Sam dreamt a dream of fixing one of the many problems that plagued India. The 1980s were the years when the migration of educated young people from India to developed countries mirrored more than career aspirations. It also reflected a willingness to leave behind family ties to join a world of modern communication.  Sam focused on India’s problem – an infrastructure of 2 million telephones for a population of 750 million was woefully inadequate – and he resolved that “he was going to fix India’s problem.” 

For a year, Sam Pitroda sought an appointment with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. On being granted an appointment for 10 minutes (the time-keepers thought neither he nor the prime minister needed more), he declined to meet until he was given nothing less than an hour. After what became a famous hour-long meeting, Mrs. Gandhi observed, “This guy is possessed. He wants to do it. I don’t know what, but he will do it.”  

The prime minister required a year to be convinced that Sam’s was indeed a selfless motive. When Mr. Pitroda was asked to quote his terms, he responded with a budget of 36 million rupees and 36 months to show his work, and an annual salary of 1 rupee for the next decade. Thus was conceived the Center for Development of Telecommunications that would eventually lay the foundation to make India the software hub that it is today.  

India also needed to develop its own hardware, and Sam Pitroda declared, "We will build our own.” Soon he had assembled 300 young technicians to assemble a parallel processor from scratch with a budget of  30 billion rupees in 3 years. Thus also began a computer revolution in India.  

Sam’s secret of success was selfless sacrifice. When your mission is to make a difference to the world rather than make a personal gain, you can draw courage from outside as everyone seeks to help you achieve that mission.  Sam also believed that working from the top down was essential for a country like India with its 400 million illiterate citizens.