
10:24clarifying and the most dangerous number
10:26in my life.
10:27Now, I know what your version of the
10:29Tuesday ranking looks like.
10:32It's a feed updated not weekly, but
10:35every 30 seconds. A continuous highest
10:37reel of everyone around you. Their
10:40results, their plans,
10:42their apparent effortlessness,
10:45available in your pocket
10:47at 3:00 in the morning,
10:49when you're already feeling low.
10:51That is not a ranking system.
10:54That is ranking system on fire.
10:58Every person you're comparing yourself
11:00to is also comparing themselves to
11:03someone else.
11:05The highlight reel is not the life.
11:07It is the best seven seconds of it.
11:11The only benchmark that will ever make
11:14you better is the only is the one you
11:17set for yourself.
11:19Now, the second story, and this is a
11:21little more dramatic.
11:24This is when I go back to 2024 Madrid
11:26Masters, you know, back from a long
11:28injury. Third set down, 16-20, I fought
11:32back point by point
11:34and tied it to 20 all. But, you know, at
11:37the end I lost 22-20. I walked out of
11:40the court, sat down in a corridor,
11:42opened my bag, took out my rackets one
11:44by one,
11:46very calmly, very deliberately
11:48introduced each of them to the floor,
11:50and destroyed all five of them.
11:53I promise, I mean, I was not crazy.
11:56Well, my husband heard the story and
11:58instead of being horrified, he collected
12:00one of the broken rackets, had it
12:02framed, and hung it in his office. I
12:05said like, "Why on earth would he do
12:07that?"
12:09He said, "When I was having a terrible
12:10day at work and feel like things cannot
12:13get worse,
12:14I look at the racket and think, well, at
12:17least I've not reached the level yet,
12:19that level yet."
12:21He's in this room right now, and I love
12:24him very much,
12:25but he's very lucky that that frame is
12:27on the wall and not on his head.
12:31>> [laughter]
12:33[gasps]
12:34>> Well, that broken racket is not a symbol
12:37of losing. It is a symbol of someone who
12:40fought all the way back from 16-20 and
12:43refused to give up.
12:46He was proud of that, not the result of
12:48the fight.
12:50You are going to have your 16-20 moments
12:53in a exam, in an interview, in something
12:56far more personal, and in that moment
13:00everything in you will want to look
13:02around and think
13:04everyone else is fine.
13:06Everyone else is handling it.
13:08They are not.
13:10They are down 16-20.
13:13They just have not told you yet.
13:16Focus on the next point. Just the next
13:19one.
13:20Run your own race at your own pace on
13:23your terms.
13:25That is why this grade went from six
13:28from three to six and that is why I
13:30would give
13:31six out of seven. Well, five broken
13:34rackets and a corridor in Madrid,
13:36but it got there.
13:38>> [applause]
13:40>> I'm sure just like all of you will
13:43in your life.
13:45Asking for help.
13:47Subject number three, late submission
13:50and I would give it a six out of seven.
13:53Not a fail, not an incomplete.
13:56Late submission because I eventually
13:59learned this one. I just handled it in
14:02about like five years after it was due.
14:06I went through a period in my career
14:08where I was like carrying a lot of close
14:11losses. A body that was not fully
14:14cooperating, a gap between where I was
14:16and where I wanted to be that kept
14:19growing and through all of it I kept
14:21saying I'm fine. I just need to work
14:24harder.
14:25I did not ask for help, not from my
14:27team, not from my family, not from
14:29anyone because in my head asking felt
14:33like admitting I could not do it alone.
14:37And I spent my whole career
14:41proving I could do
14:43hard things.
14:45And then my mother
14:46did what mothers have been doing since
14:48the beginning of time. She ignored
14:51everything.
14:52She ignored everything I said and looked
14:54straight through me.
14:56Well, mothers have this ability. I think
14:58you know, it should it should it should
15:00have been an Olympic sport. They would
15:02clean up completely.
15:05She did not
15:06make a big moment of it.
15:08She just sat next to me one evening and
15:11eventually said
15:13you know, you do not have to carry
15:15everything by yourself.
15:17Right?
15:18That is what we are here for.
15:21Such a simple thing to say and it
15:23completely undid me.
15:25I'd been so focused on appearing strong
15:28that I
15:29quietly exhausting myself.
15:33Carrying weight I did not need to carry
15:35alone.
15:36That moment I started asking for help.
15:40Things did not magically become easy.
15:43But they became lighter.
15:45Easy means the problem disappears.
15:47Lighter means you no longer are carrying
15:51it alone.
15:53>> [applause]
15:57[applause]
15:58>> You're stepping into a world that will
16:00constantly reward the appearance of
16:02having it together.
16:04Most of those people are also figuring
16:06it out as they go.
16:08They have just gotten good at looking
16:11like they are not.
16:14Asking for help is not weakness.
16:16It is information. It is you saying I
16:19know what I do not know.
16:22And I'm smart enough to find someone who
16:25does.
16:26That is not a gap in your ability. That
16:29is your ability.
16:31>> [applause]
16:34>> The strongest people
16:36I have met are not the ones who never
16:38needed anyone.
16:40They are the ones who knew exactly who
16:42to call and were not too proud to make
16:46the that call.
16:47Well, that late submission got full
16:50marks once it arrived.
16:54Subject four.
16:56Diamonds as therapy.
16:59Diamonds, guys.
17:01>> [laughter]
17:03[gasps]
17:04>> Well, full marks, seven out of seven for
17:06the first time.
17:09Paris 2024, my third Olympics. Well,
17:12badminton is a single medal event at the
17:15Olympics. One medal every four years.
17:17This is your shot.
17:20No team event to fall back on. No second
17:23chances. You get one once every four
17:27years, and that is your Olympics.
17:30I had won silver at Rio, bronze at
17:32Tokyo. Paris was my third, and I'd been
17:35building towards it for years.
17:38In the pre-quarters, I played against He
17:40Bingjiao from China, a brilliant player.
17:42I lost. She went on to win a silver
17:45medal in
17:46in those games at those games.
17:48Which tells you everything about the
17:50level she was playing at.
17:52But here
17:53is where it gets painful.
17:55Well, my quarterfinals opponent was
17:57nursing an injury, and I knew and I knew
17:59I genuinely felt that if I could get
18:02through this one match and the third for
18:05the third Olympic medal.
18:08And it was right there.
18:10Something no Indian could have ever
18:12done.
18:14First set, 19 all and a
18:17freaking net caught.
18:19The shuttle clips the top of the net,
18:21tumbles over on my side. One of those
18:24moments where the sport just decides for
18:26you. 21-19, first game gone. Lost the
18:29second game, and just like that, Paris
18:32was over.
18:33And one net caught at 19 all, history.
18:37Gone in smallest possible moment. That
18:41heartbreak is very quiet.
18:44It does not announce itself. It just
18:47sits with you.
18:49On the walk off the court,
18:51in the dressing room,
18:53in all the silence afterwards.
18:55And then, of course, Nita aunty.
18:59At Paris, she was there.
19:01Aunty called me. We met at the Indian
19:03house.
19:04Right there in Paris. She did not try to
19:07fix
19:08or reframe it or tell me to look at the
19:11bright side, she just sat with me and
19:14then she gave me a gift, a tennis
19:16bracelet.
19:20Diamonds. The most beautiful thing I've
19:22I've seen in a very, very long time. And
19:25I want to tell you it worked
19:27immediately, completely.
19:29>> [laughter]
19:32[gasps]
19:33>> Well, I think guys, on a serious note, I
19:34think Nita aunty understood something
19:36that that evening that I did not even
19:39know
19:40I needed.
19:42Sometimes what a person needs is not
19:44just
19:45advice.
19:47Not a pep talk, just to feel seen. To
19:50feel that someone showed up, not because
19:53they had the right words, but simply
19:55because they cared enough to be there.
19:59The diamonds were beautiful,
20:00very beautiful, but that was not the
20:03point.
20:04The point was a phone call.
20:07India House in Paris.
20:09>> [applause]
20:10>> The sitting together,
20:12the I see and I am here.
20:16There will be people in your life,
20:18if you're lucky,
20:20who stop when the world moves on,
20:23who call, who show up, not with answers,
20:26but with presents. Find those people.
20:29Hold on to them tightly because they are
20:33rare and they are everything.
20:36>> [applause]
20:39>> And be that person for someone else.
20:42You don't need diamonds to do it.
20:45Though it does hurt.
20:48So, you don't need diamonds, but still
20:50the presence is very, very important.
20:52And thank you so much, Nita aunty.
20:54>> [applause]
20:57>> This chapter is for you, always.
21:00Thank you.
21:02Subject five, the sacrifice nobody talks
21:05about.
21:07This, I would give it a seven out of
21:10seven.
21:11This chapter is not for the graduates.
21:14Well, it is, but it is really for the
21:16people who got them here.
21:19I know the answer to the question I'm
21:21about to ask. I watched it my whole
21:24life.
21:25My father was a national level
21:27volleyball player. He gave everything to
21:29his sport. And then one day, without
21:32making a big deal of it, he started
21:34giving everything to mine instead.
21:374:00 in the morning, every morning,
21:39believing in me before I had given him a
21:42single reason to.
21:44My mother
21:45held the entire world together quietly
21:47behind that. The meals, the schedules,
21:50the emotional
21:52things that kept our family standing
21:54through tournaments and travels and long
21:57absence.
21:58She never asked for recognition. She
22:01just did it every single day.
22:04The world celebrated when I won, but the
22:06world never stood up for the two people
22:09who were there at 4:00 in the morning
22:12years before there was anything to
22:15celebrate. That applause never came for
22:17them. So, I want to do something right
22:20now that I perhaps do not do enough. Mom
22:24and Dad, thank you, even though they're
22:26not here today. Thank you for every
22:29single morning, for every kilometer,
22:33>> [applause]
22:33>> for every quiet sacrifice that nobody
22:36saw and nobody counted. For every medal
22:40around my neck belongs to you as much as
22:43it belongs to me.
22:45>> [applause]
22:50>> So, I'm going to ask every graduate to
22:53stand up right now
22:55and give the people who got you here the
22:58loudest applause
23:02of this ENTIRE EVENING. [applause]
23:15THEY DID NOT DO IT for the thank you,
23:17but they deserve it a thousand times
23:20over. Subject six, believing before it
23:23was obvious.
23:25And this one is for the teachers.
23:27And I would give it a seven out of
23:29seven.
23:31I was not exactly the easiest student to
23:33have in a classroom. Not because I was
23:35difficult, but because I was barely
23:37there.
23:38Tournaments, training camps, travel, my
23:41attendance record was, let us say,
23:43creative.
23:46And then this there was this one sir.
23:49His name was Mr. Tom.
23:53Tom sir did not believe in half
23:55measures. I was 11, maybe 12. Still at
23:58an age where, you know, I was I really
24:01wanted to go home, play with my toys,
24:04and you know, Tom sir was like, would
24:06look up to my father on the sidelines
24:08and say, "Mr. Ramana, your daughter is
24:10going to be a champion. She's going to
24:13represent the world, and she is going to
24:14rule the world."
24:16Well, I was 12. I had like not won
24:19anything.
24:20But he said it with completely complete
24:23certainty.
24:25Like it was not a prediction, but a fact
24:28that had simply not happened yet back
24:31then.
24:32His training methods were not for the
24:34faint hearted. I once saw him take a
24:37player who had just lost a match, walk
24:41him to the bathroom, and dunk his head
24:43into a bucket of cold water.
24:46His way of saying, "Wake up.
24:48Shake it off. We are not done."
24:53What player went on to win when a player
24:56went on to win a bronze medal at the
24:58world championship world championship.
24:59So, perhaps Tom so actually knew exactly
25:02what he was doing at that point of time.
25:05That is a rare thing.
25:07A teacher who believes in you more
25:09fiercely than you believe in yourself.
25:12Who holds a vision of you that you have
25:14not yet grown into and refuses to lower
25:17it no matter what.
25:20Teachers give and give and give and they
25:24keep giving.
25:27The world moves on to celebrate what
25:29grew.
25:30>> [applause]
25:32>> Rarely stopping to credit the soil.
25:35On behalf of the class 2026
25:38and on behalf of myself at your most
25:42recently graduated student,
25:45>> [laughter]
25:46>> thank you
25:47for every early morning and late
25:49evening, for every paper marked and
25:52every lesson prepared,
25:54for every moment you choose to believe
25:56in a student
25:58before they gave you a reason. You
26:00deserve to hear it. So, here it is.
26:03Thank you.
26:04>> [applause]
26:09[applause]
26:15>> The final report.
26:17So, that
26:19is a report card.
26:21Grades I did not all
26:24earn on the first attempt.
26:26A few late submission, one three that
26:29became six,
26:30one nickname I hated that I eventually
26:32made my own.
26:34Now, it's your turn.
26:36You are going to build your own report
26:39card. Your subjects will be different.
26:41Your grades will be different and that
26:43is exactly how it should be.
26:46The grades that matter most are not the
26:49ones that come easily.
26:51They are the ones you had it you had to
26:53fail first.
26:55The ones you resubmitted, the ones you
26:58thought you would never pass and then
27:01one day quietly you did.
27:04Do not be afraid of the low grades.
27:07They are not the end of your story.
27:09They are just the part where it gets
27:12interesting.
27:14Show up. Show up every day
27:17even when it's hard. Especially when
27:20it's hard.
27:21Find your people, the ones who show up
27:24without being asked.
27:26The parents who got you here tonight,
27:28the teachers who believed you in first
27:31and one day the person who makes the
27:33hardest things lighter.
27:36And when life knocks you down
27:39and you're sitting somewhere surrounded
27:40by broken things, remember that fight
27:43back from 1620.
27:46It is always possible.
27:49No matter what.
27:50>> [applause]
27:56>> So class of 2026,
27:59it has been the greatest honor of my
28:01evenings to graduate along
28:03alongside you.
28:06I'm going to need that on my certificate
28:08by the way.
28:10DAIS class of 2026 right next to my
28:13name, PV Sindhu.
28:15Mr. Basu,
28:17>> [laughter]
28:18>> when can I collect it?
28:22>> [laughter]
28:24[gasps]
28:26>> But now, please
28:28go off your universities,
28:31your gap years,
28:32wherever wherever life is taking you
28:35next.
28:36And when someone asks where you went to
28:39school, tell them proudly
28:42tell them proudly that a double Olympic
28:45medalist was your classmate.
28:47>> [laughter]
28:49[applause]
28:57>> But on a serious note, congratulations.
29:00Congratulations to each one of you, to
29:03the students, to the parents, to the
29:05teachers.
29:07Mrs. Ambani
29:09Nita ma'am, I think you've always
29:11been a great
29:14I don't know what to say, a friend,
29:15always been there for me no matter what,
29:18even at my lowest.
29:20Thank you so much, and I think it's an
29:22honor, it's a pleasure for me to be
29:24here,
29:25and
29:27I think
29:28it it is
29:31I have no words to say because I mean,
29:33it made my day. Thank you. Thank you so
29:36much. [applause]
29:38Thank you so much, everyone.
29:42I think once again, congratulations.
29:45Go build something extraordinary. All
29:48the very best.
29:50>> [applause]
29:50>> THANK YOU.
29:55>> INSPIRING, [applause]
29:56EXCELLENT. Can we have a thunderous
29:59applause, please?
30:05>> [applause]

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