As a
child in a small house, where the electricity was rare in those
towns, the house would become very hot; you can ’t go out to
play anything. I used to play marbles, cricket and football but you
could not go out; sit at home and suffocate because there was not
much to do and reading was not something which fascinated me
at that particular time. So my mother used to go around the
house and there would be a lot of things which would be broken,
whether it was the toaster, a fan or a radio and she would ask me,
“Can you fix it?” and I remember I use to always say yes, and the
reason I used to say yes is because it is not the fixing which
attracted me, but is the opening of those things and finding out
what is inside that attracted me. I do know that I think I spoiled 2
fans, 4 tube lights, 1 refrigerator and couple of toasters in trying to
be able to fix things and I got scolded every time I couldn ’t put
them back.
As I went into engineering and I learnt the art of learning through
unlearning and building through first opening I understood that
my experiences of making mistakes at home and getting scolded
for that, helped in the process of my thinking and helped me in
the process of my thinking differently. I wonder if what we are
trying to do today is right by asking people not to make mistakes,
by judging them on the mistakes they make. And is there a
miracle we will find in people if we allow them to make the
mistakes which we are most scared of.
I am not talking about making mistakes in operations
environment, or airport or a pilot making mistakes. I am talking
about young little kids or adults in colleges, asking them to
discover by breaking things open, asking them not to give instant
answers and just to try and help them to make mistakes so that
they don ’t come to instant conclusions and they take a little longer
time to discover. The beauty of discovery will only come through
experimentation and experimentation creates innovation. We have
seen that with what Gandhi has said, we have seen that with what
Einstein has said. Most discoveries and innovations are by accident
and how would accidents happen if we do not realize that there is
a miracle waiting to happen if we allow the mistakes. So the way I
look at life is take charge of your life and allow yourself to make
mistakes and allow others to make mistakes and miracles will
happen.
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