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The Bania-Brahmin

On Wednesday, March 5, the visit of William Gates III to India ended in a grand finale with a glitzy power dinner at a Bombay luxury hotel. Hundreds of India's chief executives were there. Expectancy tinged the air. Bill was finally among his own kind. And diners were hungry to swallow pearls of wisdom.

Then what actually happened proved anti-climactic. The little boy-man from the United States of America dropped the wisdom bit and finished what he had to say in about twenty mundane, saccharine-sweet sentences. There was no power presence on the podium. And the sheen on the hundreds of penguins feeding at candle-lit tables managed to cast a shadow on the planet's richest man.

In the aftermath of the mandatory applause, the murmur had a ring of consensus: He's tired.

But a weary body had not reined in Bill from extolling the excellence of India's software prowess: "I was expecting great software expertise but what I saw exceeded my expectation. There are many people with whom we could work." A short chain of such claims left little room for insightful, constructive criticism.

Yet, among the tinkle of wine and silver, realisation dawned on one scientific soul: "He's a brahmin and a bania at the same time. That's what it takes to be big today." Dr S Ramani of the National Centre for Software Technology had hit the nail on the head. But this had come only after Bill had had a disappointing question-answer bout with the country's corporate chieftains.

The first question was not about software or even Microsoft, instead it sought details of the Teledesic Corporation. Patient Bill explained how he was just an investor in the ambitious project of telecommunications pioneer Craig McCaw. The project plans to launch hundreds of LEOs (low-Earth orbit satellites) to provide, besides cellular telephony, high bandwidth connectivity for video-conferencing and superfast Internet access at any spot on the planet.

Though many consider the 'Internet-in-the sky' venture to be just a pie in the sky, Bill is optimistic that within five years McCaw's dream would be reality. And no, he is not sure whether the Indian Space Research Organisation has been approached to build some of the Teledesic satellites or their components.

Some of us still wait for more India-specific stuff but it's Teledesic again. Bill explains how in high population-density areas like cities a fibre-optic network is cheaper than satellite for ludicrously fast connectivity but to draw in far-flung areas, to integrate field workers and agriculture, laying a fiber-optic cable over large unpopulated tracts would just not be feasible. He hopes Teledesic LEOs will fill in the gaps.

Finally, there's one question closer to Indian concerns: The US immigration laws; because if they get conservative India's most marketable product, software manpower, loses sales. Gates assures they (read Microsoft) will not let that happen: "It was a really bad piece of legislation that we, our lobby, managed to stall. In America the hi-tech industry is very small but it has tremendous political clout because the American people associate hi-tech with the future which must be secured. Microsoft has friends in the hi-tech industry and their lobby."

The confidence of one company to influence the laws of a powerful nation is awe-inspiring and scary. But at the same time there is thanks for politicians who understand and respect the way hi-tech creates the future.

"In about ten years you will have computers you can talk to and listen to. Keyboards would be secondary. At that point of time the operating system would have to be a very complex piece of software. Microsoft is investing in this and there are some incredible people working on the problem."

Yikes! Talking computers! Somebody please tell the man that this kind of talk is not respectable in Indian labs. It's only for wannabe geeks gassing science fiction over a couple of beers. On second thoughts, Bill's rep can take it. He is claimed to have done more than foresee the future again and again…

"He's credited with making the future happen," Dr Ramani's thoughts intrude as the first course is ending and a band of four strikes a somnolent tone.

This sure must feel like what the viceroy's durbars would have been: just cut and replace the princes for the corporate czars.

Dr Ramani's thoughts are persistent. Why is there not another desi William Gates III among this gathering of the best of the best? Traditionally, India has been scared of technology. Was it not those with the better guns and boats which colonised the subcontinent? Then there is the caste system. The brahmin for knowledge and the bania for commerce. And the brahmin is a brahmin and a bania is a bania and the twain shall never meet. Never mind that the borders between the East and West are fast disappearing. To make matters worse, even the brahmin's knowledge was respected only because it led to salvation not creation of wealth.

Could be true. Look around and you can tell the brahmin-scientist from the bania-CEO, just by the degree the candle light favours one over the other. And later by the chauffeur driven Mercs and the refitted Ambys.

"There's a herd mentality," says Dr Ramani. "We don't take enough risks. Everybody has to be an engineer or a doctor. We won't let a kid with talent for music pursue his dream of being a rock star; let alone drop out of college even if the boy can afford it. We do stupid things. India will have a Bill Gates when it rises above its caste psyche and lets a bania-brahmin emerge."

Amen, says a mole among the penguins as he makes his way to the exit.

Earlier that evening...

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