After Bollywood celebrities showered love on Ayushmann Khurrana for making it to Time’s ‘100 Most Influential List’, his college professor Archana R. Singh also penned a beautiful note on her blog on account of his achievement titled ‘What is success made of? Looking back at our own superstar Ayushmann’s tenure at SCS!’
As per a report in TOI, she taught him at Panjab University (PU) and dedicated the article to him calling him the “Most popular alumnus of School of Communication Studies, as of now”. She mentions that the post is for all her students and faculty while hailing Ayushmann’s TIME 100 inclusion.
Recalling an anecdote, she writes, “Most important lesson is to find humility in success. I remember the time when I had taken the whole class for a study tour of Delhi and we were visiting different media organizations. We had with us the fresh winner of Roadies and I was yet unaware of his newfound popularity amongst the young crowd. As we passed a couple of girls in the corridors of Doordarshan Kendra, I overheard one of them whispering, “Look, that’s Ayushmann!” I was taken by surprise! I asked him, how do they know you? He simply flashed his dimpled smile and replied, “Ma’am, it’s the show. It’s very popular.”
Giving a blast from the past from Roadies days, she writes about a memorable instance saying, “I remember when he was selected for Roadies Season II and had to travel from Kolkata to Wagah border in the summer of 2004 (yes, just 16 years ago!) he had taken a month’s leave from the school. I remember his then classmate and now wife, Tahira asking me to vote for him. I was just learning to operate the mobile (neither me nor the mobile were smart then) and Tahira taught me how to send the sms. What I am trying to stress here is that Ayushmann had built so much goodwill in the School itself that not only we gave him leave but were also voting for him. The first lesson for upwardly mobile students of today is this, goodwill at home! You need the home turf backing you all the time.”
She mentioned further, “The second lesson here is that wear your success lightly. Even now Ayushmann always sends Teacher’s Day wishes, responds to every request I make such as to promote our School’s media fest, send video messages for his juniors, visit the department whenever possible, and play the guitar for us, record messages for Panjab University’s Community Radio Jyotirgamaya, whatever! He has never refused.”
She adds, “This humility is his appealing quality. He is reaching for the stars but keeping his feet on the ground. This behavior is appealing to his colleagues and some may call it good PR but I would call it Character!”
She also remembered one of his hilarious class presentation moments, “I recall his final Project Presentation to the class. His work was related to T-shirt quotes that were the latest fad amongst youngsters. Although the topic was not related to the cinema at all he managed to squeeze in his favorite topic right in the beginning. He wore a T-Shirt with the print of a crocodile shedding tears, and he began with the mimicry of Rajesh Khanna mouthing his famous dialogue, “Pushpa, I hate tears”. He excelled!”
Wow. Ma'am you took me back to 2006. I miss the previous classroom . Had an old school vibe.🙏🤗 https://t.co/PRkBH0zNiO
— Ayushmann Khurrana (@ayushmannk) February 17, 2020
She also shared a rare document of the weekly lab journal of SCS ‘Student Reporter’ and explained, “This was a write-up Ayushmann wrote for the Weekly journal called, ‘Student Reporter’, brought out by the students of SCS. We bring it out even now and I have preserved most of the issues that I edited.”
She ends on a positive note of being hopeful and praying for the success of all her students. What do you think of her heartwarming article? Tell us!
You can read the entire blog post here.
Cover Image Source- Left