NPC's Ravi Gururaj says it's best to ignore Rahul Yadav's "mote uncle" remark

Ravi Gururaj, chairman of the Nasscom Product Council and entrepreneur, has spoken out for the first time after comments made by former Housing.com CEO Rahul Yadav in May. Commenting on an article by Gururaj for an online publication, Yadav had posted on Facebook, "Ye mote Gururaj uncle har chhoti cheez par article kyu likh dete hain."

Speaking to ETPanache via email, Gururaj reveals the comment had prompted many to get in touch with him. "Folks started messaging and emailing me minutes after Rahul's post. My first reaction was to wonder what caused him to take this mean-spirited jab. I was surprised he did not throw in words like 'moron' or 'stupid' for good measure! After all he had called his investors that earlier," he said, adding a smiley at the end.

An avid social media user, Gururaj revals his strategy to counter such situations. "It is best to ignore and assume readers are plenty smart enough to judge the appropriateness of such comments on their merit," he says.

Also Read: Housing.com's former CEO Rahul Yadav on a house hunt?

Gururaj's attitude to social media comments is to not take every little thing seriously. "Generally, I only react to other folks' social media when there is merit to engaging in a debate, when I have something useful to add to the conversation or when someone misstates the facts," he says.

Gururaj is aware that it's the norm to address seniors more informally these days but it should not be confused for disrespectful talk. "The informal conversation style maybe a good thing if it helps is greater collaboration," he says.

Recently Gururaj's good friend Alok Kejriwal, CEO and co-founder Games2win and an investor, also remarked on Yadav's comment in a social media post about his first encounter with Gururaj (in a Cafe Coffee Day outlet in Bengaluru). "Yes he was MOTA – Sure in SIZE BUT TRIPLE MOTA IN STATURE AND PRESENCE and DEPTH AND WISDOM..... This is MY TRIBUTE to... Mote Uncle — I LOVE YOU MAN. Need you to be just who you are and where you are and AS YOU ARE," wrote Kejriwal.

Also Read: Four mistakes that cost Rahul Yadav his job

Reacting to Kejriwal's post, Gururaj says, "Alok is a fantastic ecosystem leader. The silver lining from the Rahul Yadav remark is prompting him to tell the wonderful story about how we first met."



(In photo (from left): Ravi Gururaj, Rahul Yadav & Alok Kejriwal)