Eight years later...

I am quoting a series of three posts I made to a worldwide KV alumni group. I was then a rebel fresher software engineer, greatly unhappy with the merely writing software for ATMs in the name of Hitachi, instead of building one of our own.  Shades of my then socialist mindset and swadeshi attitude is seen.


With my latest venture SkillVeri shaping up to use tablet based gaming for skill development and training, the destination, road and vehicle mentioned in the last of the three posts have now become clear.


These ideas came a half circle when I joined Vortex, where instead of making software on behalf of an MNC I became part of a team that made the entire ATM fully on innovative Indian technology. With this venture on skill training, I hope to come a full circle and make a difference, in line with the sense of purpose I mentioned in my previous post.


To: <kendriya_vidyalaya@yahoogroups.com>; 
Subject: So Far So Good, What Next? 
Sent: Fri, Dec 3, 2004 8:50:55 AM 


So Far So Good, What next?


India has become an Information Technology superpower, where we have the most brilliant computer professionals. We are also the most preferred back-end office sites in the world. The middle class and upper middle class are increasing in number, and a lot of people are able to ride the wave of IT and IT enabled services, call centres, and make a lot of money.


Fine. So far, so good. But looking from a long term perspective, where are we heading to? Get some degree, speak good English, join a call centre, make money, and spend it – does everything end there? Or take the case of engineers, who, even while in their final semesters, compete and get jobs in the IT industry as software developers irrespective of their branch of specialization, or go on to take an MBA from IiIMs, and work in an MNC. It’s not that their contribution is not good, nor that these are not to be done.  But ultimately, are we not just helping the richer people in developed countries become richer, by sweating out our youth by serving some foreign interest?


Even those who become entrepreneurs, what they do is to break off from some larger company and found their own, get a few contracts from foreign clients, and again continue the same story. The question is when do we Indians start to make our own products? The success of the IT industry proves that we are capable of doing good quality work – only that no company here is ready to take the risk of coming out with a new product. The risky part of conceptualising a new product, designing it, etc is left to foreign entrepreneurs and we are happy doing the low end implementation part – no risks, easy money, just sweat out our youth.


It’s high time our engineers thought beyond joining MNCs and working for foreigners, and begin to innovate for ourselves. Why else should we study all branches of engineering and ultimately end up writing code for others? Why not try and work in the true engineering style, to ‘engineer’ new products of our own? Why not pool our resources and contribute in some manner for a better, self-reliant India?


To: <kendriya_vidyalaya@yahoogroups.com>; 
Subject: Next Steps - Indian Dreams, Not American 
Sent: Mon, Dec 6, 2004 4:51:07 AM 


Next Steps - Indian Dreams, Not American



In my last posting, I pondered extensively on the lack of innovation amongst Indian engineers, and amongst the Indian society as a whole. In our yahoogroup, we’ve discussed on the problems and causes for problems – we are not ready to innovate, nor is the system conducive for any innovation.


But again, blaming the system and not doing anything about it – that has become another characteristic of us Indians. I am not suggesting all of us join politics en masse and fight corruption – just making an appeal to do our bit. The majority of us have American dreams, think (or should I say, know?) that “kuchch bhi nahin sudharega” and pack off to greener pastures at the first chance. A famous politician of a developed country had once remarked, “Ask not what the state did for you, ask what you did for the state”. Had we Indians applied the same principle in our lives, we would have been at their place. Take for instance, the fees we paid at KVs. We paid no tuition fees till 9th standard, from 9th to 12th we paid, as far as I remember, less than $10 a year. In my engineering days, I paid Rs 600 per semester (less than $25 a year). The governments we are so fond of blaming – haven’t they done their part in some way? Where else in the world do we get education so cheap? If they give you scholarship, hey make you work for more than what the pay is worth for. Or like they do in Singapore, they make you sign a bond that you would work for six years in their territory. Wouldn’t there be a hue and cry, if any IITians or IIMian were to be made to work similarly for 6 years before they can look for greener pastures?


The key lies in attitude – the will to stay on and fight the ills of the system.. I have had the fortune to get associated with a person here in Thiruvananthapuram, who, despite all odds and lures of a much higher pay abroad – chose to stay on, that too in government service. He has been able to made his own mark here, and was instrumental in setting up the Friends counter in all district headquarters – a single window system through which common man can pay all his government bills – taxes, electricity bills, exam fees, what not – at a professionally managed, computerized office, where there are no office “babus”.  When I approached him regarding my Industrial Training, he deputed me to Kerala State Vigilance Bureau, who needed a software to be developed for them but didn’t have enough money to pay professionals. So it was a deal – we needn’t pay like my classmates [who paid for their internships], nor the client – a win/win situation. I am happy to think that I saved the exchequer about 1 lakh rupees, and saved a few thousands myself in payments to companies.


This mentor of mine has an Indian dream he shares with all his students – that, instead of blaming the system, we all shall do something about it. In my next and concluding part of this series, I shall put forth a few of his as well as my ideas. In the meantime, please continue to share your views.

From: Sabarinath C Nair <sabs83in@yahoo.com>; 
To: <kendriya_vidyalaya@yahoogroups.com>; 
Subject: Dreams to reality - the million rupee question 
Sent: Wed, Dec 8, 2004 3:56:49 AM 

Dreams to reality - the million rupee question Lack of innovation is not limited to the field of engineering alone. A few years back, we all saw the great Indian epic, “Ramayana” being shown in cartoon network – Indian story, animation engineers from India (Toonz Animation, Technopark, Trivandrum), Indian audience, but Japanese Credits!!! Similarly, it took a British to make a film on Gandhi.

Our younger generation is fed on pokemon, and other cartoon characters, when, in our own mythology we have heroes with same powers of flying, stunt, and penchant for justice enforcement, but nobody to produce them in quality. There is so much risk involved in coming out with something new, they say, but is India not a country with supercharged emotions, where you can find a market for anything irrespective of quality?

During my interactions with many seniors in IT industry, all of them said that Indian companies are far too small to take the risk of making new products. Is that really so? Why can’t Indian MNCs like Infosys and other big shots dedicate, say, 10% of their profits to R & D and research to bring out own products?

We the youth of India should heed the call by the most charismatic of the presidents we ever had, Dr Abdul Kalam, to dream. Because only with dreams we can think of new ideas, many of which may be unrealistic and rebutted initially, but with some effort can be materialized. The Wright brothers were initially ridiculed when they spoke of flying – and remember they started from bicycle workshops.

In my college days we had a marketing competition – where we were to “sell” imaginary products of the future. Such activity should be encouraged, and it is possible to strike really great ideas in such sessions. For projects in the curriculum, engineering students should resolve to implement new ideas rather than copy existing technology. Look around us; think how we can make something new but simple to change/improve the present set up. [I’ve always wished we had a camera that could photograph full 360 degrees, and had even thought out a rough design. ;-)]

Another approach is to look at present technologies and find out cheaper alternatives so as to uplift rural India. The soul of India still lies in its villages, and if we are to become developed, we have to deliver technology to them, at Indian prices affordable to them.

The media, for its part, ought to be more positive in reporting. I am not saying that we ignore the bad things here – we should address them, but it is high time we shake off this tag of ‘land of magicians, beggars and snake charmers’. 

Also, instead on being frustrated on being unemployed, one can think about ways to be self-employed. Of course, it does involve a lot of risk and money.

This is an ambitious journey, of which the destination is well defined, but neither the road nor the vehicle is not clear to me at this stage. Maybe we’ve got to build both the road and the vehicle ourselves. I too suffer from the lack of focus common to many of us, have ideas but don’t exactly know how to go about implementing them. Let us KVians brainstorm and redeem our pledge to the nation

Official Tours & Getting to Know People

It mostly takes a long trip together to get to know a colleague up close – may be it is because during the long journeys there is nothing much to do other than talk to your companion.

The discussions during these trips that last for a few days would bring up facets of the companion which you otherwise would never have found out. Recently I had a trip with my CTO which gave me a lot of insights – I have never spoken for this long with an IITian before, and found out that there is more to them than what Chetan Bhagat writes to earn money.

Another trip with another colleague was equally interesting, and brought in a much closer understanding that would never have come from our professional interactions otherwise. In these kinds of conversations, (if you connect well, that is) you can find out a lot about different points of view, and more about the factors that influence each person’s value system.

My current job profile gives me this opportunity to get to know many such people, and it feels good. Another trip I made was with an ex-IAS officer, who still does work for the betterment of India for no pay, simply out of passion. In times when you hear of more and more multi crore scams everyday in India, such interactions helps keep your hope alive.

Kahan Se Kahan Tak

At school amongst my friends I spoke the worst Hindi. Add to that the fear of being teased by friends whenever I made a mistake, and I seldom attempted to speak in Hindi. At Kendriya Vidyalaya we had to learn Hindi Course A till class 10, which is originally designed for native Hindi speakers. As I went into 11th standard, I thought of Hindi and Biology as good riddance.

Later when I made trips to other parts of the country I did realize the language's importance and advantage over English in many parts of the country. In many occasions, out of compulsion I became more and more confident of speaking in Hindi.

The culmination of all this happened recently when I was in Maharashtra which uses a common script with Hindi and uses Devnagari digits instead of the international numerals. Since I had no choice, I re-learnt what I had chosen not to study in my school days. Finally, at a function I made a full fledged presentation speaking in Hindi. My hindi teacher would have been proud!

The Taming of a Wild Elephant

The temple elephant who had recently tasted wilderness has been tamed. It was after I finished an assignment for a client, who was earlier the president of a company I had worked for earlier that he'd asked me whether I would like to join full time.


The role was into marketing of Indian made ATMs for the semi urban and rural markets - giving me a profile I was wanting to do for a long time. The very reason I had done an MBA was that I wanted to get out of IT, and this role would finally take me into a non IT technology marketing. Thus, the ten percent driving factor has also been taken care of :-)


The icing on the cake is that I get to travel to many places in India.

One of my friends told me the analogy: that a regular employee is a Temple Elephant, whereas a freelance consultant is a wild elephant.

The temple elephant gets enough food at regular intervals, but is a slave to the temple authorities; whereas the wild elephant has to find food on his own from the forest, but he is his own master.

I can endorse this analogy 100% as I too became a wild elephant.

Gurudakshina

Since I have met one of my school teachers and spoken over phone to another two in the last three days, it is time now for another nostalgic post.

The teacher I met taught me maths at Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV). I and my friends were 'outstanding' students in more than one way - in the same period, we would get praised for quickly solving a tough maths problem (outstanding), and soon be sent out of the class as punishment for talking in the class (standing out).

One of the other teachers I spoke to today was our class teacher in tenth standard. She is one of the most sportive teachers I have ever met. Once one of my artistically gifted classmates had drawn a picture of devil on the blackboard. He couldn't erase the picture before this teacher came to class. When she sat down on her chair, the picture was directly behind her and the whole class started laughing. She turned at look at the picture and asked, "Is that me?" "Yes ma'am", the whole class replied, though the artist never meant it that way. "Good drawing skills" was her remark, without any anger. In contrast, out physics sir would have given a sound thrashing to the poor chap, and the whole class would have to listen to a lecture on 'showing respect to teachers'. How ironical that by her reaction she more than won our respect.

Looking back, I realise that this same teacher was also one who practiced management principles in school (we didn't realise it then - performance based incentives, mentoring, 360 degree performance appraisal, etc were unknown terms to us then). Our seating arrangement in the class was decided by her as the class teacher - anyone who scored full marks in maths uni test (the subject she taught) could have a seat of his/her own choice till the next unit test - performance incentive. She arranged students in such a way that a bright student was seated next to a no-so-bright student, so that the brighter students could mentor the others. At any point in time during her class, if anyone felt that she was not teaching properly, or was deviating from the topic, one could raise his/her hand and tell it openly (360 degree performance appraisal).

Today I spoke to her after many years as I had got her number only 2 days back. I could feel the excitement in her voice. I asked her how it was at the KV she taught now. "It's the same... every year old faces pass out and new faces come in. Once in a while I get calls from old students, which makes me happy. Hearing from old students - that is the best gift you can give to your teachers".

I dedicate this post to all the teachers who helped me make who I am. My parents give full credit to my teachers for all the marks I scored in school, as I seldom studied at home.

The Guru

No, this post is not a film review of Mani Ratnam's latest offering. It is about an evening well spent, with one of the few people whom I consider as my Guru, one of the few teachers who has inspired me.

I met him yesterday in connection with getting a recommendation letter for admission to one of the universities. Once we were done with it, we had small chit chat, general enquiries about my batchmates, work, life, everything. I'd always loved listening to him, mostly because he has a different outlook towards everything - one of the few people who still resists using a cellphone - and, that, on many counts, I found his views to be strikingly similar to mine.

He said he played badminton with some of his students in the evening, invited me over to a game in the makeshift badminton court he had made in front of his department building. I happily joined him, teamed up with him for a couple of doubles matches against his other students, and promptly lost!

After the game, we both went back to his office to cool down for a while, before taking a walk to next bus stop outside the university. We had tea and snacks from a small shop there, continuing with our general discussions, and about my higher studies plans. When we were done with our snacks, we together took a bus to the city.

It was an evening very differently spent than my routine days in the infotech industry, but I enjoyed every moment of it. There he was, a senior professor and director of a research centre, with me, doing all those simple things, like playing a game or chit chat over tea and parippu vada in a small kerala tea shop. But then, to me, it is these simple things in life that give me joy, spending quality time with people I admire.