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Harish Kotian, a name synonymous with pioneering progress in the disability sector in India, a few years back concluded an illustrious career, superannuating as the Assistant General Manager (AGM) of Systems at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). His journey, spanning over four decades, is not merely a professional success story but a testament to the power of a positive attitude and the relentless pursuit of knowledge in the face of sudden, life-altering adversity. From the seaside colonies of Mumbai to the 15,000-foot peaks of the Himalayas, Kotian’s life has been defined by his refusal to accept the word "cannot".
In 1985 Harish Started his Programming profession and few years back he retired as Assistant General Manager (AGM) of Systems at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Growing up in Mumbai, Harish Kotian was an able-bodied child who lived a typical life, filled with memories of playing cricket and spending vacations by the seaside. These early visual memories would later become a "precious" asset, helping him grasp complex concepts by giving them visual meaning even after losing his sight.
The trajectory of his life changed during Diwali while he was in the ninth standard. While walking in his colony, a friend lit a "carriage" cracker—a firework designed to burst once on the ground and once in the air. Due to a defect, the cracker flew horizontally rather than vertically, exploding directly in Harish’s face just as he looked toward it. Despite initial hopes from doctors that his vision might be restored, he was eventually left totally blind.
Remarkably, even at thirteen, Harish maintained a strikingly positive attitude. He attributes this partly to his youth and a conducive environment, but a pivotal moment occurred during his rehabilitation at NAB Mumbai. There, he met a blind man who traveled through Dadar—one of Mumbai’s most congested areas—independently. Seeing another person navigate such a difficult environment gave Harish the "strong sense" that he too could regain his independence, marking the beginning of his journey into mobility and learning.
Harish’s original dream was to be an Air Force pilot, a path closed to him after the accident. Though he possessed a strong inclination for science, he was funneled into the Arts stream due to the lack of accessibility in science education at the time. Even in the Arts, he faced discouragement; a professor once convinced him to drop Logic, fearing he would find the second year too difficult.
However, Harish’s curiosity was piqued by reports from abroad about blind individuals using computers. In 1981, he joined the RBI as a telephone operator, a common role for the blind at the time, but he was already looking for a way into technology. His journey into programming was fraught with manual, "cumbersome" hurdles. He joined a regular computer class where he would write his code in Braille, read it out to a computer operator to key in, and then listen as the operator described the screen output. Despite this indirect method, he topped a batch that included chartered accountants.
The real breakthrough came in 1985 when he obtained his first screen reader, a British device that gave him direct access to the computer's output. He spent nights and weekends at the National Center for Software Technology (NCST), and eventually purchased his own PC—an 8MHz machine with dual 5.25-inch floppy drives. With a computer at home, Harish realized the "goldmine" technology represented for the blind and became determined to share this knowledge with others.
Progressing from a telephone operator to a systems officer at the RBI was a ten-year battle against systemic barriers. At the time, competitive exams for promotions did not allow scribes, and programming roles were restricted to the officer cadre. Harish found himself hitting a wall, once even receiving a rejection for a scribe from the UPSC just a week before his exam.
The tide turned following a mountaineering expedition that garnered media attention and an invitation to meet the Governor of the RBI. During this meeting, Harish demonstrated his programming skills to the bank’s top leadership. Impressed, they eventually allowed him to sit for the merit-based officer exam, which he cleared, finally beginning his professional journey in the IT department.
His tenure at the RBI was marked by innovative contributions. In Bangalore, he developed a matrix-based evaluation system for vendor quotations that became a standard practice for technology purchases. In Hyderabad, he wrote a popular interactive program that used music and games to educate the public on how to identify counterfeit currency. Looking back on his forty-year career, Harish expresses deep satisfaction in seeing how the widespread adoption of technology has significantly improved job prospects and social inclusion for the blind in India.
Harish Kotian’s influence extends far beyond the walls of the central bank. He was a founder of the Blind Graduates Forum of India (BGFI), an organization that took on issues others ignored. To challenge public perceptions and avoid the "selling of sympathy" common in NGO fundraising, the BGFI organized the "Walk to Win," a week-long trek from Pune to Mumbai that focused on capability and awareness. They even took direct action against city hazards, filling a prominent pothole in Mumbai and filing a High Court petition to mandate barricades for road excavations.
On January 4, 2000, Harish helped launch the Access India mailing list, the first virtual platform of its kind for the blind in India. The list was born out of a need to help the community transition from the text-based DOS environment to the visually-oriented Graphical User Interface (GUI) of Windows. Access India grew into a vital resource, even providing critical input for the framing of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act. While Kotian acknowledges that modern platforms like WhatsApp may eventually replace mailing lists, he maintains that Access India remains a relevant community for collective advocacy and information sharing. The First Access India members get together was organized by Chakshumathi at Thiruvananthapuram in 2011.
Playback Singer Amritha Suresh recited a prayer song at the first national workshop of Access India at Thiruvananthapuram in 2011 organised by Chakshumathi.
Harish’s spirit of adventure is best exemplified by his exploits in ham radio and mountaineering. His interest in radio began in childhood, listening to world stations on the BBC to satisfy an "insatiable capacity" for information. He later obtained a ham radio license, learning electronics and morse code to achieve a grade that allowed for digital communication. Remarkably, in the early 1990s, before the internet was widely available in India, Harish used ham radio to access the internet via a bridge in South Africa, allowing him to exchange emails and join global chats. He was even involved in a group that designed a ham satellite.
His interest in mountaineering was born from a desire to repel the persistent message that he "cannot" do things. After completing a basic course at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, he joined a month-long expedition in Himachal Pradesh, reaching Shipy peak at 15,000 feet. The training was grueling, involving techniques to walk on slippery "scree" soil and hard-as-glass snow. During the ascent, Harish had to use a "jumar" on a rope, a device that prevents backward slips, which required him to manually clear snow from the rope with one hand while climbing. The success of this expedition changed how others saw him; people no longer told him what he couldn't do, as his accomplishments spoke for themselves.
Harish Kotian’s life is a masterclass in resilience and the strategic use of technology as a tool for liberation. He views technology as the most significant invention for the blind since Braille, though he warns that the onus remains on the community to advocate for accessibility in a rapidly evolving digital world.
His advice to the next generation is rooted in the same pragmatism that guided his career: focus on what you can do, and strive to offer a "plus". He suggests that to break stereotypes, a person with a disability must find an area where they can provide more value than their able-bodied peers. For Harish Kotian, that "plus" was a visionary understanding of code and a refusal to let any peak, digital or physical, remain unclimbed.