GUWAHATI, July 4 � A young professional with roots in Assam is now in an extraordinary league that features well-known names like billionaire Lakshmi Mittal and Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank fame. Indrani Medhi, a technology researcher with Microsoft, has recently featured in the Fortune Global Forum Visionaries� List, a distinction she shares with seven other individuals, all leaders in their own fields.
Medhi, who is pursuing her doctorate at IIT, Powai, hasbeen honoured for extending the use of computers to non-literates and first time users of computers. Not surprisingly, her name has already started to figure in highly acclaimed publications in various parts of the world.
Speaking to The Assam Tribune in an exclusive telephonic interview today, Medhi said that she was thrilled by the honour but also found it �unexpected�.
The researcher said that the new recognition has brought more responsibility on her to carry out her work. �Eventually the work would contribute in creating assistance-free use of computers among non-literates,� she said.
Attributing her success to a number of people including her parents, Medhi mentioned that tales about her grandmother Snehalata Medhi of Mangaldoi, a pioneering educationist, especially motivated her to excel in her field.
She revealed that her work would not have been possible without the unstinted help of Prof Kentaro Toyama, who is more of a mentor to her.
On the present status of her work, she said that design principles, an important part of her work, have already been established, and within two years or so, significant grounds would be covered.
Currently in Neemkhera, a tribal village in Madhya Pradesh where she is carrying out field work, Medhi has already worked in slum areas in some parts of the world to understand the problems which confront computer illiterates. Feedback from such individuals has enabled her to come up with an innovative approach to make the computer user-friendly to non-literates.
