Like many other successful Indians in the US, he could have taken a great idea, and built a product around it. He could have sought (and would have easily got) venture funding to create a start-up. He could have become a serial entrepreneur. He could have turned an angel investor. He could have…….

But Arun Netravali did not.

Instead, the chief scientist at Lucent Technologies chose to remain close to research, looking after the mammoth research organization, the Mecca of technology research to some, Bell Laboratories. And that, despite "missing my personal research"—as he once confessed in an interview with Voice&Data.

A true example of a modern day jnana yogi—the Vedantic term for one who follows the path of knowledge—Dr Netravali believes in sharing of knowledge, as opposed to the phrase that is in vogue today—creation of wealth. He passionately believes in selfless hard work, something he says, his Indian upbringing taught him. That is why he considers Lata Mangeshkar his mentor, though he has never worked with her. It is her work and contribution, albeit in a totally different field, that inspires this great scientist.

An IIT Bombay Alumni, Dr Netravali is an authority on HDTV, has made significant contributions to the field of video compression through his personal research, has won many awards and honors including US National Medal of Technology as well as Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honor.

Dr Netravali passionately believes that communication will be ubiquitous, the Internet will never get centralized, and will soon become a Hi-IQNet with a lot more intelligence. "It is not necessary that everything should converge to become one, he says, adding "convergence to me is how much sharing you do." n