'Agreeing To Disagree Is The Foundational Principles Of A Progressive Individual' - Gautam Jayasurya, TISS Mumbai - Best30 - Class Of 2019

To be honest, it was a mix of youthful curiosity and daring to explore unknown lands that made me decide for it. Spending two years in Japan moulded me in a way, I never envisioned when I boarded my flight to Nagoya at the age of 14.

The biggest challenge of was zero knowledge of the language combined with japan's relative discomfort with English as a language of communication. Umpteen hours of afterschool practice, swallowing one's ego and asking every other person to teach you a word or a phrase was such a moving experience, I start to feel like a baby again.

In the end, all those late night language drills, all that stuttered conversations, all that desperate times when I couldn't read the question paper in Japanese let alone find answers for it was pushed in the background as I graduated with distinction.

I was privileged in many to have given the opportunity to have gotten the exposure to a rich a civilisation, but I can say it great pride that I grabbed it and made the most of it.

 

When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act.

During my professional stint as an advocacy associate in my last workplace, I was entrusted with the responsibility of leading a training programme for undergraduate students on financial planning and budgeting at the local government level. I had no prior experience in the area of training barring my public speaking involvement in events hosted during my undergraduate course. Being handed over the complete responsibility of a training programme to a relatively inexperienced person like me, spoke volumes about the incredible amount of confidence, organizational leadership had on me.

I started the process by identifying the need for the training, competency that the training programme intending to fill, what training methods to adopt in the course of the programme. In the process of finding accomplished trainers on the subject matter, I realised that a good leader needs to find the right balance between delegation and taking up the responsibility of oneself.
Throughout the programme, I had to be dynamic in my decision making as I had to creatively engage a group of 30 individuals for 14 days. By virtue of being the leader of a programme with multiple stakeholders, one was to let go of certain demands and settle for the next best available option. Throughout the event, there were situations which tested my team’s confidence, but my commitment to the cause coupled with my positive frame of mind, helped me to inspire members of my team to add value and achieve success.

 

Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?

Agreeing to disagree is the foundational principles of a progressive individual. I strongly aspire to be one. After a series of unsuccessful attempts at clearing civil services, there came a time I had to relook at my career options. After speaking to many, who have gone through similar life situations I came to the conclusion that it is better to I take up a meaningful job rather than chasing something so far away. Sadly, like every other Indian parent, my parents too disagreed to this decision of mine. However, I respectfully disagreed with them, explained to them why I want to take up a job and went ahead and did it.

It so turned out that the next six months of work life were the most productive days of my life as I could learn so much from my work peers and execute so many impactful projects. I rediscovered the inherent motivation that was on the wane after a series of setbacks. The work experience eventually helped me secure admission into TISS as well, for which I'm eternally grateful to my mentors.

Looking back, the lesson that I learned is that if one is convinced that he is taking the right decision and backed by rational reasoning for it, one shouldn't care about whether he is in the minority or majority but just do it.

 

What is the one thing you can claim to have some level of expertise or depth of knowledge in - it could be anything - a subject, a sport, a hobby, a venture, an initiative which has led you to do deep work in that field?

My single largest achievement has been the successful completion of State Bank of India Youth for India Fellowship. I got the opportunity to explore livelihood issues of tribal communities from Kolli Hills of Namakkal, Tamil Nadu. I was entrusted with the responsibility of designing a project on education that would address the pressing challenge of falling learning outcomes among primary and upper primary students. I managed to set-up Smart Classrooms across four villages and initiate Teacher Training Programme for unemployed women to supplement the work at smart classrooms and as a livelihood option.

Another problem I was faced was an acute lack of hand hygiene among school going students. Due to rocky terrain, water available for cleaning was minimal for the entire community. At the end of my efforts to benchmark the available solutions, I realized that the Tippy Tap model adopted by Zimbabwean communities could really work in my favour. The said tippy tap model that consisted of a water supply structure with a pedal and water container that can be constructed under Rs. 100 was well received by the community members. Once they realized the health hazards of unclean hands, they were eager to emulate the model in their respective households. I consider this to be a good alternative for its cost-effectiveness and the amount of appeal it could generate among the student community under the given constraints.
I consider these two experiences to be my largest achievement due to the enormity of challenge it presented and the cultural novelty attached to the challenge at hand. I had to improve upon my broken Tamil to mobilize people around the idea and be patient with setbacks like students dropping out due to reasons beyond me.

Today, when I look back I realize that my greatest personal strengths are my ability to stay positive in the darkest of times, find innovative solutions in ambiguous situations and motivate others to share a common vision.

 

If 10 Million Dollars (approximately INR 75 Crores) is given to you to use it any way you deem fit what would you do with this corpus?

I believe the future of world hinges upon creating a sustainable value chain of essential products - food, water and transport. At the core of each of this is the ability to have a sustainable energy option. Hence, a part of the corpus would be to set up a seed fund for upstream and downstream alternative energy startups. Another area that I'm passionate about is in the area of sports. I will bring together a team of passionate individuals who can facilitate creating talent academies in rural India and unearth sports professionals. This can lead to an improvement in the living standards of those individuals and the rest of the region, as a result of the spillover effect. Lastly, a part of my fund shall be invested in documenting traditional knowledge which are invaluable sources of generational wisdom and research. Creating a decentralized and open repository of traditional medicines, would one of the top priorities.