I picked up a magazine at the railway station book stall recently. The lead story was about 15 Indian icons from different walks of life. Flipping the pages , I found familiar names – Amitabh Bacchan , Sachin Tendulkar , Rahul Dravid , Ratan Tata, Vijay Mallaya , Sania Mirza and some other familiars. I also learnt about their quirks – all of this recycled information – Amitabh’s 1000 pens, Mallaya’ 26 homes, David’s Marti 800, Tate’s dogs – Tito and Tiger , Sonia’s post retirement plans as an interior designer and of course Mahayana Murthy’s famous 3 bed room house which by now perhaps deserves heritage status as also the company bus he travels by when his chauffeur is on leave. All these are achievers no doubt in their particular fields, but the question before me is the extent to which their achievements’ have impacted ordinary lives. In that category , Kingfisher – beer as well as airlines , Amitabh’s film s and Dravid’s moments with the bat don’t qualify though watching them might help provide me with transitory entertainment.
So if I had to compile a list of icons from among those living , the list in no particular order might contain these names :
– Varghese Kurian —the man who made the Doodh wallah and his water laden milk obsolete by making India the largest milk producer in the world through the White Revolution though he retired from the scene rather distressingly.
– M S Swaminathan , the man who made ration cards obsolete through the green revolution and is now piloting India’s grassroots digitalization outside the cyber coolie laden call centers – earlier he headed the Population Commission and drafted the National Population Policy and now heads the National Farmers’ Commission
– Sam Pitroda – the embattled chairman of the national knowledge commission , who made trunk calls obsolete and ushered in the first telecom revolution and made phones accessible if not affordable.
I run out of names after a point for icons are always few but I would take time to remember those who introduced e – ticketing on the railways making touts obsolete , those who allowed courier services to operate – making the baksheesh to the postman obsolete — those who introduced affordable mobiles and wireless phones — rendering tips to the telephone line man obsolete.
Some more people who don’t touch my lives directly but whom I might admire might include the lawyer who combs the jails of Punjab looking for Pakistanis who drifted into India , got arrested , completed their jail terms but were not repatriated , Teesta Setalvad , the voice which refused to drown regarding the Gujarat riots even though her witness Zahira twisted and turned her statements , Amir Khan who spoke out for the Narmada dam oustees , the Vadodara riot victims and paid the price when multiplex owners in the state decide to “ spontaneously” choose not to screen his films , the Leftist block in Parliament – who for all their extreme stands on various economic and even social issues do not succumb to the allure of power, are largely clean and are the strangest votaries of minority rights and social harmony.
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