gavin's blog

Last evening NDTV managed to get two of the biggest boys in the world, Bill Gates, and Narayana Murthy together for a chat moderated by Prannoy Roy (PR) with hundreds of top corporate honchos in attendance. 90 minutes flew by as TV came into its own.

Some observations I had during the show:

1. When asked for the defining moments in his life, Bill chose his first exposure to a computer at 13 and his learning of Moore’s law at 16. Only when goaded on by PR did Bill add his leaving Harvard to start Microsoft. And PR said ‘so you’re recommending that students quit school to start business?’ BG immediately clarified that he wasn’t, while I cringed thinking ‘this man did something that seemed right FOR HIM AT THAT POINT OF TIME. How it that supposed to be an universal injunction for success?’ Sheesh. Bad point if it was serious. Bad joke, even if it was meant in jest.
2. When PR talked of how both BG and NM were philanthropists, BG simply spoke of the necessity of using his wealth, considering he wasn’t leaving it to his family. Simple, unassuming and matter of fact. NM on the other hand spoke of doing ‘small’ things with his wife, emphasizing the word small two or three times. False modesty, I thought.
3. NM kept starting his answers with ‘As Bill said’ or ‘Like Bill said’, referencing his answers with Bill’s own, whether he agreed with them or otherwise. Bill rarely if ever did. NM’s referring to Bills response was very similar to what I’ve noticed on several Indian reality TV shows – that each judge in commenting, always references other judges’ comments – unlike what I’ve seen on ‘foreign’ reality shows. Why are we Indians so conscious of company?
4. PR asked BG about America’s loss of stature/respect in the world and ‘recent foreign policy mistakes’ to much excitement in the room. BG did not agree, argued cogently and admirably in a room full of people who evidently did not share his opinion, even as he admitted there was much concern in the US regarding whether the ‘very high threshold’ of factors necessary to justify recent actions (okay we are talking about Iraq) was met. NM made an unwarranted dig at him for not being ‘open’ about criticizing his country, like he was in being critical of India, to much applause, which made BG clearly uncomfortable as he went ‘What was that?’ in his head. Just like I was doing. NM’s comment was just not on.

I know this wasn’t supposed to be a ring-match, but I couldn’t help comparing the two boys for their poise and composure and togetherness, and Bill Gates came out way ahead. Imho.