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industry and we are going to make India a software superpower. The future for India
lies in software.” I yawned and made a mental note to file a story on “Software lobby
splinters away from the Manufacturers Association of Information
Technology (MAIT).”
The rest, as we know, is history.
Ironically, the more Dewang rose in the public eye, the more
private he became about his personal life. There was no question
of loneliness—he once told me that the reason why he wrote so
many columns was because he wanted to ensure he never had a
free moment to feel bored in or to brood over. His “family” was a
faithful retainer who would not only ensure that at all times there
was a bag packed with his crisp white shirts and favourite red tie
—
but would also accompany him for the occasional Hindi movie fix.
But most of all, Dewang loved all things beautiful,
and of
course, the beautiful life. He knew I never grudged him his
success so he would often lower the barriers of “cool” and chuckle delightedly when
he would be caught enjoying
la dolce vita
:
a mobile call that would reveal he was
jet-setting in Japan or Sweden; a column faxed onWaldorf Astoria stationery; an anecdote
on what he whispered to Bill Gates before introducing him to Laloo Prasad Yadav.
If a lot of people, especially in the early years, felt he talked
big
in his Youth Congress days in college for example, he claimed
to rub shoulders with Sanjay Gandhi
in the last ten years, Dewang
outperformed his wildest claims. He did put Indian software on the
world map, he did drive the industry from strength to strength, he
single-handedly marketed Indian software within the country and
abroad, he did make NASSCOM the single most-powerful voice
for the IT industry, he did hobnob with the best and brightest (from
software czars, to heads of state, to brilliant techies), he did trot around
the globe, live in the best hotels, attend the most happening dos and
have a pulse on the global IT gossip.
In that sense, the short life of this torchbearer was not snuffed out too
soon
—
he did more in one brief lifetime, than most people achieve
in seven births. Perhaps, the only unfinished item on his agenda was
to revisit his first love, politics, to pander to his final love, information technology. Over
a pizza in January last year, when I asked him if he was now ready to leave NASSCOM
Looking ahead with optimism
