COVER STORY
Mistry with his wife Farrah Chen
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SEPTEMBER/ OCTOBER 2016 Re f l e c t i n g T h e S o u t h - A s i a n L i f e s t y l e
was an eye opener for me. Although I come from an engineering background, studying design here gave me a different perspective,” he elaborated in an interview. Mistry believes that his academic journey has helped him “learn different things and apply his knowledge accordingly.” Nature is another inspiration. He calls it his “guru.” “I read, I observe and I apply. The journey makes me very happy.” One of the best features of Mistry’s projects is that they can be easily adapted by the Indian population no matter the financial situation of the individual. One of his well-used devices in India is Akshar. It enables millions of Indians, who do not understand English,
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to use digital devices like phones and computers using their own local language. “It was basically an attempt to create a mechanism for inputting Indic scripts in digital devices like mobile phones, kiosks, interactive TVs or personal computers,” explains Mistry who used Akshar to talk to his mother. Akshar takes advantage of the fact that most of the native Indian languages are based on the Brahmi script, allowing it to group five similar consonants together. Thus making it very easy and quick for an Indian to type and interact with their personal device in the native language. Despite all this success, Mistry is still the humble, down-to-earth person he was when he began his journey as an inventor. The tech expert, through his creations, has always aimed at being “the voice of people and to make stuff people actually need.” “Wherever I am, I just want to make that difference. I am not looking to being rich and not productive,” he emphasized in a past interview. He credits this selfless thinking to his upbringing in Palanpur. “I
Wherever I am, I just want to make that difference. I am not looking to being rich and not productive. I realised early in life that no one remembers you post death just because you were a rich person.” realised early in life that no one remembers you post death just because you were a rich person. But we all do know Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa, so we do remember those who make a change in history. We always remember those who contribute to society.” From a young age, he also learnt to do things he loves. “I do what I love, and I love what I do, and thus, work has never been cumbersome. My job has me continent-