Danja hiari on the powers of [Applause] [Music] Association I can still remember the first time I got arrested I was uh 18 years old I was arrested uh for aggravated assault and battery um the first time not the last time right the first time uh to tell you tell you a little little history about how I got arrested I need to take you way back uh to when I was a kid um I grew up near a school well in a school by the Sea um I learned the ones and twos of being a man
in the mount lenia Beach I learned the A's and B's of becoming great by my bigger brothers and fellow brothers uh of St Thomas's College mount lenia my brother who was also in my school uh decided one day to uh leave college and join an International School uh and because he was not doing too well with the local curriculum he goes to school on the first day and comes back and tells me uh Aya or brother couple of guys came around today and uh pushed me around and actually bullied me a little bit and I'm
like don't worry don't worry we do that to royalists all the time and I said yeah just go back to school and and and see what happens on the second day he goes back on the second say come back comes back again now more worried than the first day and says look it happened to me today as well now being an elder brother I was a little bit concerned but I told him look look just go one more time and he goes back on the third day and comes back home with a black eye now
I was never good in academics we all thought academics was for the pretty boys um we were a rag tag bunch of people uh I had friends by the name of donga maca topa uh and so you you can imagine the picture the the you know the group of the PE people I hanged out with so I I said I went up to Mecca and I said meca listen we need to uh do a little trip to this other school couple of guys are actually bullying my brother we need to we need to head over
over there and yeah Ma much I don't worry about it let me get the gang all together and uh I'll take care of it so School finishes up I come out of the main gate and I have about I only wanted Five Guys now there 50 people out there uh the swimming team the rugger team the kiting platoon the whole guys so what we do uh we get a couple of tkts put everyone over there and we cut off to this other school until I got there no one told me it was in front of
a police station so we jump out of the the the vehicles bang assault the gate some guys jump over the gate and before you know it uh it took the cops 15 minutes but uh 10 squad cars surround us 10 of us got caught carted away into the reman cell and chucked in now we were a tough Bunch we were not afraid of the cops but there was one person we were all afraid of and that was my mother raise your hand if you have an emotional mother raise your hand I just want to take
a look emotional moms emotional moms yeah okay put them all together you get my mom I could hear her screaming outside the police station uh and and I knew oh my God hell has broken loose she comes to the cage keeps her hands on the bars looks at me tears in our eyes and says son did I raise you to be this now now mothers cry two types of Tears first are tears of sadness and two are tears of Shame now when a son sees a mother Cry tears of Shame that's a lifechanging moment for
those of you who have experienced it I looked at my life and I realized I'm not going anywhere I mean it didn't help the very following day I got uh my a level advanced level results I didn't get 3 a I didn't get three b's I didn't get three C's and I didn't get three SS now something strange that happens in Sri Lanka is you know unless you get into a university you're like left in the dark all of my friends got into foreign universities uh Leicester Harvard Oxford even MAA got into a university I'm
like how did you do it and here I am or left all alone uh in Sri Lanka and I start going into a depression um watch tv go to sleep watch TV go to sleep completely lost I mean this situation is faced by kids in Sri Lanka I mean unbelievable my dad walks into the room and says son okay you know all right that's all right you couldn't get into a university that's fine uh but there is this exam called Cima right and that's started Institute of Management accountants why don't you start doing cim and
I'm like yeah why not you know I mean I'm I'm pretty good at accounting though I have never tried it in my life and I start doing this exam and the only thing that happened was I lost my hair I'm going to the classes sitting the exam failing sitting the exam failing sitting the exam failing you know now I call it it's the exam you do when you fail a levels so it wasn't working out I go back into my depression now you know and everyone's now getting them themselves educated danari in the room my
mother walks into the room and says son okay you tried your luck at this professional exam that's fine you know we understand um what I want to do something as a family uh why don't we do dancing and I'm like you know you know I'm only used to the big match Style dancing you know I was what we doing I'm like okay yeah dancing sounds good so my mom puts me in the car uh 4:30 Sunday normally I sleep at that time uh I was a bit hesitant takes me to this dance studio called rhythm
world and as I entered the door my mind was blown I saw people doing The Jive the chaa the sambba the Ramba I was like wow I've never seen this before and in the middle of the down Studio there was this short girl very thin sharp features pointed chin shouting out in instructions and that's when I met the first person that would change my life forever shiromi Pereira she comes up to me looks me dead in the eye and says son I see something in you but I don't know what it is if you can
come here once a week maybe maybe we could find that something and I'm like why wow no one has ever told me they see something in me and now I start dancing I do the Chacha I know I'm Jing you know I'm doing the walls the rumar the tango now my life has become dancing and I had set my mind that I was going to be a professional dancer Ballroom dancer I even had a card danari dancer will dance for free and and and and I I I do this for about 8 months and and
now I'm convinced my life is to be a dancer one day my dad walks into the room again and say son we are very proud of you you managed to stick on to something I hear that you want to be a dancer not exactly the plan I had in mind for you but that's fine that's fine would you also like to start working and I'm like yeah yeah that's great that's great I'm thinking my dad is going to uh pull some connections get me uh under a CEO or MD as a personal assistant I didn't
mind yeah carrying around files no problem no problem now I'm imagining my boss 6 ft tall dark long hair 6in skirt high heels and now man I'm looking forward to meeting my boss I wake up on Monday my dad puts me in the car and takes me to number nine Suna place if you guys haven't been to number number n s place you need to go to number n s place we pull up at this abandoned house there is moss growing on the walls cobwebs outside my dad asks me to get out I thought he
was dropping a parcel off little did I know he was dropping me off I get down from the car I go in to this Hall very dark have you seen those you know in in the old detective movies you see the lamp coming down from the ceiling and it becomes a triangle have you seen those lamps yeah you know a couple of those um I I take a Winding Road take a turn to my right I see an open Toilet an open kitchen and a thick wood oak door I open the door and I see
a office room I was relieved inside the office room I see a bed then I see a huge table and behind the table there is a huge man where wearing a banan big holes and the school boy shorts we used to wear you know the blue color ones can you remember guys yeah the bigger version of it and he smiles and I realize he doesn't have teeth my dad is like Anon I want you to meet my fellow this is the fellow I was talking to you about I want you to make him a man
and I'm like Dad please don't leave me here I shall do anything you want and my dad leaves and there I was looking at a strange man looking at me looking at him with a bed in his office he looks at me and then says son I see something in but I don't know what it is if you can come here once a week maybe maybe we can find that something and that was my introduction to Anton samur singer the second person that changed my life forever all I did for that year was cook for
him clean for him and wash his car every day 365 days a year didn't get paid a single scent but at 5:00 every evening he used to lie down on his bed and asks me to sit down and he used to tell me these Amazing Stories uh and we used to have this dialogue and I used to ask him sir how do you be successful how do you fall in love how do you get a girlfriend how do you become great you know uh how do you be powerful how do you discover yourself and and
we used to have this whole discussion storytelling and I still consider that to be my first education uh at the end of the year Anton comes up to me and says son I've taught you everything I need to teach you now it's time for you to go and I'm like but sir I don't want to go you don't have to pay me I'll still cook and clean for you and and I asked him this one question I asked him sir how do you become great he looks at me and says tancha it's very simple just
dream about it think about it and live it every single day of your life little did I know then that that was the day I got permission to dream I became a dream of that day now back at home I'm still pursuing my dream of becoming a dancer and as usual who walks into my room my dad he comes to me and says son we are very proud of you not only have you done dancing now you have managed to stick on to a job for one year fantastic there is this place called Toast Masters
would you like to go there and I'm like I have never heard of this word before Toast Masters what is it and it sounded like a place where you eat so I was like okay fine I love going there let's go and wearing a rubber slippers jeans and a b b Simpson t-shirt I go to the toast Master's meeting and I could still remember that day I was uh on the hallway and I saw a plywood door little did I know then that once I walked through this door my life would change in ways that
I could have never imagined little did did I know then that the people in that room would play a part in changing my destiny in ways I could never have imagined I opened the door and I stepped inside and my world was open to some amazing people there was uh speakers onto my left there was speakers to my right um beautiful people people with character and stature and in the middle of it all there was a very short man very short man a very unassuming guy but there was a strange glow that was coming out
of him uh a sort of an alchemist a wizard of sorts so I sit there and this guy comes up to me and asks me son what's your name and I said sir my name is Dana and he looks me dead in the eye and he says son I see something in you but I don't know what it is if you can come here once a month maybe we could find that something and that was my introduction to arunas Salam balj a man that has changed my life so many ways and I start speaking I
start speaking and I and I realized wow I just discovered a new Talent other than dancing uh I can still remember in the Toast Masters Club people kept asking me what are you doing I used to pull out my card and say I'm a dancer brother I dance for free um and and and now I'm dancing and I'm speaking dancing and I'm speaking and I can still remember in 2006 I took part in my first ever uh International contest it was called South Asia's best speakers contest and I had this speech already it was called
uh appeal to the nation and there was a fellow competitor who was speaking as well and she's a very close friend of mine and a fantastic speaker maheshi prma singer amazing and she was doing a speech on Woody Woodpecker appeal to the nation Woody wood Becker I mean come on and I'm like I'm going to win this I get on stage I do a thundering speech and I'm like wow I've got this in the bag I step down go to the pool do a swim eat lunch come back for the award ceremony fourth place winner
some guy from India third place winner someone from Pakistan um second place winner someone from India again first runner up another Indian and I'm thinking look maheshi wasn't that bad she should have at least got second place before I could finish thinking first place winner maheshi prasing Woody wood pcka you know how in movies when you're about to faint your whole world starts to black out it really happens um you know I suddenly realized man I've wasted my my life made a fool of myself here I am again no education no job just went up
on stage made a fool of myself I could remember I was making a beline to the exit and during my speech there was a small place where I did a salute to the Armed Forces who was fighting the 30-year war in Sri Lanka and as I walked to the exit I saw a little girl uh following me as the elevator doors closed up I saw her doing something with her hands and I noticed that she was doing that salute I could still remember that day and it was it it it made me think that wow
you know maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel I go back home and I go to sleep completely lost I wake up in the morning to check my email and back in the day you didn't get a lot of emails if you're lucky you got one if you're very lucky you got three forwards um and there was this one email by an address called Solutions at.net and I opened that email and there it read dear Danja being a tough man still I cried listening to your speech it reminded me of how
I led a group of young men just like you into the jungles of Ria to save our country I'm so happy that people like you people like in your generation remember our sacrifices and it read at the bottom the true Mark of a champion is to bounce back when you hit rock bottom and I had hit rock bottom 6 months go by and I get a call from my club president and um his name was lad dalata he gives me a call and he says Danja look I know you didn't do well in the cont
contest but there is this International contest called the world tape speech contest happening I asked him what it is he said the best speaker of each Club records their tape sends it to the US and a panel of Judges listen to the tapes and picks one winner out of 13,000 people would you like to take part I immediately kept the phone um the very next day again Mr Bal Raj gives me a call and he says danan I want you to take part take part for me and I'm like okay all right sir I'll take
part for you so I put my 110% I record my speech lelan dalata posts the speech to the USA by his own money 3 months go by I get a call Saturday morning 7:30 Danja are you up I said lanat I'm obviously not up at 7:30 in the morning on Saturday but listen to me you just won the world tape speech contest you're the only Sri Lankan to win this yeah only Sri Lanka to win this Get Ready Get Ready To Fly to the USA now first time on a plane I had heard back in
college When We Were Young that as you go to First Class the air hostesses get naked now I'm looking man not happening on this plane the air hostess comes up to me and says sir can I give you some peanuts and so I asked is it for free and she says yes it's for free then give me three I get down on the USA and I was taken to Hilton sweet champagne um I go down to the bar to get a glass of water because I was on a budget and every time you break a
bottle at Hilton that's $5 so I go down to the bar to get a glass of water and I ask the barman can I have a glass of water the bomman asks me do you want flat water or sparkling water I'm like where I come from there's only one type of water just to tell you how naive I was back in the day I came back that year um in the same conference I uh I'm I'm called on stage president's dinner dance and awarded the title in front of three 3,000 people and and you know
the dinner dances in the US are fantastic the only contingent that was not dancing was the Sri Lankan contingent because there was no baa but I suddenly remembered I knew how to dance dancers have this amazing thing they could look around the floor and pick another dancer I looked around and my eyes fell on the Chinese contingent there was a Chinese girl looking at me looking at her I went up to her I give her my hand and then we started Ving the the entire night when I stopped there was a whole queue there was
a whole queue of women waiting to dance with me I'm the only Sri Lankan I'm the only Sri Lankan to dance with a woman from each continent in one [Applause] night you know I come back a changed man I come back a chang man I had I had discovered my power and and through the people I Associated they were able to channel my power into something useful ladies and gentlemen you all have power but power is useless without a aim without a proper purpose sometimes we can't discover that Talent within us but sometimes the people
around us they can help us find that Talent find that power because when I look at you I see something something in you but I don't know what it is maybe maybe the people in your life the people you associate maybe they can help you find that power and challenge it to something great thank [Applause] you thank you
