By Rohit Das
“Helping people with new ideas” is the motto of Gautam Gurung, a local taxi driver in Shillong. But when he does not drive, he works on his passion… one that revolves around innovative ideas.
In his own words, he had a creative side to him from a very early age.
Gurung completed his schooling at St Anthony’s school. Sharing an anecdote about his childhood, he recalled how he won first prize in a painting competition in class three.
As he proudly showed the certificate that he was given in the competition, he shared, “It was held in the Ri Khasi Press, where the Chief Guest was (L) PA Sangma. There was no looking back and I haven’t stopped with my creative ideas.”
He always wanted to contribute to the community during his late teens and worked towards achieving that goal… one that would be helpful to people of his locality. Back in the day, he always kept himself busy, learning new skills and gaining new experiences.
Naturally then, the hard work has paid off in the form of an inner quest and determination to improve systems.
One of his larger objectives has to do with youth empowerment. Gurung highlighted how he also suggested the state government encourage the youth to put forward their innovative ideas. For him, innovation is key towards stopping the youth from diverting towards any wrong path.
He said, “I will raise a question here… why has the state government not come up with practical solutions for the youth sitting at home? Competitions, for instance, are important because they allow room for showcasing talent. Maybe, something along the lines of traffic management will involve their minds in bringing up new ideas. The youth today are moving towards substance abuse, which shows the frustration within.”
True to his innovative spirit, Gurung ideated one such idea during the global pandemic – a sanitising system that would sprinkle the sanitiser on the passengers onboard his taxi – one that piqued the interest of the people in the city.
On his current project, he said, “I am trying to work on a traffic management system, for which, I need expert help. Unfortunately, when I approached the concerned authorities, I was denied any help.”
What is also a shocking revelation is his admission that in many cases people do not take him seriously because he is a taxi driver. Gurung said, “Ideas can come from anywhere. One only needs to work for it. Why place barriers?”
Talking further about his ideas, he added that he came up with an idea of something called a traffic bat, drawing the idea from a traffic baton light. He thought of making it as taxi drivers like himself face problems when driving at night. The traffic police try to manage the traffic through hand gestures and he is unable to see it. He went on to claim that this could solve this issue.
Our conversation steered around time management. Gurung emphasized that his profession never came in the way of his passion; instead, it helped him interact with people. This, in particular, opened a world as he came across new ideas and gained insights on how to improve existing ideas.
Stressing on the need for the government to develop an atmosphere of innovation in Meghalaya, he added how people have become lazy and want everything provided to them on a platter.
The humorous Gurung said, “Nowadays people don’t want to work. I see it around me. People throw wrappers around only to clean the next day when these can be thrown in dustbins right away.”
Bringing up the issue of traffic management once again, he got serious and spoke about the importance of traffic management, in the context of how it could save peoples’ time, save fuel and money.
Highlighting the importance of digital media, he shared he is considering using social media, including YouTube, in a positive manner to reach out to a larger audience, where he can share his ideas and make a wider impact, rather than being dismissed right away.
As our conversation came to a close, he became introspective. His message for the people of Shillong, especially the youth is to improve the innovative spirit in the state, through meaningful interventions.
Given that talent is valuable and at stake, the government should encourage the youth through various forms of schemes and programmes… something like a local version of innovation mela specifically for the state, citing the example of how the Centre asked the citizens to give their ideas under the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), to reduce pollution in the river.
In what could be a matter of pride for the state, Gurung is all set to attend the innovation festival in Guwahati from February 11.
With a beaming smile, he showed his registration form and said, “I’ll be going to show one of my innovations here.”
The beauty of life lies in the fact that innovation moves beyond imaginary borders. Listening to Gurung, a quote by American physicist, William Pollard, comes to mind, “Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable.”