Chetan Bhagat asks Kerala to lead country

Kochi: Popular author Chetan Bhagat on Saturday said that Kerala with its total literacy should lead the nation in bringing about digital revolution and the desired changes in society.

 

Speaking to DC on the sidelines of the CBSE Sahodaya Principals’ conference here, he said that at a time when the world was  changing fast, the Indian system was adapting to the changes only slowly.

 

“For the digital revolution to fully happen and help everyone, the small towns and areas of the country should benefit from the big towns. Students in small towns should be able to hear the experts who live in big towns through the IT devices.  Big towns have big schools and get experts directly and this should be taken to small towns,” said Chetan Bhagat.

 

Youngsters have to be job-ready and should acquire the right skills for it. “Those skills  are sought by the corporate world, which  include communication skills as well. Communication is not just language. It is about putting your ideas across,” the author of the best seller ‘Half Girlfriend’ said.

 

Chetan stressed that there was  no short cut to success and that hard realities of life should be faced boldly. “I had a tough childhood. That gave me strength to face the challenges in the rest of my life boldly,” he emphasized. He disclosed that he had made trysts with Fort Kochi several times in the past as part of discovering his creativity and penning down the thoughts. He also said that having travelled in many parts of the world he was amazed to see the presence of Keralites across. “You are the true ambassadors of India,” he exclaimed. He told the principals in his pep talk later that remembering was totally different from real understanding of issues and students should be made to look deep into issues so as to become insightful beings. “A child should be prompted to delve into the larger canvas of the odyssey of Vasco da Gama than asking him to remember the date on which Gama landed in Kerala,” citing an example he said.