The book review was first published by
yourstory.com on February 19, 2014
BITS of Success: edited by Harsh Bhargava, Kinnera
Murthy, Anu Khendry
Universities Press (India) Private Limited
3-6-747/1/A & 3-6-754/1 Himayatnagar
Hyderabad 500 029
Rs 190 (paperback)
What does it take to be successful? Grit, guts and
gumption, some would say. Dream, passion and perseverance, the others would
vouch for. Educational Institution? That’s what the fifty alumni of BITS Pilani
include as an important factor which helped then achieve success.
BITS of success is a book which compiles the
stories of fifty successful alumni of BITS Pilani from various
fields; as diverse as scientists and artists, politicians and teachers,
technologists and skiers. A few names are very familiar household names like
Sabeer Bhatia (founder of Hotmail), Prithviraj Chavan (Chief Minister of
Maharashtra), Mani Shankar (Film maker) and Vivek Paul (Wipro Technologies).
The others instill a desire to know more about them.
D Balasubramanian, Director-Research at L V Prasad
Eye Institute, recipient of the Padma Shri, one of the oldest alumnus of BITS
Pilani profiled in the book, talks about the contribution of his teachers
at BITS in inculcating the love for Chemistry and Music in him. The importance
of good teachers cannot be demonstrated better than in his case. The early
interest in the subject subsequently led to sustained learning and eventually
path breaking innovations.
In an era where the public at large are in general
disgusted by the politicians in India, Prithviraj Chavan is an outlier. The
current Chief Minister of Maharashtra has a pleasing personality and is an
efficient administrator. In the words of Babasaheb Neelkanth Kalyani, the
Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Forge, which might be true for most of
the alumni of BITS Pilani, “I think the years that I spent at Pilani prepared
me to face the challenges of life”.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “I’m a success today
because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let
him down.” The importance of friendship and the contribution of educational
institutions in forging those ties also comes out in the book. B C Jain,
Chairman of Ankur Scientific, and recipient of the Bio-Energy Man of the Year
2011–2012, apart from many other accolades, says, “This [BITS] gave me a large
number of great friends and also led to development of excellent analytical and
interpersonal skills”.
A common trait which is observable through the
profiles of all the alumni is the desire to make the world a better place to
live in. Whether it is the socially relevant movies made by Mani Shankar or the
work being done by B C Jain in the bio-energy segment or the Janaagraha
movement of Ramesh Ramanathan.
Innovation is another common thread which weaves
the lives of these luminaries. Sabeer Bhatia founded the first free web-based
email service in the world, hotmail. Sarathbabu Elumalai founded
Foodking which serves good food at nominal prices and offers employment to
illiterate and semi-illiterate people.
The selection of people profiled is commendable.
While each of the story is fascinating, the book just touches upon the lives of
a few of them and leaves the readers with the urge to read more about the
person. This could very well be a strategy that the editors wanted to adopt.
The book must be read by the younger lot, who are
disenchanted by the education system and the value that it adds. At times, the
value is not tangible and not in marks received!
No comments:
Post a Comment