Inspired...

Once in a while a day comes...a special day. It was today for me.

Raghunath Mashelkar came to my college. Who is he? He is a motha manoos as we say in Marathi. How big? He holds twenty nine doctorates. He was the director of csir for 12 yrs or so. He is the scientific advisor to the prime minister of India. He is a fellow of the royal society. I don’t remember other details but he has a terrific personality for a sixty five year oldie.

He came, he captured. He inspired nearly a thousand in an hour and left in awe still more. It was his knowledge and way of putting forward ideas that captured everyone's mind. He literally left the audience spellbound.

He kept stressing over and over again that the future lied in the youth of the world. And that came from a man who himself is sixty five years old. He is a proud Indian, he said. Oh yes, he is.

He fought for turmeric and neem patents for the country. But that did not make him special. His opponent was the U.S.A. That made the effort a commendable one.

He was happy that India is a land of ideas. But felt sad for U.S. being the land of opportunities. The real challenge, he said, lies in making India the Land of Opportunities.

He very rightly pointed out that the real battle for Indians like us is that between the mind and the mindset. Our mind is raring to go into the revolution era but our mindset is dragging us backwards. We should learn to take risks he pointed out.

The sanctions imposed by other nations after nuclear tests are not so detrimental to the progress of our nation as the sanctions we put on ourselves. Because, the country which imposed sanctions after the tests is now willing to sign a civil nuclear treaty with us and sees us as a strategic ally.

He challenged the budding engineers with the problems of the ‘Lower and lower-middle sections’ of the ‘pyramid’. He emphasized that I.T. did not only stand for information technology but also, as he saw it, for Indian Talent.

He cited the example of Mr. Kohli from TCS who has developed the computer based fundamental learning programme for eradicating illiteracy. The programme has shown promise in its initial stages in five states of India. An entire district of India has been made literate.

As I came out of the auditorium I felt amazing. I had a feeling of I can do it and I will do it, whatever it takes.

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