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By:

Asha Tripathi

14 April 2025 at 1:35:28 pm

Stop Comparing, Start Growing

Success does not grow in comparison; it grows in focus. Over the years, women have made significant strides in every sphere of life. From managing homes to leading organisations, from nurturing families to building successful careers, women have proved that strength and resilience are deeply rooted in their nature. Financial independence has become a significant milestone for many women today, bringing with it confidence, dignity, and the freedom to shape one’s own destiny. However, along...

Stop Comparing, Start Growing

Success does not grow in comparison; it grows in focus. Over the years, women have made significant strides in every sphere of life. From managing homes to leading organisations, from nurturing families to building successful careers, women have proved that strength and resilience are deeply rooted in their nature. Financial independence has become a significant milestone for many women today, bringing with it confidence, dignity, and the freedom to shape one’s own destiny. However, along with growth has come another silent challenge — the tendency to constantly observe, compare, and sometimes even compete with the journeys of others. But a crucial question arises: Is it necessary to track the growth of others in order to grow ourselves? From my personal experience of more than two decades as an entrepreneur, I have realised something very powerful — true growth begins the moment we stop looking sideways and start looking within. A Small Beginning I had a flourishing career of teaching abroad, but when I restarted my career after moving back to India, my beginning was extremely small. My very first assignment was a simple home tuition for a single student, and the amount I earned was meagre. There was nothing glamorous about it. No recognition, no large batches, no big earnings. Just one student and one opportunity. But instead of worrying about how others were doing, how many students they had, or how much they were earning, I made a conscious decision—my only focus would be on improving myself. I focused on teaching better, preparing better, and becoming more disciplined and consistent. And slowly, without even realising it, things began to grow. One student became two, two became a small group, and gradually, over the years, the work expanded beyond what I had initially imagined. Looking back today, I can confidently say that the growth did not happen because I competed with others. It happened because I competed with myself yesterday. Comparison Creates Noise When we keep watching others' journeys too closely, we unknowingly divert our own energy. Comparison creates unnecessary noise in our minds. It brings doubts, insecurities, and sometimes even negativity. Instead of walking our own path with clarity, we start questioning our speed, our direction, and our worth. True success grows through focus, not comparison. Every woman has her own story, her own pace, and her own struggles that others may never see. The path of one person can never be identical to another's. So comparing journeys is like comparing two different rivers flowing towards the same ocean — each with its own route, its own curves, and its own rhythm. As women, we already carry many responsibilities. We balance emotions, relationships, work, and society's expectations. In such a life, the last thing we need is the burden of comparison with one another. Instead, what we truly need is support for each other. When women encourage women, something extraordinary happens. Confidence grows. Opportunities multiply. Strength becomes collective rather than individual. There is enough space in the world for every woman to create her own identity. Each of us can build our own niche without stepping on someone else's path. Choose Encouragement Envy weakens us, but encouragement empowers us. Rather than questioning how someone else is progressing, we can ask a more meaningful question: "How can I grow a little better than I was yesterday?" Lift As You Rise Today, after twenty years of experience, the most valuable lesson I have learned is simple yet profound — focus on your own work with honesty and dedication, and success will quietly follow you. We, women, are capable, resilient, and creative. We do not need to pull each other down or compete in unhealthy ways. Instead, we can lift each other up while building our own dreams. Because when one woman rises, she does not rise alone. She inspires many others to believe that they can rise, too. And perhaps that is the most beautiful form of success. (The writer is a tutor based in Thane. Views personal.)

The Robot Dog That Barked Too Loudly

Updated: Feb 22

A borrowed machine exposed the gulf between technological ambition and institutional care during the AI Impact Summit.

India wants to be taken seriously as an artificial-intelligence power. That was the message delivered with customary confidence by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of the AI Impact Summit, a gathering impressive on paper: 20 heads of state, 60 ministers and hundreds of global AI executives. The ambition was to announce India’s arrival as a leader in the technologies of the future. While several significant things have occurred at the summit, a side incident snowballed into a case study in how small failures in form of poor vetting, loose claims and administrative haste can puncture a grand narrative.


The controversy broke on the summit’s second day after an interview on DD News. At a stall run by the Noida-based Galgotias University, a faculty member claimed that two eye-catching exhibits, one a four-legged robot dog and a football-playing drone, had been developed “from scratch” at the university’s new AI centre of excellence. The centre, inaugurated earlier this month with partners including Nvidia and Tata Technologies, was described as a Rs. 350-crore investment, the largest AI outlay by any private university in India.


Internet users quickly pointed out that the robot dog, branded ‘Orion’, closely resembled the Unitree Go2, a commercially available Chinese product, and that the drone had South Korean origins. Very soon, the indigenous innovation claim touted by Galgotias University collapsed on scrutiny as it was revealed that the dog was indeed a Chinese product.


The embarrassment escalated because the government had amplified the claim. Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, overseeing the summit, had briefly promoted the robot dog on social media before deleting his post once doubts surfaced. A further twist came when an account called ‘China Pulse’ highlighted the dog’s origins, only for some Indian users to allege that the account itself was a foreign propaganda operation. The argument over who exposed the truth soon eclipsed the truth itself.


For Galgotias University, the damage was immediate. Their stall was immediately vacated. A hurried press statement apologised, describing the professor as “ill-informed” and claiming she had been instructed not to speak to the media – a lame explanation that raised more questions than it answered. The episode also revived older doubts about the institution’s credibility, including legal troubles involving members of the founding family in 2014 over alleged forgery and financial defaults.


Lost amid the noise was a quieter, more inconvenient fact that India does have a home-grown robot dog. xTerra Robotics, a start-up founded in 2023 at IIT Kanpur, showcased ‘Svan 2,’ India’s first four-legged commercial robot, at the same exhibition. It attracted far less attention than the imported dog that stole the limelight and then bit its handlers.


The wider implications go beyond one university or one minister’s deleted tweet. India’s global pitch rests heavily on Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliance) in manufacturing and technology. Displaying a Chinese robot at a summit meant to trumpet indigenous capability weakens that message, especially at a moment when India is positioning itself as a geopolitical and technological alternative in Asia.

The episode also hints at a deeper unease within India’s innovation ecosystem. Too often, incentives reward visibility over verification and announcements over outcomes. Universities, start-ups and even ministries feel pressure to demonstrate instant breakthroughs, even when the slower work of genuine research and development would serve better. This results in a culture in which borrowed hardware and inflated claims slip too easily into official showcases.


The fiasco also exposed a basic governance failure. Stalls at a high-profile international summit were allotted without rigorous vetting of claims, leaving the Information Technology Ministry scrambling after the fact. In a world where reputations are made and unmade online in hours, such oversight is costly.


None of this negates India’s genuine strengths in software, talent or start-ups. But it underlines a harsher truth: credibility in technology is built not by slogans or spectacle, but by accuracy, verification and institutional discipline. A robot dog may seem trivial. Yet when it barks falsely on a global stage, it can drown out a far bigger message.

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