Hey All,

Its time for a special episode on Coffee With Experts!! Today, We have a person, who has made it to Google inspite of all odds against him. Its my pleasure welcome Naga Naresh Karuturi from IIT Madras for a show on Coffee With Sundar!!

You might wonder, what were the odds against him.. Read this article on rediff.com

Naresh is special. His parents are illiterate. He has no legs and moves around in his powered wheel chair.

Naga Naresh

Isnt Naresh Inspiring? Here is a small chit chat with Naresh!!

Coffee With Naga Naresh Karuturi
Me: Sundar Rajan G S
NN: Naga Naresh

Me: Hi Naresh, welcome to CWS.. How do you feel when got into Google?
NN: Thank you for inviting me on your talk show …. I was very happy .. now enjoying my time working there ….

Me: How was your experience at IIT Madras. Did you face any difficulties in academics or life @ IITM.. How did you handle it.. How was ur social life.. friend circle etc.
NN: Life at IIT Madras was one of the most amazing experiences … I would term it more as a learning experience …. I did not face any difficulties in academics or life @ IITM … all the classes are arranged such that I will not have any accessibilty problems .. even if some classes are arranged at a place where I will have difficulty attending them … the faculty got them shifted as soon as possible .. I have a lot of very good friends … some of them are MTech, PhD ..

I would say the people with whom you can interact in IIT will have a lot of impact on you …whether it is academic or social life .. I learned a lot from them …

Me: At any point in time, did you feel bad about people showering too much concern on him ? Does it hurt you in any way ?
NN: of course .. too much of anything does not taste good … rather they hurt .. I would term it as discomfort … I shouldn’t get hurt (feel bad) when someone shows concern .. I try to just realise how good they are .. if possible convey them that there is no reason for concern ( which I never did :) … if my parents are there with me .. they take up this job :) ) ..

Me: What’s your future plans and aspirations?
NN: I prefer to have short term goals. I feel one can be more focussed then. Currently, I feel that the best course of action for me is to focus on the task at hand

Me: What are your passions? What drives you to do what you have done?
NN: I don know how to answer this.. :-) Yet to identify one.. it is the same as for any student i think :-)

Me: Can you talk about some significant moments in your life? Is there anything in his past life that you wish to revert ? or wish that it had not happened ?
NN: Significant moments.. lots of them.. my accident.. 10th class.. JEE exam.. 7th sem and lots more moments… Why I meant JEE, 7th sem are important because .. those are the times when major things happened .. like I cleared JEE ..so got into IIT .. in my 7th sem I decided to take up a job instead going for higher studies … these are times which moulded my future and there is no time in past which I wish to change .. Whatever has happened is happened… I look forward to future..

Me: Naresh, Do you have any thoughts to share with Specially abled children & their parents on how well they can bring them up as a usual person?
NN: May be they could look around to find out what the sharpest of their friends or seniors are doing and ask themselves if the physical challenge they have is really a deterrent for achieving the same. For intellectual pursuits, the answer is mostly ‘no’.

I feel how they come up in life depends a lot on family and friends. The people around should ensure that he is not given any special treatment unless there is a necessity for it. They should make him feel that he is not any less capable. I will give my life in school as an example. I was punished all the same as my friends were. No special sympathy showered. But I was carried to my classroom by my friends – this I needed. This is just an example Even my parents treated me on par with my sister. I am going to places where I can’t go by myself with others help. Apart from this, I feel that I am not getting special treatment in things which I don’t require any special treatment. This kind of behavior helps those children a lot. this is my perception .. it may vary from person to person .. bcoz physical challenges are not same for all

Me: How are you handling the publicity that you have got! I am sure, you would have got a lot of mails and scraps. How do find this situation?
NN: Good question. I am beginning to feel the pinch now. In the first interview, I enjoyed talking as I was free then. I was full of spirit in speaking to the press for the first time. But now there are other important things that are piling up. Also, telling the same story again and again is boring. In particular, it raises some doubts as to whether I have done something significant to speak so much. I feel that the newspapers interview me not because I have done something different but because I was different and have done a normal thing. So I should work now and make sure next time they talk about me is bcoz I have done something different :)

Me: Wow!! Thats awesome… Doing something different.. What is the msg that would like to convey to CWS readers?
NN: From my stay in IIT, I have learnt that one has to prioritize his/her jobs wisely. If this is done systematically, in course of time one can see the amazingly large quantum of work carried out by him. But I learnt it the hard way :-( May be you people should learn from my mistake..

Thanks a lot Naga Naresh!! I am sure you are going to a great inspiration for many of us.. All the best for your future.. Hope you accomplish a lot of things @ Google!!Readers, Hope you enjoyed this edition of Coffee With Experts! For previous episodes of Coffee with Experts, click here.

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