Addressing the students of Classeses XI and XII of the Sai International School here, former Secretary to the Government of India belonging to the Odisha cadre of IAS Sarita J Das shared her experiences of having had the opportunity of upbringing both in India and abroad, being educated also in both the places and her gradual absorption in the mainstream of the Indian ethos.

The students were curious to know from her regarding the “motivation” that should inspire them for steering their future. Breaking away from the traditional mode of “advising” vis-à-vis the future, she spoke on the concept of “self-motivation”.  She recollected how she had certain goals that she had set for herself while studying in college and how after coming from Mauritius, where she had been brought up, she was able to fulfil her objectives to study in and work for India. She was self-motivation and achievement of the objectives. Das appealed to the students to be more involved in what legitimately and naturally pleases them, is creative and beneficial to the society. The exposure to different countries, their customs and civilisations was an education by itself and one should not be confined to the immediate surroundings only, she added. She was fortunate, she said, to have been exposed to multinational interactions from childhood from being a student at the london School of Economics, being a Fellow at the Oxford University and being a member of Indian Administrative Service.

There was a loud applause from the students when the school Principal had earlier introduced, amongst other things, stating that Das is the great granddaughter-in-law of Utkalmani Pandit Gopabandhu Das. Das appealed to the students to fulfil the several requirements of the society for ensuring the progress of the State in keeping with the ideals, for which its founding fathers like Gopabandhu Das made immense sacrifice.