If you read the rest of the story, you find that Pichai’s father worked for the General Electric Company (not the US firm) and dissussed his work with his son even while he was a small boy.
Most Indian families do not have a car. Does a TV help in raising smart kids?
Sundai attended the Indian Institute of Technology, which was designed after MIT, but is smaller, and is extremely selective. His tutors said that he was the brightest of the bunch: that means, the brightest of millions.
Reportedly, he is problem-solver, admired by his fellow workers, and his thinking aligns well with theirs.
This means that the comments about Hindu nationalists, and the poor Americans who can’t compete, are rather off-base. This fellow is a world-class talent, and a practical thinker. One key to having a successful company is to get good people at the top, and not to waste their abilities.
One more thing: Pichai’s father paid attention to him, and talked about work from his youth. How many father’s really give such real-world interests to their young sons? Pichai was a sportsman, and captain of a cricket team. We would consider this rather typical for a young American, except we would be playing football, which is actually not as safe a sport. I am sure that cricket players do not get the brain-destroying conclusions that our young football-players receive.
Actually, cricket can be a deadly sport. I personally know one guy whose b***s got damaged after getting hit by a cricket ball!
And a couple of months ago, an Australian professional cricketer died of brain injuries after getting hit. And cricketers down the talent pool (like Pichai was) are usually at greater risk given the weaker infrastructure on offer.
His tutors said that he was the brightest of the bunch: that means, the brightest of millions.
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According to one of his tutors, quoted in the Times of India, Pichai was the “brightest of his batch”.
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In other words brightest of his class which is no more than a few hundred.