Ashok Ramasubramanian - Joy

 

Sometimes when I'm walking down the street, people stop me and ask me for change. Of course, it's not change they want. They want money. [audience laughter] But here's the deal. I always have change, I always give them money. It wasn't always this way. There was a time when I was quite stingy with my money. This is how it all changed, and it's due to my roommate. 

 

I was in the third year of my engineering school in India. One day a relation of mine who's been overseas came back with a KitKat, the candy bar, a full bar. He gave it to me and he said, "This is KitKat. They eat it in America. [audience laughter] And it's amazing." [audience laughter] [audience applause] 

 

So, when you're in India and when you have a roommate, tradition dictates that you share this thing with your roommate. I looked at it, and it was like nothing I've ever seen before. It was beautiful. [audience laughter] And I said, "I'm going to eat just a small piece.” I mean, I'll still share the bulk of the thing with the roommate. No harm done. I ate a small piece, and it was amazing. [audience laughter] And I said, "I'll eat a little piece more." [audience laughter] You know where this is going. [audience laughter] 

 

Pretty soon, I had only a very small piece of KitKat in my hand. And at this point, some twisted logic seized me. I mean, what's the point of sharing now? [audience laughter] I mean, the roommate's going to come home and I got to explain, "Dude, I had this full bar. [audience laughter] I ate most of it, and there's only a small piece to share with." No, the safe thing to do is to eat that also and hide the wrapper, [audience laughter] which is what I did. 

 

Now, in my 21 years in India, this KitKat has come into my life only two times. You already know the first time. Now, here is the second. About two hours later, my roommate comes home. [audience laughter] He's clearly delighted about something. Joy is a concept that's very hard to pin down, but you know it when you see it. [audience laughter] And I saw joy in the eyes of my roommate. [audience laughter] The dude's clearly excited about something. [audience laughter] Now, in his hand is a small paper napkin folded up. He opens it up, and inside is a small one-inch piece of KitKat. [audience laughter] 

 

Now, unlike me, who had wealthy relatives abroad, a friend of a friend had given him something, a small piece, and his eyes were filled with the joy of sharing. [audience aw] And he said, "This is KitKat. [audience laughter] They eat it in America. [audience laughter] And it's amazing." [audience laughter] His eyes were sparkling with joy. I've never seen anything like that since or before. Well, my own eyes were more confused than anything else. Like, what am I supposed to say? "Dude, I actually had a full bar, [audience laughter] you know, I ate it all, so you should eat this." [audience laughter] 

 

So, he proceeded to take a ruler. [audience laughter] This is engineering school, so there's rulers all over the place. [audience laughter] And the rulers that we use have one edge that's sharp, the better to draw lines with. So, he took the sharp edge of the ruler, and he cut his tiny bit of KitKat into two, and he offered one piece to me. I ate it. [audience laughter] I mean, what else are you supposed to do? [audience laughter] It's too complicated to do anything else. [audience laughter] But you know, two KitKats in a single day, within hours of each other, the universe, God, if you will, is trying to send me a signal saying, "Dude, you are on the wrong path. You need to change." And so, I did. Thank you.