I do not see into the future; nor do
I care to see. But one vision I see dear as life before
me: that the ancient Mother has awakened once more,
sitting on Her throne rejuvenated, more glorious than
ever. Proclaim Her to all the world with the voice of
peace and benediction..... SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
Talent,
Technology & Tolerance : Dr R A Mashelkar
What
are the three things on the basis of which we can carve out
our future for us in the 21st century? You will always find me
quoting three things by the way. It’s like Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram! In my judgment, they are
three Ts– Talent, Technology and Tolerance. Talent – this is
in evidence here. What India is going
to leverage is this talent -Indian talent. If you know you
look at different countries, they grew because of different
things at different points of time in their history. For
example, the United States of
America – it was roads and railways, Britain – it was textiles, Denmark – milk and milk
products, Sweden
– it was timber and timber products, Middle
East – it was oil. And if you ask me what is the
“oil” for India
in the 21st century, I will say IT and when you
would say Oh! IT means Information Technology. No, I am sorry,
IT means “Indian Talent”- all of you. That’s what is going
to make the 21st century India’s
century.
Then,
of
course, Technology is absolutely transformational. I am not just talking
about what we did in space, defense, atomic energy, etc. but technology
which can make a difference in the lives of the people,
technology that is inclusive, technology that cares for the
under privileged.
How
do
we smartly use that technology? Look at Tata Consultancy
Services (TCS), for example. On one hand, if you go to
Hinjewadi in Pune, you will find there, very proudly, the
fourth fastest super computer in the world. It is developed by 80
young kids. I visited them recently.
This
achievement
has taken place at the top of the ladder. For the bottom of
the ladder, that means for those millions of poor and
illiterate Indians, TCS has developed computer based
functional literacy (CBFL), which can make illiterate women
read a newspaper within 6 to 8 weeks at a cost of just 100
rupees. Entire Medak district in Andhra Pradesh has become
literate by this. More than one lac people have become
literate in six different states – in six different languages. It has been used in South Africa
– with the same astonishing results.
If
we
all launch a National Mission by using computer based
functional literacy, this entire country can become literate
less than five years, not 20 years. And can you imagine what
difference it will make to create that “enlightened democracy”
that I was talking about. So, when I talked about the talent
first and then technology, this technology is not for making
those super computers, which can simulate nuclear explosions,
or which can do the most complex fluid dynamic calculations. But I am talking about a
technology that makes a difference at the bottom of the
pyramid- inclusive technology.
And
the
last is “tolerance”. What is tolerance? Tolerance for
failure, tolerance for risk taking, tolerance for ambiguity.
Today we talk about Silicon Valleys success with great
admiration, but this success is not just because of the talent
and technology that they have but because of the tolerance
that they have. Venture capital flourished there, risk taking
comes naturally there. Venture
capital has assumed the meaning of “adventure” capital there.
Somehow,
we
have become an intolerant society
as far as risk taking and as far as the failure is concerned.
Is there a success without failure? Have you seen a small
child walking without falling? No. But somehow or the other,
we are not tolerant to failure.
I
keep on going back to cricket.
When Ajit Wadekar won the test series in early
seventies against England,
the streets in Bombay
had lined up but just a few years later, when he came back after
losing the series, there was stone throwing! Is it fair? Tolerance, I
think is going to be an essential part, -tolerance for all the
religions, castes, creeds, socially deprived, economically
deprived. So, I believe that the new India that you
have to build is on this solid
fulcrum of talent, technology and tolerance.
Tolerance
for
ambiguity is very critical by the way. If you see the real
story behind Microsoft, somewhere there is a romantic story
about the tolerance for ambiguity. Bill Gates recently got an
honorary doctorate from Harvard and he narrated an experience.
He declared himself as the most successful dropout from Harvard University. Then he
said, in his early days, when the hardware manufacturing was
started by a company in Albuquerque, he phoned them up and
offered to supply them the software, half expecting that they
would keep the phone down because he was just a student, who
was calling. But they did not. They asked him to come after a
month. Bill Gates says. ‘Thank God! They said come back after
a month because I had not actually developed the software’,
when I had called them. So,
you see plenty of ambiguity
here. It is in terms
of what Bill Gates did because he offered the software which
he was yet to develop. And ambiguity in terms of the company
in Albuquerane in accepting the offer by an undergraduate
student - they did not
keep the phone down because he was a student. The rest is
history, the rest is Microsoft, the greatest software company,
which made Bill Gates the richest man in the world. So, I
believe that talent, technology and tolerance are the key to
success.
Join the year long 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda : sv150.org Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari
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