This refers to the the book review, "Sam Pitroda's change challenges" (October 28). I had the privilege of attending the book launch at Ahmedabad last week. Who could be a better reviewer than a member of the Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, which launched the Technology Missions and projects such as C-DAC? The reviewer has offered information on what went behind the greatest story of connecting India by technologist and entrepreneur Sam Pitroda. In the early nineties, the frustration of getting a call through from a small town like Bayana in Rajasthan to Delhi or Mumbai was something only those who have gone through it would know. In 1991, when I was staying with my mother in Bayana, one evening I came home to find she had fallen and broken a limb. There was no way I could be informed in the village where I was working. The next big task was to inform my elder brother in Delhi who was with the Indian Air Force.
Imagine the worry and efforts we had to go through. That is the reason I admire and thank Pitroda.
My mother is no more but my children who live abroad can call me any time to enquire about my well-being. I wonder whether they know Pitroda. He said during the book launch that half of India does not know him because they were born after India was connected.
N K Bakshi Ahmedabad
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