“Belonging to a small village in the Siddipet district, I was exposed to a lot of cultures and worldly affairs only when I stepped out and joined an engineering course at Osmania University. There was so much to learn and understand – I was mindblown! I had taken up responsibilities to coordinate some of the biggest science conferences. Towards the end of my course, I attended a meeting held by defence officers with a friend. I didn’t have much interest or understanding of the army but after listening to the speech, I wanted to be a part of it. I wrote the test, attended interviews and passed the health exam. That was the turning point in my life. I joined one of the largest armies in the world and it opened up a lot of opportunities to me. At various points in my life, all of us were ready to go to war within 24 hour’s notice. I served in cities across the country including Kashmir, where we weren’t allowed to step out after sunset. We still took risks to help other jawans because for us, it’s always about our team and our army.

During the Kargil War, I was stationed at the Army Headquarters in New Delhi. I was a part of the planning team where I taught jawans how to dismantle weapons, how to put them back together, keep a count of the stock and attack. Although there were officers like us planning, it was the jawans who were the real heros! Once I joined the planning team, I learnt the power of innovation and how much capability our fellow Indians had. We developed Windy – a multi weapon platform that nobody in the world had back then, in 2003. It was also displayed on the Republic Day Parade 2004. That’s the kind of work we believed in doing. For us, it was always about determination, commitment and innovation. It’s the same creativity and hunger for innovation that made me take up projects even post retirement. This time, however, it wasn’t in the defence but with our local villagers and innovators. That’s the idea behind starting Palle Srujana which has been supporting rural innovators since 2005. Palle Srujana looks for utilitarian devices that can help solve day-to-day issues, for agriculture and non-agriculture sectors. In the last 15 years that I have been visiting the villages, I have always been amazed at the level of talent and innovative spirit that exists among the people in our rural areas. I motivated them to come up with their own innovations and today, more than 200 innovations from 500 villages across the Telugu states have received international acclaim. There’s still a lot to try and develop with them. I want to be useful to my fellow citizens, especially the ones who need me, till my last day. That’s my way of serving the nation long after I’ve retired.”

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