Life Stories to Inspire: Indra Nooyi CEO, PepsiCo Ever wonder how to be influential and reach the top

p of the world? Heres the inspiring story of CEO of PepsiCo and the Fortune / Time magazines most influential women in the world the Chennai born Indra Krishnamoorthy Nooyi: Its a simple story of a powerful woman. A story of an Indian girl who came from conservative Chennai to pursue higher studies in the US with little money and no safety net. If she failed, she failed. A story of this determined girl, who while studying in Connecticut, worked as a receptionist from midnight to sunrise to earn money and struggled to put together US$50 to buy herself a western suit for her first job interview out of Yale, where she had just completed her masters. Incidentally, she wasnt comfortable trying out a formal western outfit and ended up buying trousers that reached down only till her ankles. Rejected at the interview, she turned to her professor at the school who asked her what she would wear if she were to be in India. To her reply that it would be a sari, the professor advised her to be yourself and stick to what she was comfortable with. She wore a sari for her next interview. She got the job and has followed this philosophy for the rest of her career. Shes been herself, never tried to change her basic beliefs, derived strength from her traditions and believed in who she is. As she says, Im so secure in myself, I dont have to be American to play in the corporate life. She worked hard and in time was counted as one of the most powerful women in the world by Forbes. In this edition of My Story we present Indra Nooyi, President & Chief Financial Officer PepsiCo, Inc a story that is both inspiring in its simplicity and grand in its achievement. It all began years ago in Chennai, where she studied hard in school to get her grades. She remembers how her mother would, after meal every day ask Indra and her sister what would they like to become when they grew up. They would come up with different ideas and their mother would reward the best idea each day. It forced Indra to think and dream for herself. It was this dream that led her to be a part of the 11th batch of IIM Kolkata. After two years of work with Johnson & Johnson and Mettur Beardsell in India, it was this fiery urge that took her to America in 1978, when she left India with barely any money to pursue a management degree from the prestigious Yale Graduate School of Management. Starting off with Boston Consulting Group in 1980, she knew it would be harder work for her than others for two reasons one, she was a woman and two, she wasnt an American but an outsider. She spent six years directing international corporate strategy projects at the Boston Consulting Group. Her clients ranged from textiles and consumer goods companies to retailers and specialty chemicals producers. Six years later, she joined Motorola in 1986 as the vice-president and director of corporate strategy & planning. She moved to Asia Brown Boveri (ABB) in 1990 and spent four years as vice president (corporate strategy & planning). She was part of the top management team responsible for the companys U.S. business as well as its worldwide industrial businesses, generating about one-third of ABBs $30 billion in global sales.
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An interesting tale surrounds her joining PepsiCo in 1994. At that time she also had an offer from General Electric, one of the worlds best run companies under Jack Welch. The Pepsi CEO Wayne Callloway, in a bid to lure her, told her, Jack Welch (GEs legendary boss) is the best CEO I know, and GE is probably the finest company. But I have a need for someone like you, and I would make PepsiCo a special place for you. Nooyi agreed. She broke the glass ceiling when she was appointed senior vice president, corporate strategy and development after joining PepsiCo in 1994 but she knew that getting there was one thing while staying there was another. As she says, If you want to reach the top of a company, I agree that it can only happen in the United States, but you have to start off saying that you have got to work twice as hard as your (male) counterparts. Not only did she work harder than her counterparts, she also made her way up the ladder to become President and Chief Financial Officer of PepsiCo, and was also appointed as a member of board of directors of PepsiCo Inc which she assumed in 2001. Nooyi was 44 when she joined PepsiCo. Ever since, she has been involved in every major strategic decision the company has made in the last few years. That includes the drive to spin off PepsiCos fast food chain in 1997, acquiring Tropicana in 1998, and the US$ 13 billion move to acquire Quaker Oats. PepsiCo chief Roger Enrico announced her elevation following the Quaker acquisition saying, Indras contributions to PepsiCo have been enormous and she will make a great President. In addition to her new role as President and CFO, Indra will also be nominated for election to the Pepsi board. She is a terrific addition to our world-class board and her perspective will be invaluable. Indra attributes a lot of Pepsis success to its great employees. She believes that a company remains great when there is a strong competitor, like Coke. She believes if you have no competition, a company will atrophy. Nooyi has a unique formula that keeps her work-life balance. She feels that you must have an extended family at work to give you that balance. To keep a company running at top speed, you need to attract the best employees. At PepsiCo she has ensured that employees actually balance life and work. She views PepsiCo as an extended family and everybody at the company is there to help in every way possible. Sometime ago, when Indra was travelling, her daughter would call the office to ask for permission to play Nintendo. The receptionist would know the routine and ask: Have you finished your homework? Have you had your snack? OK, you can play Nintendo for half an hour. She then left a voice message for Indra saying I gave Tara permission to play Nintendo. Unheard of in most corporations, its a team Indra has built up at PepsiCo which knows each other so well. Despite the monumental successes of her career, Indra Nooyi remains a quintessentially Indian woman who has combined the high-octane energy of her job with the calm, collected demeanour required to manage the equally central responsibility of a mother and a wife. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Fairfax county, Connecticut. If you ever
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visit her Connecticut home, do remember to take your shoes off before entering. If you forget, at least remember to take them off before entering the large puja room where a diya is lit and the inviting air of incense greets you. She keeps an image of Ganesha in her office, and in fact, some PepsiCo officials visited India and received similar images besides being told of the Hindu belief about Ganesha being the symbols of auspicious beginnings. Many of them now keep images of Ganesha in their offices! Nooyi attends PepsiCo board meetings in a sari; for she believes the corporate world appreciates people who are genuine. At work, Nooyi is in the pressure cooker world of intriguing business manoeuvres and frenetic multi-million dollar moves but when she enters her home, it is like entering a sanctuary of calm. She says Carnatic music plays in their home 18 hours a day, and the feeling is much like being in a temple. Does she think her religious convictions help her to do a better job in the corporate world? I dont know about a better job, but it certainly makes me calm, she says. There are times when the stress is so incredible between office and home, trying to be a wife, mother, daughter-in-law and corporate executive. Then you close your eyes and think about a temple like Tirupati, and suddenly you feel HeyI can take on the world. Hinduism floats around you, and makes you feel somehow invincible. Is it tough being a mother and a corporate executive? Nooyi admits it is difficult, You can walk away from the fact that youre a corporate executive, but you cant walk away from the fact that you are a mother. In terms of being a mother and a corporate executive, the role of mother comes first. She believes that her husband has been a great source of strength for her. Adds Nooyi on a perkier tone, Always pick the right husband. I have a fantastically supportive husband. What sees her through tough times? My family and my belief in God. If all else fails, I call my mother in India when shes thereand wake her up in the middle of the nightand she listens to me. And she probably promises God a visit to Tirupati! Nooyi has always seen the world through the prism of her mothers faith and beliefs and calls her the guiding light in her life. http://smarttechiejournal.wordpress.com/2008/01/27/69/

http://archives.chennaionline.com/Columns/BigAppleBite/article08.asp

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Indra Nooyis mantra for success Indra Nooyis career at Pepsico began in 1994 as senior vice-president of Corporate Strategy and Development and she has been credited with shaping Pepsicos current focus on the convenient foods and beverages business, influencing the companys $ 3.3 billion acquisition of Tropicana, the juice company, in 1998, among other achievements. From her roots in Chennai, where she grew up, Indra Nooyi hitched her career aspirations to a star and has emerged as one of the most recognised icons of corporate success to originate from India, being cited among rankings of global corporate achievers for the past few years. At the banquet hosted by the Indian organisation, Indra Nooyi was invited to impart her formula for success, where she elucidated five principals that she has adhered to. Sounding neither pompous nor platitudinous, she expounded her panch sheel before a rapt and admiring audience, illustrating her counsel with recollections from her life, often mixed with wit and humour, at times self-deprecating, yet delivered with aplomb. She began her discourse with the exhortation that there are no limits to what you can do, but cautioned the audience not to let others define the concept of success for them, adding, Not even me. In Indra Nooyis regard, success isnt money, prestige, or power because net worth can never define self worth. True success is being happy with yourself, is being fulfilled. And that comes from devoting your time, your life, to doing what you love the most. The core of the concept of success lies in knowing what you want to do in life and those who have triumphed at figuring out that issue should consider themselves tremendously blessed, she explained. Such advice does not seem simplistic, coming from a business leader with verve, like Indra Nooyi, who reportedly balances and blends her corporate role with her other talents that include playing the guitar and singing, skills that she presumably developed as part of an all-girl rock band while attending college in India. Indra Nooyi graduated with a bachelors degree in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry from Madras Christian College in 1976, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, in 1978, and a masters degree from Yale University in Public and Private Management in 1980. Her corporate experiences include positions at Motorola that began in 1986 and led to her becoming vice-president of Corporate Strategy and planning in that company between 1988-90 and at Asia Brown Boveri, as senior vice-president and director of Corporate Strategy and Strategic Marketing between 1990-94. In elucidating the attributes of success, Indra Nooyi commenced with the advice, Aim high and put your heart into it, recalling that while growing up with her sister, her mother who
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is one of her greatest role models, would have them deliver a post prandial speech every night, on what they wanted to be, whether it was the president of India, prime minister or chief minister of a state, following which, she would cast her vote for the winner, the reward being a small piece of chocolate. On hindsight, Indra Nooyi believed it was formative in instilling confidence and ambition in them. Whats important is trying to be the best and working to get there. And thats how you fulfil your potential, she averred. The next rule of success, according to Indra Nooyi, is to never stop learning regardless of ones age, and such learning should not be restricted to academic knowledge, but be supplemented with street smarts and being aware of matters and issues in the real world. Keep that natural curiosity, she advised, as she described her practice, in her present job, of going on market tours and walking the grocery stores, for at least half-a-day, a week, to understand the competition. Another corollary to success, is to keep an open mind, said Indra Nooyi, in addressing the Indian-American community. Its a multi cultural world out there and we all have to interact with people who are differentSuccess comes with reaching out and integrating with the communityand giving back to the communities and neighbourhoods, more than what you took out of them, she implored. An important attribute of success is to be yourself, according to the PepsiCo president. In illustrating the rule, she humorously recounted a learning experience when she was a graduate student at Yale University, seeking her first summer job, because she had no money to live on. She purchased a $ 50 business suit from the local budget store and attended a job interview looking like the ultimate country bumpkin in her ill-fitting clothes and shod in garish orange snow boots, that her appearance elicited a collective gasp(of horror) from people there. When she tearfully consulted her Career Development Counsellor about her sartorial snafu, the latter advised her to wear a sari for her next interview, assuring Indra Nooyi that, if they cant accept you in a sari, its their loss, not yours. She recalled that she not only wore a sari for her next interview with a very prestigious management consulting firm and clinched the job, but continued to wear them to work all summer and did just fine. She insists, Never hide what makes you. The central pillar of success rests on three important factors, which Indra Nooyi cites as, family, friends and faith Prosperity and comforts notwithstanding, when things look bleak and uncertain, its your family, friends and faith that pull you through.And when Im wrestling with change in my life, good or bad, the first place I turn to, is my religion. I tell you, it really helps, she averred. Invoking the image of the kalpa taru, or the wish-fulfilling tree in Hindu mythology, Indra Nooyi expressed the opinion that the Indian-American community is already living that dream and that now its up to us to make the best of what weve been given.

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Success story of dish washer who became a dosa king. Coming from a poor background, in Tamil Nadus Tuticorin district, Prem Ganapathy had no choice but to abandon his dreams for higher studies, in order to support his family and siblings. After Ganapathy completed his tenth standard, he did not want to study further. My teacher told me that I should continue studying but I told her frankly that I do not want to study. We had lot of financial problems so I wanted to work and earn money, help my family. Even getting water and firewood was an arduous task. We had to walk miles to get water and firewood, says Ganapathy. His father had a tobacco business which ended in a loss. He also incurred huge losses in the farm. With seven children, his parents struggled to make ends meet. The Mumbai saga He first started out doing odd jobs in Chennai, which fetched Rs 250 a month. He met a young boy who promised him a good job in Mumbai. He said if I pay him Rs 200, I would get job with a salary of Rs 1,200. I wanted to leave but knew my parents would not let me go. I was only 17 years old then. So I left Chennai without informing my parents, says Ganapathy. They got down at Mumbais Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, a place where thousands of migrants land every day in search of a better livelihood. I was scared but I was willing to take the risk. We took a local train to Bandra and I was eagerly waiting to see where I would begin my new career. He took me to a tea shop and vanished. My worst fears came true. He had just dumped me there, Ganapathy reminisces. There was no job as the man promised. Instead he was abandoned in Bandra, a Mumbai suburb. Hunger was his only companion when he roamed the streets of Mumbai in search of a job. But this boy did not lose hope, he decided to stay back and fight for survival. My father instilled in me a lot of positive energy. This is what kept me going strong. I have tried to see an opportunity in every loss. The first job It was the most unforgettable day in his life. He could not speak Hindi, he did not know anyone in the city nor did he have any money. Finally, he met a friendly taxi driver and told him his story. He took pity on me and said they can collect some money and send him home. The train fare was Rs 121 then. But I said I will not go back home. I will do some work and live here. I
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slept in the temple compound till I found a job in a bakery in Mahim to clean pizza-baking vessels. I used to sleep in the shop itself, he says. After working there for six months, he found another job, to deliver pizza bread to a hotel in Chembur. Later, he moved to Navi Mumbai where he started working as a dishwasher in a restaurant called Gurudev. As a Tamilian, I faced discrimination in the beginning. We were given only kitchen work to do. After a while, I started to move out of the hotel, to give tea/coffee to shopkeepers around that area. I used to earn Rs 1,000, three times more than the other boys as this service was based on a commission basis, he says. A sincere worker Ganapathy was meticulous and sincere in his work. Unlike others, he never got into squabbles with anyone. I used to keep a note of every persons requirement, some wanted strong tea, some wanted it without sugar. So I established a good rapport with the outside world. One person who had a small business saw that I was enterprising and hard working so he suggested that we open a food stall on the street on a joint partnership. He invested the money and told me to do the work and he promised me half of the profit, he says. The stall near the market area did good business. But the person duped him. He refused to give Ganapathy any share of the profit as promised and said he would give only Rs 1,200 as salary. So he called off the partnership and decided that it is best to do something on his own. The food stall business Ganapathy realised that starting a food stall would be the best way to earn good money. Two years after he landed in Mumbai, in 1992, he went back home, got his brothers to help him. I borrowed some money from friends and rented a handcart for Rs 150. It was really difficult in the initial days. Many times, the municipality vans used to come and pick our handcart. But I was very positive and determined. I never gave up hope, says Ganapathy. I scored on account of cleanliness and the variety of food I offered. I got the recipes from my mother and brought the masala from my village. . . so the food I offered had a distinct flavour, which made it an instant hit. A turning point Finally, in 1998, Ganapathy decided to take a kiosk outside the Vashi railway station in Navi Mumbai to open the first outlet called Prem Sagar Dosa Plaza. Fortunately he got good response from the first day itself. I added more variety to the menu. Along with his dosa
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outlet, I also tried my luck by investing in a Chinese restaurant, but it flopped. However, I tried to add the Chinese flavour in the dosas, which worked very well, he says. His experiments with dosas resulted in exotic varieties like American Chopsuey, Schezwan Dosa, Paneer chilly, Spring roll dosa to name a few. Within a year, Dosa Plaza had created 25 original varieties of dosas. In 2003, a new mall called Centre One opened in Vashi. The people from mall management team who knew me suggested that I open an outlet in the mall. So Prem Sagar Dosa Plaza joined the big league of restaurants to open a swanky outlet in the mall which attracted a lot of attention. Dosa Plaza has indeed become a runaway success. Today, Dosa Plaza has 35 outlets across 10 states in India with a turnover of over Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million). His biggest recognition came when his story was published in Rashmi Bansals book Connect the Dots as one of 20 best enterprising individuals without an MBA. Any regrets on not studying? Well, not at all. But speaking in English becomes difficult when I go abroad. Other than that I dont think I would have learned so much in any school. My experience has been my biggest teacher, he says. He has risen from humble dishwasher to owner of the fast food chain Dosa Plaza. Does he ever think about the man who abandoned him? In a way, I reached here and achieved so much because of him. I wonder where he is now http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/sep/15/slide-show-1-success-story-of-dosaplaza.htm

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Success stories of School Dropouts Part II Michael Dell Position: Founder/CEO, Dell Market Cap: $30 billion Most 19 year olds would spend a thousand dollars on a spring break weekend, or a put it toward buying a new car, but Michael Dell spent his $1,000 founding Dell . The founder and CEO of Dell expanded his company with the idea that technology is about enabling human potential. In 1992, he became the youngest chief executive to earn a ranking on Fortune magazines Fortune 500 list. His staff also grew from a one-man operation to 100,000 employees in just eight years. Today, the company provides information-technology services for global corporations, governments, health care providers, small and medium businesses, education institutions, and home computing users. Dell is not the only company this CEO has had a hand in creating. Dell founded MSD Capital in 1998 and a year later launched the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, a philanthropic organization for global issues. Mark Zuckerberg Position: Founder/CEO, Facebook Company Value: $100 billion (Recent estimate) Although Facebook isnt publicly traded, we cant leave this chief executive out of a successful college-dropout list-besides you are probably on his site everyday. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, showed an early interest in computers. As a child, he created early communication tools and games from his bedroom. In high school, he created an MP3 program and soon received offers from AOL and Microsoft , which he ignored. After being accepted at Harvard University, Zuckerberg built a program called Facemash, which showed pictures of students and allowed their peers to vote on who was more attractive. Eventually, word of Zuckerbergs talent spread and fellow Harvard students Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss asked him to work on an idea for a social networking site called Harvard Connection. Zuckerberg decided to drop out of the project soon after and began work on a different social networking site, which he originally named TheFacebook.com.

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Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard before graduating to put all of his focus on the social networking site, which could be worth as much as $100 billion if Zuckerberg ever takes the company public.

Paul Allen Position: Co-Founder, Microsoft Market Cap: $226.2 billion Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, his childhood friend, is another chief executive who never got a college degree. According to Allens memoir, Idea Man, Allen was inspired to write a coding language when he saw the Altair 8800 computer on the cover of a Popular Electronics magazine. Allen knew Gates and he both had the skills to code a programming language for the Altair and after convincing his friend to collaborate, the pair ushered in a new technological era. Today, Allen has a multibillion-dollar investment portfolio, which includes multiple technology and media companies, along with a major real estate redevelopment in Seattle. Allen also owns the Seattle Seahawks football team, the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team, and is part of the primary ownership group for the soccer team Seattle Sounders Football Club. Allen has given away more than $1 billion toward his philanthropic efforts and has said he plans to leave the majority of his estate to charities.

Bill Gates Position: Co-Founder/Chairman, Microsoft Market Cap: $226.2 billion College dropouts such as Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz are not the only successful business founders who attended, and then left, Harvard University. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft , enrolled at Harvard as a freshman in 1973. Gates, who lived down the hall from Microsofts current chief executive, Steve Ballmer, created BASIC, a programming language for the first microcomputer, during his first year of college. Gates dropped out of Harvard in his junior year to concentrate all his efforts on a company he called Micro-soft with his childhood friend Paul Allen. As if founding Microsoft wasnt enough, Gates went on to found Corbis , one of the world largest resources of visual information. He also earned a seat on the board of directors for Berkshire Hathaway , an investment company engaged in diverse business activity.

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Steve Jobs Position: Founder/CEO, Apple Market Cap: $362.4 billion As a young boy, this college dropout showed an early interest in computers. When he was 12, Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple , called Bill Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett Packard , after finding his number in the phonebook. When Hewlett answered, Jobs said, Hi Im Steve Jobs. Im twelve years old and Im a student in high school. I want to make a frequency counter. I was wondering if you had any spare parts I can have? Hewlett gave Jobs the spare parts and hired him that summer to work on the assembly line at his company. During this time, Jobs formed a friendship with Stephen Wozniak, a soon-tobe dropout from the University of California at Berkley. Jobs enrolled at Reed College after high school, but he later dropped out. He connected once again with Wozniak and the pair quit their jobs to start production on a computer in Jobs garage. There are different versions of how the pair came up with the name for Apple. The bestknown story comes from Jobs summer spent working on an apple orchard and his love for the fruit. The bite in the side of the apple is said to be a play on the computer term byte. In a biography, Jobs said he was worth more than $1 million when he was 23, $10 million when he was 24, and $100 million when he was 25. Apple went from a garage-based operation to a multibillion-dollar, worldwide corporation, and it all started with two college dropouts tinkering in a garage. http://www.sify.com/finance/Biggest-businesses-run-by-college-dropouts-imagegalleryothers-ligr0gjbcbf.html#galname

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News paper Boy who Became President Several months back, after finishing an interview with Dr APJ Kalam, and just before leaving his Rajaji Marg residence he made me repeat these three words in a schoolteachers tone: determination, hard work and patience, he said, was alone the path to progress. Later, much later, I realised, that those were the very words hes lived by all through his life. They are both philosophical and practical, quite like the world he grew up in as a boy in the island town of Rameswaram, in south India. His father, a humble boat owner, Jainulabdeen, was a devout Muslim and a close friend of the Rameswaram temple priest. Kalam was brought up in a multi-religious, tolerant society; one with a progressive outlook. His father often quoted from the Quran to make the young Kalam see the world without fear. He had seven siblings, and a doting mother who, at times, made chappatis for Kalam, while the others were given rice as Kalams day would start at 4 in the morning and end at 11 at night. His father wasnt educated, but he wanted Kalam to study. Kalam would get up at 4 am, bathe, and then go for his mathematics class, which was taught by a teacher who took only five students in the whole session; and bathing before class was a condition he had laid to all his students. After his morning class, Kalam along with his cousin Samsuddin went around town distributing the newspaper. As the town had no electricity, kerosene lamps were lit at his home between 7 pm and 9 pm. But because Kalam studied until 11, his mother would save some for him for later use. Being a bright student, Kalam always had the support of his schoolteachers. Schwarzt High Schools Iyadurai Solomon often told Kalam that if he truly, intensely desired something, he would get it. This made me fearless, said Dr Kalam. And outside school, Ahmed Jallaluddin, who later became his brother-in-law, and Samsuddin, encouraged Kalam to appreciate natures wonders. So at once, while growing up, he was exposed to a religious and a practical way of looking at the world. The flight of birds had fascinated him since he was a boy, but it was years later he realised that he wanted to fly aircrafts. After finishing school, he took up Physics at St Josephs College, Trichi, but towards the end he was dissatisfied. When he discovered aeronautical engineering, he regretted having lost three precious years. But he was glad to have discovered Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Hardy and F Scott Fitzgerald and other English poets in his college years. At Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), Chennai, where Kalam studied aeronautics, he learnt an important lesson: the value of time. He was leading a project on system design, when one day the principal walked into the class to see his work. He appeared dissatisfied and told Kalam that he wanted the project finished in the next two days; else his scholarship aid would be withdrawn. That unsettled Kalam; years of his fathers hardships would come
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to naught. Kalam worked without food and sleep. On the last day, his professor came to check on his progress. He was impressed and said: I was putting you under stress and asking you to meet a difficult deadline, recounted Dr Kalam. Although Kalam has led several projects in his professional life, hes treated each like his last. Such was his passion. No wonder, hes always led projects. His advisor, Major General R Swaminathan explained Kalams success as a leader. He has this unique capability of being a boss as well as a worker. He can take on any role with ease. When Dr Kalams first major project SLV 3-failed the first time he was almost shattered. Also, around this time, Kalams childhood mentor, Jallaluddin, died. A part of me too passed away said Dr Kalam. But he never thought of quitting after SLV-3. I knew that for success, we have to work hard and persevere. And so, SLV-3 was launched again, this time with success. He drew strength from philosophy, religion and literature to tide by his professional setbacks; also a life with few companions. In time, he also learnt to deal with professional jealousy and uncooperative team members. Success followed Dr Kalam. Prithvi, Agni, Akash, Trishul and Nag missiles were huge successes. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan and Bharat Ratna, and then he became the President of India; one of the few presidents who have touched the hearts of so many poor children in the country. Because he also came from a poor background, he knew the power of education in changing ones future. http://getahead.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/mar/18/slide-show-1-achievers-indias-beststudents-apj-abdul-kalam.htm

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Inspiring story of a blind media graduate Meet Garima Goyal, who had to give up her dreams because of an irreversible and degenerating eye condition, went on to become one of Indias first visually challenged media graduates. The day before her first history test in the tenth grade, Garima Goyals mother walked into her room and said: You have the same problem as bhaiyya. For a regular 15-year-old, this might have sounded like bickering about the mess in the room, her grades or some such mundane problem. Garimas brother, Ashish, however was no regular teenager. After that morning, she wouldnt remain one either. It had been a few years since her brother was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, an irreversible and degenerating eye condition. Ashish Goyal was going blind. And now, so was Garima. A little over 10 years since the day, the two siblings have lost most of their vision. Ashish has gone on to become the first blind person to graduate from Wharton and is the first blind trader at J P Morgans London operations. Garima is one of the first visually challenged media graduates from the Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education. Shes completed her course in social communications media from Sophia College a major portion of this course involves a strong visual element. She has around 20 per cent of her sight remaining.To be honest, at first, she didnt seem like a visually challenged person to me either. Part of it, perhaps, has to do with the fact that Garima is so comfortable with her impediment, shes learnt to overcome it superbly. It was a senior in college who sensed this and offered to help. He challenged me to beat his scores. I said it was impossible, but since it is in me never to let my dear ones down, I did my best and graduated with flying colours. Garima counts her years in college as being some of the toughest. Coping with her condition during her teenage years was not easy. She remembers jumping into extracurricular activities just to keep depression away. Ashish had suggested this. So I started participating in every committee in college, she says. It was a whole new world and I wanted to experience everything. At the time, Garimas condition was in its nascent stages. She could still go about her daily routine without anyone noticing the difference.
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But, since it would only be a matter of years, she decided to let her friends know. When I asked her about the most difficult times in her life, she counted this as the first. Overcoming depression during my early college years was tough, she said. That is the age when you want to be a normal teenager, but you get labelled dumb because you cannot complete papers. You try to fit in but you cant. It took her three years to come out of that phase. I used to sit for hours doing nothing. Time and the fact that no one let me give up healed it, I suppose, she says. The second phase was when she was pursuing her Masters course in Commerce from Sydneham College, Mumbai. I was figuring out what to do and was largely at home, learning music and taking some time off. That was when people began to take my presence for granted. Everyone assumed I was only waiting to get married. Around this time, Garima found solace in writing she has two unfinished novels and a whole lot of poems and asked herself what she hoped to do in the future. Media seemed to be the place where creativity and writing came together, she says. Garima joined Hindustan Times in Mumbai as an intern to get first-hand experience. She remembers her first day a friend came over early in the morning and helped her go through six newspapers. For the next three months, Garima worked at their office, where she edited stories for the Metro desk with the help of special software they had let her load. This was the first brush she had with the outside world. It gave her the confidence to step out of her comfort zone; it also gave her much-needed direction. Three months later, Garima knew what she wanted to do. She applied for the social communications media course at Sophia College, Mumbai. The department had inhibitions as to how a visually challenged would pursue a highpressure visual course. They communicated their reservations to me. As part of the course, we were supposed to make a film, design ads, go out and speak with people. It wasnt going to be easy and I had no idea how Id do it, except that I wanted to. Garima started off on what she describes as the third most difficult phase in her life. Garimas first assignment involved watching D W Griffiths The Birth Of A Nation.
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By now, Garima had lost most of her eyesight. But she hadnt stopped going to the movies with her family and friends; she could still follow most of what was going on because of the dialogues and the music. The Birth Of A Nation however was a different ball game altogether. Released in 1915, the seminal movie belongs to the silent era. There were no dialogues! she recollects, now laughing. And it was a three hour movie! As she sat through the movie, Garima felt like a fool. I wondered why I was even bothering to waste my time on this. I couldnt see a thing. I couldnt understand what was going on. By the time she went back home though, Garima had made up her mind to get around the situation. She searched online for information about the movie, read up on it, researched the hell out of the topic and came back to the next class. In her semester exam, she would top the film paper. Garima says the course made her push her limits. It was challenging and affected her health but, she says, it was worth the effort. Along the way, Garima made friends friends who stuck by her, didnt mind being woken up in the middle of the night to talk to her or stop by just so they could do little things for her. Looking back at her achievements, Garima is content. She is currently working with her guru, Balaji Tambe, who runs a holistic healing centre in Karla near Pune and is translating his works into English. She has never learnt Braille and says technology has helped her get by without much difficulty. Her phone and laptop have screen reading software that help her read and write. When I ask her if shes ever felt alienated because of her condition, she tries to think back. Maybe when I was 16 or 17. After a little while she adds, I do not recall. The more you collect things, the more difficult it is to move on. Life may not have dealt Garima a fair chance, but it isnt something she is complaining about; she prefers to focus on her future. The one lesson shes learnt though is to be true to herself at all times. Initially, people are sceptical of you. Then, when they see you work, they are proud. Later comes the phase when they begin to expect the best from you. When people tell me how Ive changed, I only smile. All along, I have been the same person they were unsure of.
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http://www.rediff.com/getahead/slide-show/slide-show-1-achievers-interview-withgarima-goyal-first-blind-media-graduate/20110131.htm

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You can bounce back from anything Story of disabled men climbing mountain The three American veterans from three different wars had only one good leg among them. But that did not stop them from summiting Africas highest mountain. The three soldiers veterans of Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam scrambled, clawed and plodded to the top of Tanzanias Mount Kilimanjaro, hiking up the domed mountains screefilled paths on one human leg and five prosthetics made of titanium and carbon fiber. The three amputees were from three different wars and two different generations with literally one good leg. They skidded. They fell. They removed their legs to adjust their shoes. And after six days, they stood at 19,340 feet Africas highest point. The message they were trying to send back to the USA is no matter what disability you have you can be active, said Kirk Bauer, the executive director of Disabled Sports USA and a 62-year-old Vietnam veteran who lost his leg in 1969. Bauer, of Ellicott City, Maryland,was one of the triumphant climbers. If three amputees with literally one good leg can climb Kilimanjaro,our disabled friends can get out and go hiking or go biking, can get out and lead a healthy life, he said. The youngest of the veterans,26-year-old Neil Duncan, lost both legs to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2005.The Denver, Colorado,resident tried to summit Kilimanjaro last year ,but poor planning and a fast ascent schedule doomed the trip. While one was a Vietnam veteran, the other lost his limb in Afghanistan and the third veteran,Dan Nevins,a 37-yearold from Florida, lost his legs in Iraq. He developed a pressure boil on one of his legs stumps,which may have lead to his developing of a high fever, coughing and congestion. This time a different guide planned a route specifically for the veterans. The group took six days to ascend, instead of three or four, and a special permit for the disabled allowed them to spend the night in tents at 19,000 feet. Last Saturday they made it to the top. Climbing down was no easy task for the amputees After reaching the summit and descending to 15,000 feet, Nevins was evacuated down on a wheeled stretcher. Kilimanjaros lower paths are flat dirt, but higher trails turn to a rock and scree blend difficult for prosthetics. In the loose rock the artificial legs slid backward, leading Duncan to feel like he was climbing the mountain twice. Its an incredible amount of work as you can imagine but one of the most difficult portions of the whole deal was the ascent from 15,500 to 19,000 feet, said Duncan,a student at the University of Denver.The rocks were real loose, real steep. With having no feet or ankles I was lacking the ability to grip into that dirt. Going down the part many climbers say is the hardest on the body was no easier for the amputees. Duncan lost his footing and somersaulted. Bauers artificial leg fell off. I have only one real knee, and it takes an incredible amount of stress from falling, Duncan said.
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It was evidence that with the right planning and right preparation and right execution anything can be done, Duncan said. That was why I was so set on coming back. I knew it was attainable. It was proof that you can bounce back from a failure in anything. You can regroup, replan and use your previous experience and be successful. http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?pageid=1&pagesize=&edid=&edlabel=TO ICH&mydateHid=13-08-2010&pubname=&edname=&publabel=TOI

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How a candle-seller became a multi-millionaire? His amazing story, He learnt invaluable lessons of entrepreneurship from each of his failed endeavours. As a teenager, Naresh Gulati was labelled as a failure by his family and relatives for he spent time selling candles and cloth in the streets of Chandigarh. Later, he was even duped by unscrupulous travel agents who promised him a lucrative career in Australia. At 15, when boys of his age were playing around, Naresh Gulati had to really struggle to make money. After he failed the tenth standard examination, the pressure only mounted on him to work harder. My family members were not so highly educated. So they wanted to me to study hard and do well. But I was not interested in anything they taught at school. My father wanted me to study in an English-medium school. I did not know the language neither did I want to learn it. When I failed the tenth standard exam, I got thrashed by my father and was locked up in a room. It was really humiliating, Gulati recounts. Everyone thought he had ruined his life but he never thought he was a failure. He did what he thought he was good at: business. So what if it meant selling candles or cloth on the streets? My father had a cloth business that suffered a huge loss at that time. Since I was the eldest, I had the responsibility to look after the house along with my father. Even as a young boy, I wanted to do something different. I started by selling fancy candles. When others sold ordinary candles, I sold fancy ones, and made more money. This way I could earn pocket money and help my family as well, he says. For him, this unfortunate turn of events, was a stepping stone to future success. Little did anyone realize that this young boy would one day become rich and famous. Naresh was compelled to join school again. His father wanted him to become at least a graduate, and he obliged. Later, he went on to do a computer course. My first job was at Aptech as a lecturer. The rest like they say is history, Naresh says. Naresh now heads a group of companies in India and abroad. The OCA Group he founded is a holding company for three businesses: Oceanic Consultants, BPO Intelligence and Object Next Software. Naresh Gulati shares the joy of being a true winner despite all odds... How was the experience of working as the street vendor? Were you happy doing it? I enjoyed working. There was nothing else I could think of doing to be independent. I advised my father that the way he was doing business was wrong. I did everything myself, instead of sourcing cloth from vendors, I went and selected the cloth I wanted to sell and made sure it worked. It was a tough life. I had started the business by borrowing Rs. 5,000
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from my uncle during Diwali. At the end of the first year, I could pay off the debt and still had Rs.10,000 with me. I continued to do the business even when as I started studying again. After classes in the evening, I used to turn into a vendor. Once during my college days, one of the girls in my class passed by and I felt very embarrassed. Why did you decide to start studying again? There was a lot of pressure from my parents that I should have a degree. So I went back to school. I passed the tenth standard but I failed again in the 11th standard. My family had given up all hopes on me. They thought I was useless and was wasting time. However, I tried again and cleared the exam. Finally, I graduated in political science. Then I got selected to do a course in electronic data processing from the Regional Computer Centre. After this, I joined Aptech as a lecturer. But I always wanted to start a business of my own. So I started a computer centre in Chandigarh, followed by a cosmetics company. But the business was not doing very well. Then I came to know from an agent that Australia offers a great opportunity for professionals. The agent painted a rosy picture of things. He misled me to believe that everything will be taken care of while I pursue my further studies. My parents took a loan of Rs.2 lakh to send me abroad. When I reached there, I realized that I had been duped. There was no way I could afford to live there and study. I even slept outside on benches many nights not knowing what to do. But I was not ready to give up. I knew I should not let my parents know about my suffering. I studied during the day and spend the evening working hard, washing dishes at restaurants, doing all kinds of odd jobs. I soon met many people who were duped by such unscrupulous agents. This actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It struck me that a good service to guide the Indian students to join the universities abroad would be an excellent business opportunity. After the post-graduate course in information systems from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, I got a job as an analyst programmer. I worked for one year and came back to India. I had saved enough to pay off my parents debt. I wanted to start the overseas education consultancy business. How difficult was it to start the company? It was a tough decision. There were many things against me. I just had 143,000 with me after I cleared the debt. I was entering the market when there were about 100 companies offering similar service in Chandigarh. When I began there were many people with expertise in this field. I had limited number of institutes in my list. I did not have enough funds. But I never feared anything. I started Oceanic Consultants all by myself. It was a one-man show. It was really difficult to manage things myself. I could not afford to advertise or hire more
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people. Luckily, business started picking after people realized that I was honest. My aim was to see my clients happy. So word spread about us and things started looking up. http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/aug/13/slide-show-1-candle-seller-to-multimillionaire.htm

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Surat office boy becomes CA This diamond city has a Phungsuk Wangdu of the 3 Idiots fame in 24-year-old office boy, Shailesh Ghule, who has cleared his final CA exams with flying colours. Unlike Wangdu aka Aamir Khan, Shailesh did not impersonate anyone to pursue his love for studies, but does have the same background. Living in a 1225 room in a slum in Limbayat with a family of five, he has successfully stepped in the world of chartered accountants. He cleared his CA final exams with 220 and 210 marks in both the groups and ultimately plans to set up his own consultancy firm. Shailesh, youngest son of housemaid Nirmala and textile loom worker Arun, a migrant Maharashtrian family, studied in Sarvajanik High school in Marathi medium and did BCom from IGNOU. While doing BCom he came in touch with Jay Chhaira, his tutor and employer, running the Institute of Professional Studies in Athwalines. He joined the institute as a student-cum-office-boy so that he doesnt have to put any financial burden on his father and elder brother. Many have seen Shailesh sitting quietly on the third floor steps of Tirupati Plaza engrossed in studies. Many have also seen him riding 7 km every day from Limbayat to the institute. With a monthly income of Rs 6,000 I knew I could not expect money from my family. So I decided to work and earn for my education, Shailesh told TOI. He did lose heart in between and left studies completely for two years, only to return with more vigour and clear every exam. After clearing his initial exams, he served his articleship and internship at Sushil Banadhiya and Sons and Kaniya Asava and Company. Chhaira, his tutor, said, This boy always had the will to succeed. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Surat-office-boy-becomesCA/articleshow/6189437.cms

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Cobblers son cracks IIT Inspiring Success story Abhishek Kumar Bharti, son of a poor shoemaker from Kanpur, whose family lives in a 1010 house has cracked the entrance examination of the most premier institute of the country IIT. The son of a cobbler, Abhishek has managed to beat the odds and make it to the IIT with a rank of 154 in the SC/ ST category in the entrance examination. His life has been an endless struggle and its only his zeal to carry on that saw him reach thus far. A student of the UP board, Abhishek gathered 78 per cent marks in his class XII. Though he hails from a financially weak segment of the society but his deep inclination towards studies helped in meeting his goal Goal to graduate from IIT. He helps his father, a cobbler, mend shoes in his spare time while his mother stitches rags to support the family, but financial hardships have not stopped Abhishek Kumar Bhartiya from coming out with flying colours in the IIT entrance exam. Abhishek has three young brothers and the family of six lives in a one room accommodation with no electricity. We have just one small room where six of us live and that too without electricity. So, he used to study under the lantern for five-six hours in the night, says his father Rajendra Prasad. Abhishek would work with his father as a shoeshine boy and at times would find a job as a labourer to earn some extra money. Talking about his elder son, Rajendra said, He used to study in the night and help me in my work the whole day. His three brothers Abhijit, Anshul and Aryan are below 12 years of age and study in a municipal school. Their mother Sangeeta Devi repairs old clothes of poor people and earns about Rs 50 a day. My husband gets around Rs 100 and I earn Rs 50 in a day. It is not enough for us. But we dont want to beg. We want to live with our heads held high. My children know how to go ahead with their pride intact. Abhishek never demanded anything from us. The table of my sewing machine would turn into his study table at night. All I did was to ensure that there was enough kerosene in the lantern, she said. Moved with the achievement made by her son, Sangeeta Devi said, We have been living without basic facilities at our end because we cannot afford to buy luxuries. Selection of my son has come as a gift to us from the Gods side. His hardwork has borne fruits. Abhishek emerged as a fine example for others who wish to crack the entrance exam of various competitions. He not only lacked electricity at his house but it was too tough for him to study in a small room of 10-by-10 wherein his entire family lives. His father is the bread earner and many a times he used to work as a labourer for six to eight hours in a day to arrange for the two ends to meet. Abhishek used to assist his father in doing so.
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Mahesh Singh Chauhan, the teacher of Abhishek who provided the boy with free education was overwhelmed with the success. Chauhan had raised a batch of 35 students last year wherein he had taken poor students as a part of his team. He taught them the basics of Physics, Chemistry and Maths alongwith a team of young IIT passouts to strengthen them. Abhishek was one among those fortunates who cracked the JEE and emerged as a winner. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/Cobblers-son-cracks-IITJEE/articleshow/5978149.cms

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Life of Jagadishchandra Bose, Great Scientist The Parents Jagadishchandra Bose was born on the 30th of November 1858 in Faridpur in Dacca District. Faridpur was a part of India until 1947; now it is in Bangla Desh. His mother Abala Bose was a tenderhearted and affectionate woman. His father Bhagawanchandra Bose was a man of excellent qualities. Early Education As long back as a hundred year ago, Bhagawanchandra Bose started schools in which children were taught in Bengali. Jagadishchandra also received his early education in this school. Jagadish mixed with the poor boys freely and played with them; so he gained first hand knowledge of the sufferings of poor people. There was another interesting person in his early life. This was a servant who used to take Jagadishchandra to school every day. He had been a dacoit in the past. Bhagawanchandra Bose as a judge had sent him to prison. After some time the dacoit came out of prison. But how was he to live? Bhagawanchandra Bose was a very good-natured man. So he employed him as a servant. The dacoit used to tell little Jagadishchandra. events of his past life the robberies he had committed and his cruel deeds. His adventures made a lasting impression on the boy. Young Bose was all curiosity. He wanted to know about everything that happened around him. What is, a glow-warm? Is it fire or spark? Why does the wind blow? Why does the water flow? He was always ready with a string of questions. His father would answer as many questions as he could. But he never tried to impress upon his son that he knew everything. If he could not answer a question, he would frankly tell his son so. Thus Jagadish chandras parents took great interest not only in his studies but also in everything that shaped his character. In Calcutta Jagadishchandra began a new chapter in his life at the age of nine. He had to leave his hometown. He went to the big city of Calcutta for further education. He was admitted to Saint Xavier School there. While he was studying at Saint Xaviers, Jagadishchandra was staying in a boarding house. He had no friends and was lonely here. But he was a born scientist. Even as a boy he had many hobbles which showed his scientific interest. He used to breed frogs and fishes in a pond nearby. He would pull out a germinating plant and observe its root system. He had also a number of pets like rabbits, squirrels and non-poisonous snakes. Even in Calcutta he continued these hobbies to get over his solitude. He grew flower-bearing plants and had animals and birds as pets. He did well in his studies and was in the forefront. The teachers
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liked him for his intelligence. Jagadishchandra passed the School Final Examination in the First Class. He joined the B.A. class in the college. In those days, science subjects formed a part of this course. He was most interested in Biology (the science of life). But Father Lafont, a famous Professor of Physics, inspired in Bose a great interest in the science of Physics and Bose became his favourite student. Even so, Bose was always interested in any branch of science. Botany, the science of plants, still attracted him much. In London By nineteen, Jagadishchandra was a Bachelor of Arts. He wanted to go to England for higher studies. Finally, his good mother allowed him to go. She had saved some money. She also wanted to sell her jewels to meet the expenses of her sons voyage. Bhagawan chandra Bose prevented her and he managed to find the money on his own. At last Jagadish was on his way to England. The year was 1880. Twenty- two-year-old Jagadishchandra Bose stepped into the ship; he was stepping into a new phase of life which laid the foundations of a brilliant future. In London he first studied medicine. But he repeatedly fell ill. So he had to discontinue the course. He then studied Natural Science in Christ Church College, Cambridge. It was necessary to learn Latin in order to study Natural Science; Jagadish had already learnt it. He passed the Tripos Examination with distinction. In addition to the Cambridge Tripos Examination, he passed the Bachelor of Science Examination of London University also. The Young Scientist His Own Smith, Too Jagadishchandra Bose was back in India. He joined the staff of the Presidency College, Calcutta. There was a peculiar practice in that college. The Indian teachers in the college were paid one third of what the British teachers were paid! So Jagadishchandra Bose refused his salary but worked for three years. This did not continue for long. His deep knowledge zest for work and cultured behavior won over those in charge of the college. They saw to it that he was given the full salary of the post and not one-third. Teaching the same lessons year in and year out was very tedious to Bose. His was an alert mind, always on the look out for new ideas. He wanted to do research, to widen his knowledge and discover new things. A laboratory is necessary for research. Many scientific instruments are required. Jagadishchandra Bose had no laboratory and he did not have the instruments. But he was not disheartened. For eight or ten years he spent as little out of his salary as possible, lived a very strict life, saved money and bought a laboratory!

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Generally Marconis name is associated with the invention of wireless. (This made possible the use of the radio.) Jagadish chandra Bose had also conducted independent research in the same field. Marconi was able to announce the result of his work and show how wireless telegraphy worked, earlier than Jagadishchandra Bose. So he is called the father of the radio. In the year 1896 Bose wrote a research article on electro-magnetic waves. This impressed the Royal Society of England (which is famous all over the world). He was honoured with the Degree of Doctor of Science. Bose became famous in the world of science. In India and in other countries there was a strong belief that only Westerners could achieve anything worthwhile in science. Bose proved this wrong concept. He showed that there were geniuses elsewhere too. He visited England again, this time to explain his discoveries to the scientists of the West. Bose needed scientific equipment. But the instruments he needed were not available. But this did not hamper his work. Early in his life he had learnt to make his equipment with his own hands. The scientific instruments he took to England were those he himself had made. Fame After he lectured at the Royal Society, scientific associations in many other countries invited Jagadishchandra Bose. He visited France, Germany, America and Japan besides England. He lectured at several places and explained his discoveries. When electricity passes through a man, animal or plant, we say there is a shock. When it is passed through a living being the being gets excited, irritated. Bose developed an instrument that would show such a reaction of the organism on a graph. When electricity was passed through zinc, a non-living substance, a similar graph was obtained. So he came to the conclusion that living and non-living things were very similar in certain reactions. In Paris he gave a lecture on this similarity between the living and the non-living world. Have you heard of radar`? This is a very wonderful scientific device. Sailors on the sea use it; it is also used to get information about aeroplanes coming towards a place. So you see how useful it is during a war. If the aeroplanes of the enemy try to attack a city, the radar shows their movement. J.C. Bose worked out some details of very great importance; these are being used in the working of the radar. When Jagadish chandra Bose again visited England, Cambridge University honoured him as a Professor. Generally, when a man invents something new he declares that nobody can make use of it without his permission. If anybody desires to, make use of it, he will have to pay him money, Why? Because the inventor has worked hard and he has used his time and brains for his invention. It is not right to make use of his work without paying him. An inventor can make lakhs of rupees by just one or two inventions. Bose had invented many instruments. They have since been used by many industries. When he was offered money for these he did not

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accept it. He was very generous and noble; he felt that knowledge was not any ones personal property. He permitted any one the use of the fruits of his work. When an outside stimulus is applied to the muscles of a man or a non-living thing (says a mineral), they respond to it. Bose wondered whether this could happen in a plant also. To test this he brought a leaf, a carrot and a turnip from the garden. He applied the stimulus, i.e., and electricity. It was confirmed that plants also respond in a similar way. Jagadishchandra Bose explained this at a meeting of the Royal Society. Challenges When anything new is discovered, there will always be people who question it. The results of Boses work, too, were not accepted by all. There were people who challenged them and even said that there was not much truth in them. Bose gave a lecture at the Linnean Society next year to a gathering of scientists. He explained with suitable experiments how plants respond to stimuli. Even those who had challenged him could not find fault with his experiments or conclusions. There is an interesting story about a demonstration that Bose gave in England. On that day he wanted to show some new things that he had found out. He had come to the conclusion that plants can feel pain like animals; that when we pinch them they suffer; and that they die in a few minutes after they are poisoned. Bose wanted to show experiments to prove these conclusions. A number of scientists and other leading men and women had gathered to hear him. Bose started the experiments by injecting poison into a plant. The plant should have shown signs of death in a few minutes. On the contrary, nothing happened. The learned audience started laughing. Even at this adverse moment Bose showed admirable calmness. He thought quickly. The poison that he injected into the plant did not kill it. So, he supposed that it would not hurt him also. With full confidence he got ready to inject the poison into himself. At that instant a man got up and confessed that instead of poison he had put similar colored water. Now, Bose conducted the experiment again with real poison, whereupon the plant withered and died as expected. Jagadishchandra Bose continued his work and made new discoveries. He found that plants shrink a little during the night. He found out why plants always grow towards light even if they have to bend. He also found out the reason why some plants grow straight and some do not. He explained that this was due to the pulsation in plants. This pulsation quickens by heat and slows down by cold in plants. Jagadishchandra Bose did remarkable work, and scientists outside India had honoured him. Yet there were people who opposed him. As a result even the Royal Society delayed publishing his valuable work in its publications, But nothing could make him give up his work. He was sure that years of research had led him to the truth. So he did not feel that it

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was very necessary to depend on scientific journals only. He wrote books and published them on his own. The Questioning Boy The Great Scientist Nature had always been a source of attraction right from his early age to Bose. There are flowers on plants; flowers give fruits; the leaves fall off; seeds germinate into new plants we see all these around us. But Bose was interested in these happenings, which to many people seem quite ordinary. He asked others questions; he asked himself, too: How do these things happen? Not always could he satisfy his curiosity. But it was his way to try to find answers to any questions arising in his mind. Scientist And Man Of Letters Jagadishchandra Bose was famous as a scientist. He brought laurels to his motherland. But his interests were many-sided. He was especially interested in literature and fine arts. The great poet Rabindranath Tagore and Jagadish chandra Bose were very good friends. The first time Tagore visited Bose, he was not at home. Tagore left a bunch of champak flowers. This was the beginning of their friendship. Tagore invited Bose to stay with him for some time. Bose agreed to do so on one condition. The condition was that Tagore should narrate a story to him every day. This is how a number of Tagores stories came to be written. Have you read the story The Cabuliwallah? It is very fine story; it narrates how a deep and strange friendship grew up between a rough pathan and a tine Bengali girl. This has been translated into several languages and is well known in a number of countries. Tagore wrote this story when Bose was staying with him. Jagadishchandra Bose died in November 1937. To the very end he was busy with research. Wealth and power never attracted Jagadishchandra Bose. He toiled for science like a saint, selflessly. This great scientist is a great example to all. http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatscientists/jcbose/index.htm

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Inspiring interview with Larry Page, Founder of Google Larry Page, what is responsible for your early progress in life? How did you get to where you are so quickly? Larry Page: I think I was really lucky to have the environment I did when I was growing up. My dad was a professor, he happened to be a professor of computer science, and we had computers lying around the house from a really early age. I think I was the first kid in my elementary school to turn in a word-processed document. I just enjoyed using the stuff. It was sort of lying around, and I got to play with it. I had an older brother who was interested in it as well. So I think I had kind of a unique environment, that most people didnt have, because my dad was willing to spend all his available income on buying a computer or whatever. It was like 1978, when I was six. I dont think theres many people my age whove had that experience, or anyone in general. From a very early age, I also realized I wanted to invent things. So I became really interested in technology and also then, soon after, in business, because I figured that inventing things wasnt any good; you really had to get them out into the world and have people use them to have any effect. So probably from when I was 12, I knew I was going to start a company eventually How do you think you knew at such an early age that you wanted to be an inventor? Larry Page: I just sort of kept having ideas. We had a lot of magazines lying around our house. It was kind of messy. So you kind of read stuff all the time, and I would read Popular Science and things like that. I just got interested in stuff, I guess, technology and how devices work. My brother taught me how to take things apart, and I took apart everything in the house. So I just became interested in it, for whatever reason, and so I had lots of ideas about what things could be built and how to build them and all these kinds of things. I built like an electric go-cart at a pretty early age. Its as if computers were the toys of your childhood. Larry Page: Yeah, basically, and electronics too. You mentioned reading magazines like Popular Mechanics. What else did you read that might have influenced or inspired you in some way? Larry Page: I read all the computer magazines and things like that, and I was sort of interested in how these things really work anything having to do with the mechanics behind things, either the mechanics or the electronics. I wanted to be able to build things. Actually, in college I built an inkjet printer out of Legos, because I wanted to be able to print really big images. I figured you could print really big posters really cheaply using inkjet cartridges. So I reverse-engineered the cartridge, and I built all the electronics and mechanics to drive it. Just sort of fun projects. I like to be able to do those kinds of things.

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You certainly have an aptitude for it. Is this because of your early education or your parents? How do you explain that? Larry Page: Actually, my brother was nine years older than me, and he went to Michigan as well. He brought home some of his labs for electronics and things like that, and sort of gave them to me. I learned how to do the stuff. I think there were a lot of lucky things like that. You seem to have had no fear of any of this. Where does this self-confidence come from? Larry Page: I think thats true of kids today as well. If you have access to these things at a really young age, you just become used to it all, and it is natural to you. Kids certainly dont have fear of using computers now. Its the same kind of thing. If you grow up in environments where you have ICs (integrated circuits) lying around, you dont have fear of that either. And here you are now, a CEO at what age? Larry Page: Im 27. Why is it that you perceived the need for Google before anyone else did? Larry Page: Well, its actually a great argument for pure research because So anyway Search engines didnt really understand the notion of which pages were more important. If you typed Stanford, you got random pages that mentioned Stanford. This obviously wasnt going to work. Larry, youre a CEO at 27. What challenges or frustrations have you experienced at reaching this station at such a young age? Larry Page: I think the age is a real issue. Its certainly a handicap in the sense of being able to manage people and to hire people and all these kinds of things, maybe more so than it should be. Certainly, I think, the things that Im missing are more things that you acquire with time. If you manage people for 20 years, or something like that, you pick up things. So I certainly lack experience there, and thats an issue. But I sort of make up for that, I think, in terms of understanding where things are going to go, having a vision about the future, and really understanding the industry I am in, and what the company does, and also sort of the unique position of starting a company and working on it for three years before starting the company. Then working on it pretty hard, whatever, 24 hours a day. So I understand a lot of the aspects pretty well. I guess that compensates a little bit for lack of skills in other areas.

It appears that its people of your generation who have really introduced the so-called 24/7 mentality. Are you aware of that? Do you think that accounts for your success?

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Larry Page: I think it definitely helps to be really focused on what you are doing. You can only work so many hours, and I try to have some balance in my life and so on. I think a lot of people go through this in school. They work really hard. You can do that for part of your life, but you cant do that indefinitely. At some point, you want to have a family. You want to have more time to do other things. I would say that it is an advantage being young. You dont have as many other responsibilities. What else are you doing these days? Larry Page: I think I am really lucky. Being in the Bay Area, a lot of my friends have started companies that have been quite successful at different stages. So I go up to San Francisco and I hang out with my friends, and we talk about their companies and all sorts of different things. It is fun, but it is also work in some sense. I think within Silicon Valley there is really a mix of recreation and work a lot of times. Where do you go from here? What do you see yourself doing in ten or 20 years? Larry Page: Artificial intelligence would be the ultimate version of Google. So we have the ultimate search engine that would understand everything on the Web. It would understand exactly what you wanted, and it would give you the right thing. Thats obviously artificial intelligence, to be able to answer any question, basically, because almost everything is on the Web, right? Were nowhere near doing that now. However, we can get incrementally closer to that, and that is basically what we work on. And thats tremendously interesting from an intellectual standpoint. We have all this data. If you printed out the index, it would be 70 miles high now. We have all this computation. We have about 6,000 computers. So we have a lot of resources available. We have enough space to store like 100 copies of the whole Web. So you have a really interesting sort of confluence of a lot of different things: a lot of computation, a lot of data that didnt used to be available. From an engineering and scientific standpoint, building things to make use of this is a really interesting intellectual exercise. So I expect to be doing that for a while. On the other hand, I do have a lot of other interests as well. I am really interested in transportation and sustainable energy. For fun, I invent things on the side, but I dont really have time to follow up on them. What do they think of people like you at Stanford and Michigan? You are extraordinary people theyre sending out into the world.

Larry Page: Well, thank you. It was kind of strange for me. I went back to Michigan and there was all this faculty who wanted to meet with me. It was just very strange, going from a student to that. At Google, especially, we are really lucky. Everybody is our product! Or its starting to be everybody. No matter who you talk to, theyre like, Oh, Google today was
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great. I found exactly what I needed. Somehow weve done a really good job. People are really happy with our company, and we have provided pretty good service. So that sort of transfers onto how people interact with me as well, which is really nice. It used to be that a Ph.D. candidate hoped to have his or her dissertation published in some obscure academic journal. Your dissertation started a company and launched you on a career. Larry Page: There are a lot of students at Stanford who have started companies based on their research work. I think Stanford does a pretty good job with that. There is obviously a lot of infrastructure, but also there is an acceptance of it, which I think is good. Is there an expectation? Larry Page: There is sort of a joke that faculty members have to start a company before they get tenure. I dont think thats quite true. The faculty are very focused on what is going on in the world, which I think is a good thing. The danger is if youre not doing research because you are pushed into things that are just practical. Larry Page, what do you see as the responsibilities that go along with success and the accumulation of wealth that we are seeing in Silicon Valley today? Larry Page: I think there is tremendous responsibility. If I was not in this situation, my biggest concern would be the concentration of wealth and power in a very small number of people. On the other hand, it is nice to be rewarded for what you do. There are a lot of things I would like to do in the world that having a lot of resources would really help with. What do you want to do? Larry Page: I have been really interested in applying technology to transportation. I dont think that has really been done. Making cars better. There are a lot of interesting systems people have designed that basically are small monorails that run along sidewalks, and that route you exactly where you want to go. Some of these things are actually quite practical. As a side interest, I have kind of followed this stuff. When I was in Michigan, I tried to get them to build a monorail between central and north campus, because it is only a two-mile trip, and they have 40 full-sized diesel buses that run back and forth. Two miles! So thats a prime candidate for new transportation. Is there any reason for you to go back to Stanford and finish your degree? You have taken leave of absence from Stanford to be a CEO. Why bother to go back at all? Larry Page: Well, I think Stanford is a really great place. Theres really, really smart people around, and its really a fun place to be. Some people from other startups have gone back when things sort of calmed down. So it does happen. There are things I want to work on that are very speculative, and Stanford is a great place to do things like that. I didnt start
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out building a search engine. I just said, Oh, the links on the Web are probably interesting. Why dont we try doing something with that? I was pretty lucky that it was a useful thing to do. If youre doing something youre not sure is going to work at all, a company probably isnt the right place to be doing it. Having incredibly bright people around to work with is a really nice thing. I could see going back for that purpose.

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/pag0int-1

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Success story of Indias First Visually Impaired Chartered Accountant Rajni Gopal is Indias first visually impaired woman to become a Chartered Accountant. Currently working with Indias leading software companies, it has taken Rajani immense grit, perseverance and patience to reach where she stands. Rajani Gopal has come a long way after losing her eye sight. She treads on paths that make even sighted people think twice before taking up. Behind this chartered accountant, Veena player and social worker, lies a determined woman who has defied all logic when it comes to success. Lets talk to Rajani Gopal and find out more about her. You work with a reputed IT company. Tell us about your job profile. I work in the Finance Department. My profile is to work on Indian & U.S.A. Generally Accepted Accounting Practices. Where were you working before your current assignment? How did you get this break? I was working for Indian Group of Hotels as Community co-ordinator. I had sent my bio-data to the placement cell of I.C.A.I. and that is how I got this break. How have you adjusted to your work environment and how have your colleagues responded. It has been comfortable to adjust to work environment as I am quite versatile on computers. Moreover my work to a large extent is on those applications that extensively support screen reading software. My colleagues respond very sensibly. There is no discrimination of any sort. Now they know when I need assistance and come forward to give the same. The work atmosphere is very comfortable and friendly. Becoming a C.A. is a tough task even for sighted people. As a blind person what motivated you to take up this subject and how did you manage? That is what many told me when I thought of taking up C.A. as a career. But let me tell you, determination and commitment can help you achieve those milestones which seem difficult otherwise. I lost vision in my right eye by the time I completed my graduation. I faced few interviews where my candidature was not considered because of my vision problem. I realised that I should have a better education to get a decent and dignified job. At this juncture I came to know about Chartered Accountancy. By this time I had learnt to pursue my studies on my own. I thought if I can pursue B.Com on my own then why not C.A.?

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Of course, pursuing the course was not easy. It would be difficult for me to read for long time. I had to read keeping the book close to my eyes. Commuting was also quite difficult. For a moment my spirits would be shattered. But I would realise that this is not the way to tackle a problem. I will have to find out ways and means of solving this. I would read for sometime and then close my eyes and try to recollect whatever I would have studied. This way I was not wasting my time and was also giving rest to my eyes, which I needed the most. As far as commuting was concerned, I would prefer to walk short distances, as catching the public transport was difficult. For long distances, invariably I would take the public transport. It was quite risky but I had to take the calculated risk. After I lost vision in my left eye too, I had to look for means to continue my studies and clear my examinations. But the important hurdle was to accept that I am visually challenged. This did take some time as I would relate myself with my friends who either had a good job or were happily married. I realised that I should come out of this trauma. Sahaja Yoga meditation came to my rescue. The meditation gave the overall balance which I needed the most. I realised that I should accept the situation and go ahead, instead of brooding. I came to know about the screen reading software and learnt how to use computers. My urge to pursue the course was rekindled. I got all the materials converted to soft copy and started studying. For few subjects I took the assistance of volunteers. I also had to learn how to communicate with the scribe, as I was availing scribe facility for the first time. What are the special assistive tools you use for help at work? Especially when tackling numbers. As I have already mentioned, I extensively use computers with screen reading software. My assignment does not include going through any written documents. By using Excel and other M.S. Office applications, I am able to manage my job quite comfortably. How did you develop your eye problem? I was prescribed penicillin tablets for common cold. This was given without test dosage and resulted in an allergic reaction which in medical terminology is known as Steven Johnson Syndrome. My vision started deteriorating gradually. This was coupled with growth of eye lashes inside the eyes which would constantly itch. I had to visit the doctor almost twice a week to get the lashes plucked. But the damage to the cornea was done and doctors were helpless. Tell us a bit about your school and college days. Early school days were as any other normal child. After the allergy, things changed. Because of redness in the eyes, quite a few classmates would avoid me. I had to hear to lot of sympathies from relatives and friends. It would be very difficult to listen. I would try to be all alone by myself. I developed the habit of reading to overcome my loneliness. Initially I

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would cry and weep. As I grew up I didnt feel like doing that, for I knew that my parents would be disturbed. I learnt to keep all my emotions to myself. I had very few friends. At my college things were little different. I was matured enough to handle the situation. I did have friends who were sensible enough. In fact in the final year of my graduation, my friends would write the notes for me, get the books from library, for I couldnt attend the college due to surgery on my right eye. What kind of support did you get from family and friends? There was complete support from my immediate family members. Neither my parents nor my brothers made me to feel at any point of time that I had vision problem. My parents would encourage me in all my ventures as they would encourage my brothers. Even after I lost my vision completely, they would behave as if nothing had happened and gave me all the emotional support. Though I had very few friends, they were quite sensible and helped me whenever I needed them most. Moreover they would boost my confidence and behave as they would with other normal friends. What are your interests and hobbies? As already mentioned, I practice meditation-Sahaja Yoga. I enjoy cooking. I play chess. I have learnt to play Veena. I listen to lot of music. I volunteer my services to physically, visually and economically challenged students by providing assistance in their studies. Tell us any interesting experience youd like to share. There have been quite a lot of experiences which have moulded my personality. As my vision deteriorated gradually, I could see the helplessness of doctors and my parents. At such heart breaking moments, each mile stone in my education would motivate me to go further. But if you want to know of any particular incident that changes the course of my life, I feel this is it. Around the time when I lost vision in both my eyes, my father was diagnosed with Leukaemia. It was the prime age of my life and with all confusion I was totally lost and mentally upset. One evening when I just couldnt control my emotions, my brother recommended me meditation. He advised that I should do it with open mind and take as hypothesis. I could see within a week that my overall personality was in complete balance and I obtained the necessary confidence and inner strength which I needed the most and which any amount of external counselling wouldnt have done.

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Now I feel, everything that happened was with some purpose and has helped me become a better person move ahead in life with greater strength and confidence http://www.eyeway.org/inspire/int-rajni.htm

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Success Story of shooting star, Abhinav Bindra Some toil for a place under the sun and some are born great. In his case the crown was thrust upon him, for he never aspired for one in the first place. I hated sports, confesses Abhinav Bindra, who lifted a gun, shot and became an Olympic champion the first in the countrys history. Yet, Bindra did not even exult when the moment arrived. For him, it seemed a ritual. But it was an unprecedented happening in a country where champions are a rare product; virtually non-existent when it comes to Olympic glory. Indias cricket icon Rahul Dravid lavishly acknowledged Bindras cool demeanour. Phenomenal, Dravid gushed even as Bindra blushed! Shooting was not Bindras first choice. He attempted golf and then tennis. Having failed at both, he pursued shooting, and progressed at a rapid pace to reach the pinnacle of every sportsmans dream. He has carried the sport of shooting from the realm of the rich to the masses. He has given sporting hope and dignity a new meaning by shooting his way to stardom and greatness at mere 26. Hated sports Any fond memories of childhood? The first 11 years of my life I just hated sports. I never watched and never played sports in schools. My parents always encouraged me to play sports though. At the boarding school, Bindra received a letter from his affluent father every second day. Never mind if you dont study but play sports, was one sentence that was common. Shooting now is a way of life for the suave Bindra. He agrees, For the common man, it is a sport hard to understand. Even the world body is struggling to make it spectator friendly but the finals, it must be admitted, are always exciting because of the intense competition. Bindra smiles when you ask him if sport is only about winning? You cant win all the time. For me personally what is important is how I perform. The pressure is maximum but I test myself and see how far I can stretch myself. One has to keep challenging oneself. There is always room for bettering yourself and your performances. Your goal has to be resultoriented and thats why winning a medal is very important. What separates a champion from the rest? I think it is the ability to keep testing yourself and hang in there a bit more. That is what separates. It depends on the individuals ability to try harder and to survive those critical moments to face the pressure. The nervousness, Bindra stresses, is not a comforting feeling and everyone wants to get rid of that feeling as early as possible. I prepare very hard mentally and physically. For Bindra, an Olympic gold was always a dream. We would come close and miss. The expectations were different. True, there was a certain mystique attached to an Olympic
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gold medal in India. But he changed it. When I started any colour mattered. Now its happened and with that I think the outlook has also changed. Now everyone wants a gold medal. It is not elusive anymore. High expectations Expectations in India have always remained high. Bindra notes, A sportsman has his own expectations. The external expectations dont matter to a sportsman. He knows what to expect from himself. To me, values and perspective make a huge impact. Winning to me is not important but I hate losing. A toast of the nation, Bindra is very proud to be an Indian. We are an emerging super power and a peace-loving community. Everybody likes us, our values, and our development in all spheres of life. Bindra loves the company of sportspersons. They give me a lot of joy. I believe Indian sportspersons are an extremely talented group. They have extremely good work ethics. But what concerns him is the lack of proper planning. To compete against the best in the world we need to have a clear plan in place, a clear objective, clear goal. Other nations are developing at a fast pace and are far ahead of us in every aspect. Having travelled far and wide, Bindra has a few suggestions to offer to improve the state of sports in India. Infrastructure is the key. Commonwealth Games is a fine opportunity to build a sports culture in the country and generate interest in sports outside cricket but I dont necessarily believe in hosting these major events. I would rather spend the money and build infrastructure in smaller places all across India. More and more people should have access to facilities, concludes Bindra, an epitome of humility. VIJAY LOKAPALLY http://www.hindu.com/mp/2008/12/06/stories/2008120651841300.htm

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