“Its a mistake to define good work by awards”: Celebrating trophy Indians
News that India-born Venkatraman Ramakrishnan’s among the three researchers who’ve won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry spread across India with amazing rapidity yesterday.
Social networks were abuzz with congratulatory messages from Indians, with many an amused observations from the rest of world because ‘Venki’ is an American citizen, who happens to be of Indian origin! It was the Sunita Williams story all over again!
While I respect Venkatraman Ramakrishnan who must have worked incredibly hard all these years to be awarded the Nobel Prize; I was appalled at how quickly we claim, as one of our own, an American/ British national who has some remote Indian-sounding connect, but isn’t a citizen!
The only condition being they should have won a significant ‘prize’ – a Nobel/ Booker/ Oscar: anything that’s recognised in the US and UK! And then we descend into this public orgasmic fawn – according huge media play and even state honours when they visit a long-forgotten home in India.
While raging about our inability to encourage fundamental scientific research and recognise good work in India, two separate instances questioned my cynical view.
The first was a random interaction with a group of college students and young executives starting their first job. I was amused by their innocent enthusiasm about an ‘Indian Nobel Winner’ but their reasons blew me away:
“It just proves that we can dare to chase our dreams! Even if we have to work out of India, Ramakrishnan’s success proves that we can succeed. He is a better role model, than all the corrupt people we read about! And when we succeed, we want to bring about change in India.”
In this simple statement was a tacit recognition that the dreams of young Indians are not bound by country, or corruption, or the absence of a supportive ecosystem. This is young India recognising that corruption must be dealt with, by stripping it of respectability and new followers.
The second was Ramakrishnan’s forthright response in an interview:
“I think it’s a mistake to define good work by awards. This is a typical mistake that the public or even the press make. None of you called me about my work two days ago. I think people have to do what interests them and then pursue it — that’s the way to do important work. Whether these prizes come your way or not it’s really not so important. There are lots of very good scientists in India but I notice the press is hung up about these Western prizes like the Nobel Prize, instead of appreciating that they are doing excellent work within the context of India.”
[Complete interview here: http://bit.ly/19z9n6]
Sunita Williams and now Venkatraman Ramakrishnan are no longer defined by their citizenship. They are now symbols of something bigger – of dreams achieved with persistence and courage – and proof that you don’t have to be corrupt to succeed.
Their accomplishments inspire young Indians – and for me, this is reason enough to celebrate trophy Indians!
