‘What have you done since Hotmail’: Sabeer Bhatia says stigma around failure is so strong in India, people don’t experiment

Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia calls out India’s education system for stifling creativity and discouraging failure. 

Sabeer Bhatia, the man who co-founded Hotmail, knows a thing or two about building something from scratch. But even years after launching one of the world’s first webmail services, people still ask him one question: “What have you done since Hotmail?”

For Bhatia, that question says a lot about how we, in India, think about success—and failure. In a recent chat on the NNP podcast, he didn’t hold back. He said, “We live in a conformist society—people are often told, ‘Listen to others, do what they say.’ But why follow a path that’s already been walked?”

According to Bhatia, the problem begins with our schools. He said India’s education system is designed to “produce workers who take orders” rather than “visionaries” who challenge the system.

He gave an example from his own family. “Teachers don’t correct [spelling mistakes] because spelling is irrelevant. What matters is the thought,” he said, talking about how his children are taught in the US. “In India, children are punished for making errors instead of being supported to think for themselves.”

And he didn’t mince words when describing the state of learning in the country: “You’re never asked to write a paper. You’re asked to memorise 13 chapters and regurgitate them. That is not education.”

Another major issue, according to Bhatia, is how society defines success. 

A society that’s afraid to fail

Bhatia also touched on India’s deep discomfort with failure. Sharing his own experience, he said, “People have even asked me, ‘What have you done since Hotmail?’”—as if one moment, good or bad, should define someone forever.

He believes this fear is holding back innovation. “Unless India stops confusing blind obedience with real intelligence, it will continue to lose talented minds,” he said.

According to Bhatia, another major issue is how society defines success. He explained that many Indian students choose careers like medicine or engineering not out of passion but because that’s what society tells them to do. “You can’t suppress the arts, sports, and culture and expect to build a balanced society,” he added.

Even when young people want to take a different route—like starting a business—the foundation they’ve been given doesn’t prepare them for that leap.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/india/what-have-you-done-since-hotmail-sabeer-bhatia-says-stigma-around-failure-is-so-strong-in-india-people-don-t-experiment/ar-AA1T1Luc?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=694d840b99854368a4374af2cd44c062&ei=29

Folks: Merry Xmas to all of you! :-)

 

"The Impossible Dream (The Quest)"

To dream the impossible dream,

To fight the unbeatable foe,

To bear with unbearable sorrow,

To run where the brave dare not go.

To right the unrightable wrong,

To love pure and chaste from afar,

To try when your arms are too weary,

To reach the unreachable star.

This is my quest,

To follow that star

No matter how hopeless,

No matter how far.

To fight for the right

Without question or pause,

To be willing to march

Into hell for a heavenly cause.

And I know if I'll only be true

To this glorious quest

That my heart will be peaceful and calm

When I'm laid to my rest.

And the world will be better for this,

That one man scorned and covered with scars

Still strove with his last ounce of courage.

To fight the unbeatable foe.

To reach the unreachable star.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Impossible_Dream_(The_Quest)

I first wrote this piece ages ago. Today, I revisit and repost it—with a little help from Artificial Intelligence! :-)

The coronation moment arrives.

In reverent silence, the empress-in-waiting advances gracefully.

With every measured step, a Crescent Sword is drawn — sharp, unwavering, resolute.

Beneath the shadow of steel, she ascends her throne.

What is defeat? What is retreat? Mere illusions.

Her decree is absolute.

I am the warrior, known by the righteous — I wield no shield of deceit.

Tremble, you feeble-hearted.

For this is the day you were foretold.

Let's go to the movies! :-) I first wrote this piece ages ago. Today, I revisit and repost it—with a little help from Artificial Intelligence! :-)

Love is strength — not defeat. It's fighting through darkness, not giving in to it. It’s choosing life, healing, and hope. That’s what true courage looks like.

Movies that portray suicide as an expression of love send the wrong message. Our youth need stories that inspire resilience, bravery, and emotional courage — stories that remind them that every battle is worth fighting.

Film producers have the power to shape minds. Use that power to build warriors of spirit — not to make them feel helpless. Because love is not surrender. Love is defiance, hope, and the unbreakable will to live.

Unconfessed mortal sins! I first wrote this piece ages ago. Today, I revisit and repost it—with a little help from Artificial Intelligence! :-)

I write for many reasons. My words are a mirror — reflecting not just who I am, but what I’ve become. I write autobiographically. I write to stir, to shift perspectives. My life feels like a game of Snakes and Ladders, though the board seems crowded with more snakes than ladders. Through my writing, I warn my comrades — watch out for the snakes. That’s my way of being a Good Samaritan. A modern-day samurai with a pen for a sword.

I’ve always believed — perhaps foolishly — that there’s no such thing as pure fiction. Every story is reality in disguise, twisted, reshaped, and reborn. In my case, it’s always autobiographical, at least in part. My offbeat poems, my eccentric soliloquies — they’re cathartic. Writing drains the poison, like a medicinal leech. It’s my penance for unconfessed mortal sins. Whether this is a universal phenomenon or merely the quirk of a half-mad, self-proclaimed writer — I can’t say.

Eklavya: The Forgotten Hero! I first wrote this piece ages ago. Today, I revisit and repost it—with a little help from Artificial Intelligence! :-)

Eklavya: The Forgotten Hero

Eklavya stands as one of the most remarkable disciples in Indian lore — a figure often overlooked in mainstream narratives. Unfortunately, a recurring issue among modern Indians is our limited familiarity with our own history and classical texts. Few today truly understand the essence of the gurukul or ashram system. Yet history provides identity, direction, and moral anchoring. Our current cultural disorientation stems from our disconnection with our past, leading us to view the world solely through a Western lens.

India possesses countless heroes, thinkers, and pioneers, but we frequently fail to acknowledge them. While learning foreign languages such as French is admirable, our priority should be to reconnect with Sanskrit — the linguistic and philosophical foundation of our civilization. A society that feels embarrassment toward its own ancestors forfeits both pride and conscience, especially when those ancestors embodied courage and virtue.

History is our guiding star — the light that prevents national darkness. Without it, we drift in confusion, like an oarless boat in turbulent waters, destined to capsize.

Modern education has become mechanistic; we produce memorizing machines rather than creative thinkers. As Azim H. Premji notes in The Weight of Wings, we need an educational reform that encourages free thought, not rote learning.

Our social psyche remains trapped in colonial patterns — driven by fear, conformity, and a narrow obsession with job security. True progress requires embracing innovation, interdisciplinarity, and courage to explore unconventional domains such as robotics and AI.

Sadly, our ideals have shifted from moral leaders like Gandhi Ji to ephemeral celebrities. Eklavya, millennia ago, demonstrated that idealism is the essence of humanity. Reviving this spirit in education and society is not a choice — it is a necessity.