In the last 10 days, I have been with foreign visitors and have had some interesting experiences with them, as I looked at India through Indian eyes or a person who lives in India. I was trying to point out various things that show our economic growth and stability in some ways, pointing out the tall buildings. And I realized that all they would see was the settlement of slums around those tall buildings. I showed them the wonderful bridge that we have connecting Bandra and Worli in Mumbai; they glanced at it and then their eyes settled on the fishing hamlet that was in the area.
I realized that I was almost inoculated or desensitized to some of the things around; that I was looking at things from a perspective of wanting to see growth and good things happening in India. At the risk of that, I was being desensitized to pain and poverty and need.
I was a wake-up call for me because I suddenly realized that it was possible to live in India or one of its metros and not see some of the things that we ought to see: things that should spur us on to generosity, caring for people around us. And I came to this conclusion only through the eyes of a Westerner who was seeing India for the first time. Thinking about that, if our lives are meant to be of any significance, then it can never be about us only. It has to be about people around us. Lives that are lived for significance always see needs around them. It was challenging for me to once again look at things around me and say, "Am I getting desensitized? Am I forgetting that there are needs around me?"
About a year and a half back, I had talked about 'The Last Mile' where I spoke about the difficulty that phone companies had in being able to bridge the gap from the main line into the homes. We need to be doing that; to be able to see through to the people who really need help.
I was on flight to Vishakhapatnam yesterday and found an article in the 'Indian Express' entitled "Reaching the Last Person" by Thomas Friedman which caught my attention. He says, "The key for Prem Kalra, who is the director of the new IIT in Jodhpur, is connecting the 'last person'. The question consuming Kalra is: can the financially worst-off person in India be empowered – that is, be given the basic tools to acquire enough skills to overcome dire poverty?"
That's the big question! That in all that we are doing, the growth opportunities that we see, the money that is there and the influence that we have; is it somehow permeating down to the people who don't have?
I am the eternal optimist when it comes to India. I liken India to a huge tanker. You can't turn a tanker overnight; it will have to do its 180 degrees turn and it takes time to do it. But it's committed to the turn. But being committed to economic growth that will affect only one strata of the community, is not going to help India. That economic growth must reach the last person. Like Kalra says, "The financially worst-off person in India must be empowered – he/she must be given the basic tools to acquire enough skills to overcome dire poverty."
Which is why I like the new tablet Aakash that has been launched by Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of Datawind. Wow! Rs. 1,740/-. That is so easily affordable. It's the point where somebody who is not getting too much money, can save and buy it and have in their hands something that all people at the higher end of society have.
But as I was listening to the interview of Suneet Singh Tuli on one of the network stations, I was so taken aback by the skepticism and arrogance of the questions that were being sent his way. 'Is this of good quality?' 'Is this a con job?' we should be celebrating because it is something that has come which will help, not the people who have, but the people who have not. We're looking at it through wrong lenses. You don't look at a Nano car through the eyes of a Mercedes Benz. There's nothing praiseworthy if you look at the Nano through those eyes except that maybe you can park it in a smaller parking place. You don't look at a cheap fountain pen or a Rs 1/Rs 2 ball pen through the eyes of a Sheaffer or a Mont Blanc. You look at the Nano through the eyes of a cycle, scooter or a motorcycle; and when you do, then it will help you raise aspiration. The Aakash is not the iPad; it cannot be, not at the cost that it is being delivered - $35. It cannot be the iPad. It has to be the poor person's iPad, something that he/she can take around with great pride. If the students around India are going to be the largest workforce in a couple of years, they need to have the tools and the technology that is available for others.
I think it has to do with the lenses that we have.
Thomas Friedman, in this same article, quotes Kalra's wife Urmila who says that after the Aakash was unveiled on Oct.5, her maid who has 2 young children said that she had heard from the night watchman that Mr. Kalra had made a computer that is very cheap; so cheap that even she could afford to buy it. The watchman had given her a picture from the paper and she asked if it was true.
Urmila told her it was true and that the machine was meant for people who could not afford a big computer. "What can you do on it?" she asked me. I said, "If your daughter goes to school, she can use it to download videos of class lessons," just as she had seen my son download physics lectures. She just kept getting more and more wide-eyed. Then she asked me, "Will my children be able to learn English on it?" I said, "Yes, definitely. It will be so cheap you will be able to buy one for your son and one for your daughter."
That conversation is the sound of history changing. It's a conversation that brings aspiration and hope and expectation to the eyes of people who are poor, who believe they can save Rs.200/month and be able to buy a tablet at the end of the year.
I think that's where and how we need to celebrate the small things that are being done and not to look at it with eyes that move from the top, down. We need to be in step with the right direction. I think that things like Aakash are good for India. There are wonderful things that are happening. We can lose sight of this in the midst of all the commercialism and the affluence and the easy availability of iPads and everything else, that something is happening, which is taking a step in the right direction.
I you listen to the late Dr. C.K. Prahlad, it could be that is the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. As millions and millions of people buy the Aakash, it becomes a profitable venture.
But my friends, I really think that you and I need to do a check and see whether we are being desensitized, whether we have lost the connection, whether we have stopped seeing people who don't have around us. We need to be able to look at our lives and say, "I want to be part of the solution, part of doing something that will permeate down to the poorest of the poor. Because until we can bring the poor up, we are not going anywhere as a nation.
Let's ask ourselves today, if we want to be people of significance, we cannot be inoculated and desensitized to pain, poverty and need. We have to reach the last person.
God Bless Us All.
I realized that I was almost inoculated or desensitized to some of the things around; that I was looking at things from a perspective of wanting to see growth and good things happening in India. At the risk of that, I was being desensitized to pain and poverty and need.
I was a wake-up call for me because I suddenly realized that it was possible to live in India or one of its metros and not see some of the things that we ought to see: things that should spur us on to generosity, caring for people around us. And I came to this conclusion only through the eyes of a Westerner who was seeing India for the first time. Thinking about that, if our lives are meant to be of any significance, then it can never be about us only. It has to be about people around us. Lives that are lived for significance always see needs around them. It was challenging for me to once again look at things around me and say, "Am I getting desensitized? Am I forgetting that there are needs around me?"
About a year and a half back, I had talked about 'The Last Mile' where I spoke about the difficulty that phone companies had in being able to bridge the gap from the main line into the homes. We need to be doing that; to be able to see through to the people who really need help.
I was on flight to Vishakhapatnam yesterday and found an article in the 'Indian Express' entitled "Reaching the Last Person" by Thomas Friedman which caught my attention. He says, "The key for Prem Kalra, who is the director of the new IIT in Jodhpur, is connecting the 'last person'. The question consuming Kalra is: can the financially worst-off person in India be empowered – that is, be given the basic tools to acquire enough skills to overcome dire poverty?"
That's the big question! That in all that we are doing, the growth opportunities that we see, the money that is there and the influence that we have; is it somehow permeating down to the people who don't have?
I am the eternal optimist when it comes to India. I liken India to a huge tanker. You can't turn a tanker overnight; it will have to do its 180 degrees turn and it takes time to do it. But it's committed to the turn. But being committed to economic growth that will affect only one strata of the community, is not going to help India. That economic growth must reach the last person. Like Kalra says, "The financially worst-off person in India must be empowered – he/she must be given the basic tools to acquire enough skills to overcome dire poverty."
Which is why I like the new tablet Aakash that has been launched by Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of Datawind. Wow! Rs. 1,740/-. That is so easily affordable. It's the point where somebody who is not getting too much money, can save and buy it and have in their hands something that all people at the higher end of society have.
But as I was listening to the interview of Suneet Singh Tuli on one of the network stations, I was so taken aback by the skepticism and arrogance of the questions that were being sent his way. 'Is this of good quality?' 'Is this a con job?' we should be celebrating because it is something that has come which will help, not the people who have, but the people who have not. We're looking at it through wrong lenses. You don't look at a Nano car through the eyes of a Mercedes Benz. There's nothing praiseworthy if you look at the Nano through those eyes except that maybe you can park it in a smaller parking place. You don't look at a cheap fountain pen or a Rs 1/Rs 2 ball pen through the eyes of a Sheaffer or a Mont Blanc. You look at the Nano through the eyes of a cycle, scooter or a motorcycle; and when you do, then it will help you raise aspiration. The Aakash is not the iPad; it cannot be, not at the cost that it is being delivered - $35. It cannot be the iPad. It has to be the poor person's iPad, something that he/she can take around with great pride. If the students around India are going to be the largest workforce in a couple of years, they need to have the tools and the technology that is available for others.
I think it has to do with the lenses that we have.
Thomas Friedman, in this same article, quotes Kalra's wife Urmila who says that after the Aakash was unveiled on Oct.5, her maid who has 2 young children said that she had heard from the night watchman that Mr. Kalra had made a computer that is very cheap; so cheap that even she could afford to buy it. The watchman had given her a picture from the paper and she asked if it was true.
Urmila told her it was true and that the machine was meant for people who could not afford a big computer. "What can you do on it?" she asked me. I said, "If your daughter goes to school, she can use it to download videos of class lessons," just as she had seen my son download physics lectures. She just kept getting more and more wide-eyed. Then she asked me, "Will my children be able to learn English on it?" I said, "Yes, definitely. It will be so cheap you will be able to buy one for your son and one for your daughter."
That conversation is the sound of history changing. It's a conversation that brings aspiration and hope and expectation to the eyes of people who are poor, who believe they can save Rs.200/month and be able to buy a tablet at the end of the year.
I think that's where and how we need to celebrate the small things that are being done and not to look at it with eyes that move from the top, down. We need to be in step with the right direction. I think that things like Aakash are good for India. There are wonderful things that are happening. We can lose sight of this in the midst of all the commercialism and the affluence and the easy availability of iPads and everything else, that something is happening, which is taking a step in the right direction.
I you listen to the late Dr. C.K. Prahlad, it could be that is the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. As millions and millions of people buy the Aakash, it becomes a profitable venture.
But my friends, I really think that you and I need to do a check and see whether we are being desensitized, whether we have lost the connection, whether we have stopped seeing people who don't have around us. We need to be able to look at our lives and say, "I want to be part of the solution, part of doing something that will permeate down to the poorest of the poor. Because until we can bring the poor up, we are not going anywhere as a nation.
Let's ask ourselves today, if we want to be people of significance, we cannot be inoculated and desensitized to pain, poverty and need. We have to reach the last person.
God Bless Us All.
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