Book Review | ‘Just Aspire’ reveals why Ajai Chowdhry is called ‘Father of Indian Hardware’ – Know all about the making of a challenger!

By Mohit Hira

Memoirs can often be self-indulgent, but some are like mountains. While they appear daunting, they will leave you exhilarated once scaled. Others are akin to oceans—vast, deep and marked by the rise and fall of tides.

And then there are a few that remind me of rivers: meandering across time and place, traversing both history and geography in an unpredictable path. Ajai Chowdhry’s Just Aspire is just that—a stream of experiences, anecdotes and learnings from a man who has not just witnessed India’s ascent in information technology, but has been an integral part of the revolution and led it from the front. Long before ‘Make in India’ became a badge to be flaunted, HCL—the organisation he co-founded along with five others—was pioneering the manufacturing of personal computers against a formidable set of global brands. In a country where software has been its poster boy, this book is a well-deserved tribute to the oft-ignored hardware industry. And for anyone even peripherally associated with IT, reading Just Aspire will reveal why Ajai Chowdhry has been called the ‘Father of Indian Hardware’.

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The 16 chapters in which his memoir is divided cover aspects of a fascinating life that are simultaneously partly personal, largely professional, occasionally spiritual but almost entirely filled with optimism. Hence, the dedication not—as one might expect—to members of his family or his colleagues but to “aspirational Indians, the millions who have the courage and self-belief to follow their dreams”. There is, however, strong evidence of the influence that his parents and school in Jabalpur had on him, as did the likes of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Ray Kurzweil, Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda and many others. If this appears odd, it isn’t, because a man can live many lives in one life, and character is shaped by multiple personalities. Ajai Chowdhry is no different in this respect. What is remarkable, though, is his ability to wander back and forth in time (often confusingly) to recall people and encounters, and then pepper the book with anecdotes.

While much of the book appears to be self-indulgent and a reader might wonder where he is going, it would do you well to keep the metaphor of the river in mind. As you sail along Ajai Chowdhry’s life, you will realise that the first few chapters pull you headlong into his formative years. The large middle section— much like a mighty river flowing placidly down the plains—is a tranquil yet paradoxically hectic account of his entrepreneurial life in India and abroad. And towards the end—starting with his retirement from HCL to an entire chapter on startups and then institution building—the pace picks up again like a river hurtling towards the ocean.

There are several lessons to be learned from the book: on a challenger brand becoming a pioneer and leader, on how belief in one country can alter mindsets in other nations or how a man can love both science and art… and more.

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While the book itself is almost flawlessly edited, one wishes it had ended with an index of references because there are specific pages that will appeal to diverse readers. If you are a salesperson, go straight to chapter 12. If you are working in, or are the founder of a startup, chapter 10 will be a treasure trove. And if you’re looking for the famous, you’ll just have to read every chapter; there’s PM Narendra Modi, Shashi Kapoor, Javed Akhtar, Sonal Mansingh and so many others. There’s wry humour, a love of the classics that prove the author is clearly erudite, and there are unabashed glimpses—in photos and words—of his family and their closeness to each other. While one may wish that the editors had structured the book in a way that delineated the personal from the professional, I suspect the author shuffled seamlessly between both worlds in real life as well, but without compromising on either.

For someone who started his career in the days when manual typewriters were the norm and telephone calls had to be booked in advance, the chapter on ‘Revolutionizing Mobile Telephony’ brings back a flood of memories. In my advertising days, I was privileged to be part of the team that launched mobile phone communications by Modi Telstra from Calcutta (now Kolkata). And having seen the arrival and ascent of computers, chapters such as ‘Window to the World’ and ‘India Unbound’ are equally fascinating. However, as I’ve mentioned before, chapter 10 (‘Start-Ups, Where Angels Love to Tread’) is perhaps the heart of the author’s entrepreneurial mindset, and while he has referred to himself elsewhere as an inveterate salesman (or words to that effect) risk has been a recurring refrain in his life.

So has been the amalgam of several other traits he mentions in this section: “Passion fuels the venture and engenders creativity, persistence and performance.” In this respect, Ajai Chowdhry also comes across as someone who would fit in beautifully as a teacher or mentor in today’s liberal arts programmes. The book’s epilogue states, “Looking back, I feel that my success as a business leader is owed in large measure to the interdisciplinary mindset that I was encouraged to cultivate in my youth.”

I often segregate my books into three categories: RMR, MNR and GTR. That’s ‘Really Must Read’, ‘Must Never Read’ and ‘Good To Read’. Just Aspire is GTR for me with a slight variation—GTR; RT… ‘Good To Read and Return To’. It isn’t a book to be binged on in one go but is best consumed episodically with the occasional post-it note marking a page that has a nugget tucked away. Or, if one must return to the metaphor of the river, it is a book in which you can take a periodic dip and refresh your mind.

Mohit Hira is co-founder, Myriad Communications, and Venture Partner at YourNest Capital Advisors