PROF. (DR.) SARFARAZ AHMED KHAN

WELCOME ADDRESS DELIVERED DURING VALEDICTORY SESSION OF THE WEEK LONG INDUCTION PROGRAMME FOR BA LLB AND BBA LLB STUDENT AT SYMBIOSIS LAW SCHOOL HYDERABAD ON 3^RD OCTOBER 2020.

Hon’ble Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan, Respected Prof. (Dr.) Srikrishna Deva Rao, Respected Mr Sri Jayesh Ranjan, Prof. Rick Glofcheski, Respected Mr Vikramjit Banerjee, Respected Mr Santhosh Janakiram, , my colleagues  from faculty and administration, all parents and guardians and all my dear students, a very warm Good Morning to all of you.

It is indeed a great Honour and Privilege to have Hon’ble Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan, Chief Justice of Telangana High Court. Sir your presence is a blessing for our new students and your guidance will be a treasure for them to preserve throughout their life. We are grateful to you for accepting our invitation to be Chief Guest in the Valedictory function of the Induction Programme. I welcome you , sir.  

I would also like to welcome Prof. (Dr.) Srikrishna Deva Rao, Vice-Chancellor NLU Delhi. May your presence today educate my new batch of young students that law should be studied beyond books and should be practised for a greater purpose. I welcome you, sir.

I would like to welcome Mr Sri Jayesh Ranjan, IAS Principal Secretary to Government of India. Dear sir may your presence today instil in this young students the truest form of administrative skills and the disciple imbibed in it. I welcome you, Sir.

I now would like to welcome Prof. Rick Glofcheski, University of Hong Kong. Your presence today again reminds me that COVID has brought people so closer to each other, may your presence today help this new batch understand the international spectrum and scope of the law. I welcome you, sir.

I welcome Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, Additional Solicitor General of India. May your presence today enlighten my student about the true sense of a court and the happiness of fighting for the underprivileged. I welcome you, Sir.

I now would like to welcome sir, Mr Santhosh Janakiram, Senior Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. May your presence today enlighten my students about the most lucrative and challenging arena of the field. May your story enlighten them about the real pros and cons of being a corporate lawyer. I welcome you, sir.

I also welcome my colleagues, all our faculty members and administrative staff present today.

Dear Students, the most famous line I see nowadays treading on the internet is from the Netflix series “Dark” I have not watched it but I am sure you all have, the line reads as follows “The end is the beginning and the beginning is the end”. Dear Students, today you have reached the end of your induction week, but you are about to begin your classes next week and within a span of five years, you will graduate. The cycle of end and beginning continues. Dear student, today I want to tell you again “Congratulation for getting selected for SLS-H and becoming part of Symbiosis Family.”

How many of you remember the golden key of goal setting that I gave you in your first day of the induction week. Can I see a quick raise of hands?

Great, thank you so much for your attention. Today I will give you one more important key- I call it the silver key of Success. Success is a word that is subjected to various interpretations. When we talk about 5 years of your life here, let me tell you that apart from your regular studying you must do a lot of extracurricular and become an all-rounder and along with that I want all of you to follow a path of self-actualization. I want you to learn self-love, inculcate self-confidence, improve your self-belief, take some time out and understand your self-worth, realize that you have self-esteem read with self-dignity and that you are made for more. Each one of you has the potential to excel. By the end of the five years when I will be delivering you your farewell speech, I want to see that all of you have reached the epitome of self- realization. Let me tell you, dear students, once you do what I have asked you today you unlock the key of success and find your true potential and desire and I know that wherever you go and whatever you do, you will achieve success.

Today, dear students I want to give you a reality check. They say, “Success and Failure are different side of one coin called life”. If you utilize my golden key of goal setting you will reach success but, in the process, you will encounter this personality known as Failure. When you meet failure tell him/ her a hello and thank him/her for coming to your life. Dear students, it is important that you understand the concept of failing because it is part and parcel of success and if you can learn from your failures and remember them half your job is done. All of you know Thomas Edison, he had more than 1,000 U.S. patents to his name.  However, as a young boy in school, his mind often wandered, and his teachers told him that he was “too stupid to learn anything”.  He was eventually home-schooled by his mother. However, after his invention, he said “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” You can make mistake, but what you are not allowed to do is forget the mistake you have made and the lessons you have learned. There is always this concept of more successful and less successful and it is on you to decide what kind of success you want in your life. However, I promise that if you listen to what I say you will be amongst the more successful people.

I also tell you that you enter this world in times when the most pronounced words are COVID, Quarantine, Lockdown and I know you feel that you are losing a lot. However, I want to assure you as Sundar Pichai says “ You will Prevail” as there was the batch of 1920 which graduated at the end of a deadly pandemic the Spanish flu and several other batches in different difficult circumstances they all prevailed. Remember you will prevail because God is putting you through hot fire to make you the best steel. I belief, you will make us feel proud.

Before I leave and end my speech, I am aware that this being a law school and a fresher orientation of law students, I have not spoken anything about the subject. I also don’t intend to because I know for the next 5 years you will be only learning that, but being the director of this esteemed institution I want to take this opportunity to give you one of your first law lesson, never forget this lesson irrespective of whatever career path you choose. Look at this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX5aRzXUzJo-

I hope my message is loud and clear. Being a lawyer is a noble profession. In law, it is not what you tell the judge, once you enter the learning experience you will understand there are many laws and further there are many exceptions to those laws. Thus, if you want to protect your client the way you present your case and the words that you use in communicating the facts and issues to the judge is particularly important.

Thank you, have a wonderful 5 years journey.