The Sanjay Project
Livestreaming and Ancient Wisdom in India
In 2016, I was working for a Spain-based tech company. The specific team dedicated to bringing the second generation of smartglasses into the market, and really put them to use.
In August, during our tech presentation tour throughout India, we had the unique opportunity to trial-test our newest streaming technology: Streye Enterprise, a WebRTC-based two-way streaming solution. In this specific case, we undertook to live-stream surgery from an operating room, at Apollo Spectra Hospital in Chembur, Bombay. We convinced a prominent surgeon, Dr. Sanjay Borude, to wear a Google Glass Enterprise unit to conduct a Sleeve Gastrectomy, a procedure where approximately 75 to 80 percent of the stomach is removed, being intended for severely obese patients.
The first time Google Glass had been used and deployed during surgery in India, occurred with Dr. J.S. Raj Kumar, in late 2013 and later, in 2014, with Dr. Selene Parekh. In a certain sense, we were walking on their footprints.
That afternoon, the Monsoon season let us know that it was in full force and, under a persistent drizzle, we reached the hospital. Dr. Homero Rivas, a renowned surgeon, and at that time a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, had been invited to come along due to being our very first opinion leader. I, a layman in matters of Medicine and Surgery much less, got dressed up for my second surgery witnessing ever (the first had been my son’s C-section back in 2002) and promised the clinicians nearby that I was not going to pass out nor suffer from hyperventilation. I prepared two simple pieces of equipment, something that the surgical staff seemed to be surprised by: a pair of Google Glass and my laptop. So, it took me 2 minutes to get connected to the Hospital’s secure Wi-Fi, fit the Glass on Dr. Borude’s headset, and stream the operation to several pre-screened guests, ready for viewing.
Our streaming solution was part of a three-in-one integrated solution called Streye Suite. The app performed impeccably. I was able to stream Dr. Borude’s line of vision and stream back into his Glass. The streaming was watched by over 50 people across India (including specialists, reporters, and media reps), to my Engineering team in Spain, and best of all, the patient’s relatives, who were located in a West African nation. Three continents, a cheerful Engineering team, a very pleased medical expert, and a relieved family. What else could you ask of high technology impacting human lives?
After a total of three hours, we all carried out the normal post-operative procedures and walked out quite satisfied by such a noteworthy experience. While in vivid conversation with some of the attendants, I realized that the Vinayaka Chaturthi (the Ganesh Feast) was just days away. Ganesh, as per Hinduism, is a sort of scribe and archivist god; he was in charge of documenting, so this memory struck me like lightning.
According to the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic, the Divya Drishti ( the ‘divine sight’) was a gift granted to very few people; it allowed them to see from a distance anywhere in the world. Sanjay was the charioteer and advisor to King Dhritarashtra, ruler of the Kaurava army, who happened to be blind. Sanjay live-streamed and narrated the Battle of Kurukshetra to his king, a tale also written in the Bhagavad Gita…
So, there you have it. Live streaming was first conceived in ancient India…
