WATCH: Bill Gates drives an electric auto as Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar croon in the background
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates took to Instagram to praise India's love for innovation. Gates drove a Mahindra Treo electric auto around town and posted the video on his Instagram with a lovely, old Hindi song playing in the background. The electric auto, Gates wrote, has three wheels, zero emissions and makes no noise, well, except for the horn of course.
"India’s passion for innovation never ceases to amaze. I drove an electric rickshaw, capable of traveling up to 131km (about 81 miles) and carrying up to 4 people," Gates wrote.
"It’s inspiring seeing companies like Mahindra contribute to the decarbonization of the transportation industry."
Gates can be seen smiling and driving the auto as Babu samjho Ishare, horn pukare... from Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi plays in the Insta video.
Mahindra Group chairman, Anand Mahindra, reacted to Gates' video with a quirky one-liner -- "Chalti ka Naam Bill Gates ki Gaadi". He even invited him and former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to a three-wheeler EV drag race.
Tendulkar is yet to reply to Mahindra's invitation.
Even though Gates' video looks like a planned promotional tactic for the Mahindra electric auto, nevertheless, it is still fun to watch and an innovative marketing method. Tendulkar's response might just spice things up here. Let's wait and watch!
Gates is currently in India and has met with several popular names, such as Anand Mahindra, Ratan Tata, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tendulkar.
Gates had met Tendulkar and Mahindra last week and the master blaster posted a picture of him and his wife alongside Gates.
Gates gave Mahindra a book in which he addressed him as a fellow Harvard classmate.
In his blog, Gates praised India for standing up to the biggest problems and coming up with solutions.
"India as a whole gives me hope for the future. It's about to become the world's most populous country, which means you can't solve most problems there without solving them at scale. And yet, India has proven it can tackle big challenges. The country eradicated polio, lowered HIV transmission, reduced poverty, cut infant mortality, and increased access to sanitation and financial services."
