Interaction with Prime Minister Modi
There are some moments in my life that I look back on and think “Holy Sh*t! I really did do that”. This was one of those moments.
Phone Interview
This was 4 days before the Smart India Hackathon 2020 took place. I was getting prepared for the hackathon when I got a phone call. They said they were working for the PMO and wanted to talk to me about my project. They reached out to me because I filled a form for those who wished to interact with the Prime Minister who was the chief guest at the inauguration of the hackathon. They asked me if I’m still interested, to which I replied yes. Then they asked me to describe my project in layman terms.
For the hackathon, my team was working on developing a system for the govt. schools of Sikkim. The system will be used to collect data on students such as their marks and attendance. The collected data would then be sent to the Sikkim Govt. However, they faced a problem. These schools do not have access to a stable internet connection all year round. Hence, we had to make a system that would work even if there is no internet connection and send the data to the Govt. automatically when the school’s internet connection is restored.
Once, I explained my project, the person on the phone said I explained it really well and suggested that I be more loud and audible when I describe this to the Prime Minister.
They also requested me to keep the fact that I will be interacting with the Prime Minister a secret until the day of the inauguration. I guess it was for security purposes. But of course, I told my parents and my teammates.
Smart India Hackathon
So for a little bit of context, the Smart India Hackathon or SIH is a hackathon organized by the Central Govt. where college students get the opportunity to work on projects based on real problems that various state govts. and some organizations were facing. The students would participate in teams and can choose the problem statement they wanted to work on. I chose the problem statement that I described earlier because I was working on a similar project with my friends. Seeing this was an actual problem gave our idea validation and made us excited to build a project that can have an actual impact. However, we were supposed to do the actual development only on the three days of the hackathon. On the first day of the hackathon, for the inauguration ceremony, the Prime Minister would be attending as the chief guest and would also interact with a select few students to discuss the projects they were working on. Because all this took place during the pandemic, the interaction would be virtual.
Rehearsals
Two days before the inauguration, the organizers informed me that I had to go to the MGM College on the day of the inauguration. The inauguration would commence in the morning but the Prime Minister would only be free to interact with the participants in the evening. I was expected to reach the venue in the morning so that I can rehearse for the interaction session. My teammate Abhjith agreed to accompany me to the venue. That was great because while I’m rehearsing, the hackathon would be in progress, and having him there would help me coordinate with my team.
At the venue, they had set up really expensive cameras, lights, and sound systems. It was like walking onto a film shooting set. I was under the impression that we would only have a few rehearsals and I would be free to focus on the hackathon in between. But oh no, they had to do a hundred rehearsals to make sure everything was perfect. Even if the camera was off by a small angle, we would have to redo the whole rehearsal again. They also informed us that the Prime Minister would ask us a few questions about the project. Fortunately, he would be asking questions that were prepared beforehand and we were given those questions. So yeah, I couldn’t focus on the hackathon at all.
Meanwhile, my parents informed my relatives that I am going to interact with the Prime Minister. I was receiving so many calls and I could only attend a few of them. They all called to wish me luck and to tell me they were proud of me.
The Interaction
After hours of rehearsals, we were ready for the actual thing by evening. At this point, I was really tired because of the rehearsals and annoyed because I couldn’t focus on the hackathon. But the excitement of being able to talk to the Prime Minister and appearing on news kept me going.
The session started and I waited as the Prime Minister interacted with the other selected participants. Watching them I kept thinking to myself that these students prepared well for this. They must’ve practiced what they were going to say well ahead. And there I was, waiting for my opportunity to just wing it. And the opportunity came. I’ll leave a link to the recording with the timestamp below. It doesn’t show the entire conversation but this is the only recording I have.
https://youtu.be/549hHWizsGg?t=778
I stammered a lot as expected. This is a problem I knew I had. Even when I talk to people close to me in a comfortable environment, I stammer. I wasn’t very nervous though because I thought to myself “He is just another human being”. I was so relieved when his first response was “You are a student making something for other students. Just imagine how you would feel if someone else was making this for you.” and he smiled! And he proceeded to ask the questions that were prepared beforehand but he had a surprise for me. He asked something that was either not prepared beforehand or wasn’t in the list of questions given to me. He asked me about other areas this software could be used in. It took some time but I remember my sister asking me this question when I pitched this idea to her. But it was a long time back and took some time to recollect. I responded with the same answer she told me back then. This is basically a learning management system and it is not only used in educational institutions but also used by employers to track what their employees are learning. Hence this system is relevant there as well. Finally, he praised me for being a student from the south who is working on a project that could help students in the hilly northern regions.
It was finally over and I was glad that I didn’t mess it up and can go home to work on the hackathon. I said “Thank you” to all the organizers in the venue and got in the cab back home.
The Aftermath
The ride back home was horrible. My teammates informed me that the judges had already done their first round of evaluations and it was a disaster. It was totally my fault because I assumed I would always be present during the three rounds of evaluation. I only kept my teammates informed about the part they were supposed to work on and hence they weren’t able to give a good enough presentation. The other teams had their ideas evaluated and the judges gave them suggestions for improvement. Suggestions from the judges were crucial in the beginning stage because they usually make us rethink our whole approach and we would have to utilize the rest of the hackathon to make those changes. But since my team was unable to give a good presentation the judges were not able to give good feedback.
That itself brought me down and I also started thinking that I should’ve practiced for the interaction properly. Maybe then I wouldn’t have stammered. I tried talking to Abhijith who was with me but he was also tired after having been with me through all of this. I was not able to talk to any of my other friends as well because of the poor phone signal. It was a very silent ride back home. I had the song “Catch and Release” by Matt Simmons on loop the whole way. Fortunately, as I was close to getting home, my sister Priya called me and cheered me up. She helped me look at the upside of it all, told me that a whole lot of people are proud of me, and told me to work hard for the rest of the hackathon.
When I got back home I was bombarded with calls on my phone as well as my parents’ phones. They said that many major news channels aired the interaction live and my dad was approached by the “Youth of GSB” to ask if I’m fine with being featured on their website and Facebook page. I am mostly introverted and all this attention that I was getting was a bit too much to handle. I was also very tired. I was only able to get back home at 9 PM. I also asked myself if I deserved all of this. I felt like I got this opportunity purely by luck.
In the end, I talked to my sister Preethy. I was able to answer that unscripted question from the Prime Minister because of her. She did ask me if that was the case. When I told her that it was, she was really happy. She went on and on about how she was proud of me and assured me that I got this opportunity because of my talents. They wouldn’t have selected me if I was not good at communication. She was right. This was a talent that I worked hard to develop. It was mostly thanks to my passion for teaching. I loved to take classes and I developed my skills starting with just a bunch of my friends to over 100 students in my college auditorium.
I was so happy to see my laptop, table, and chair back at home. I felt like I would never leave my room anytime soon. Well, I couldn’t, considering the fact that there was a pandemic going on. I started working on the hackathon. We tried to pick up the pace but we did not manage to win. I felt like this was entirely my fault. While I was good at communicating with the masses, I failed at communicating with my teammates. It wasn’t fair of me to just keep them in the loop about things that I thought they should be focusing on. Instead, I should have involved them or at least made them aware of all the steps in the project. Otherwise, they won’t be able to manage themselves when I’m not available. Which is what happened on the first day of the hackathon.
This was a surreal experience. I still talk about it. Well, now I’m writing a blog about it. I use this as an experience to demonstrate my communication skills at interviews. I’ve also mentioned this in my resume and LinkedIn profile. I’ve also learned a few things about team management. In the week following the hackathon, I still received calls from people who heard about this late. There are still people who ask me “How is the PM? You’re still in touch with him, right?” Which is getting annoying at this point.
