I came across this quote in high school. I had recently been sent to boarding school and was going through awkward adolescence, which was only made worse by a severe case of Tourette Syndrome. This quote thrust me into all the Jack Kerouac that I could get my hands on. During our senior skip day, the eight graduating seniors in my school sat around a table in a small coffee shop in Burlington, Vermont and read Jack Kerouac out loud to each other, each of us moved by a different quote. Jack had a way of making the reader feel understood, something that had deeply touched our adolescent hearts. Years later, as I started looking at my future, this quote stood out as I took my quirky Tourettic self and started doing both stand-up comedy and working with teens who have disabilities. Jack changed the way I viewed getting laughed at, by reading that quote, I felt understood and empowered.

Growing up in a middle class family from Kolkata, India all I learned to study hard, get a job and save money to retire one day peacefully. But at high school, I came across a group of people, inspired by beat generation (Ginsberg, Kerouac et all) and got into little mag publication and third theater. Fast forward 15 years, I am running a company in Singapore, enjoying every day of my life. And yes I lived dangerously last one decade, including running away from home, hitch hiking all over India, Nepal, Tibet and south east Asia. If one quote can change life – that’s the one!

BTW – got the link from your Tumblr.

Good luck!