[Reader-list] On my view of Nandan Nilekani

[Taha Mehmood]

Dear Bipin and Rahul,

Thank you for your mails.

I think if he really feels for the underprivileged then if not for
anyone else but for the sake of underprivileged people of India Nandan
Nilekani must leave UID. Why, because he seems to have only a vague
idea of what he is doing.

Please allow me to revisit  craftsman argument once more.

You see, it is the nature of a batsman to make more runs just like it
is the nature of a bowler to restrict a batsman from making runs. Now
we have in cricket batsmen and bowlers and all rounders. But then
there are some people who epitomize excellence. People like Warne,
people like Tendulkar. A craftsman hones his skill by persistently
doing one thing and perfecting it. Which comes after spending hours
and hours on that thing alone. Tendulkar expresses himself the best
through his bat. Warne through his ball. It is in the nature of
Tendulkar to make runs, he can bowl too but not with as much finesse
as he can bat. It is in the nature of Warne to bowl, he can bat too
but with not as much excellence as he can bowl.

Nandan Nilekani's craft lie in creating wealth and harvesting it for
gain. Private profit is his game. That is his nature. That is how he
has been expressing his self for the past thirty years. Return on
Investment. Gross profit. Turnover. These are words which were his for
the last thirty years. These words have helped him convert 1200 rupees
a month to more than a Billion dollars. He is one of our best and
shining examples of what free market liberal democratic India has to
offer to the world. He is an instinctive creator of wealth, wouldn't
it be against his nature to distribute wealth? Wouldn't it be like
expecting Tendulkar to take four hundred wickets?

I think Mr. Nandan Nilekani must be persuaded to leave UID as soon as
possible. It would not only be good for him but also good the country.

Warm regards

Taha