The Nehru Centre, The High Commission of India, London organised a conversation with Sudha Murty, philanthropist, author and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation. The virtual session was moderated by author Amish Tripathi and actor, singer, mindfulness speaker & author, Raageshwari Loomba.
Sudha Murty was the only girl student in her class of engineering students. She never asked for special treatment and always came on top of the class. While talking about her time at engineering college, she laughed and called it “how to beat boys!”
She is an Indian engineering teacher, Kannada, Marathi and English author as well as a Social worker. She is also the Chairperson of the Infosys Foundation. She is married to co-founder of Infosys, N. R. Narayana Murthy.
The first female engineer
Sudha Murthy became the first female engineer hired at India's largest auto manufacturer TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO). She joined the company as a Development Engineer in Pune and then worked in Mumbai & Jamshedpur as well. She had written a postcard to the company's Chairman JRD Tata, complaining of the "men only" gender bias at TELCO. As a result, she was granted a special interview and hired immediately. The interview committee was apprehensive about hiring her initially because she was a woman who had to deal with men, to which Murty said that if women won’t be given opportunities, the potential for their growth will be paralysed.
“I decided that I will do engineering, which was unheard of in those days, I’m talking of the year 1968,” she smiled and added, “a bomb exploded in the family because no one in our family had studied engineering and my father himself was a doctor.” Her grandmother who came from a small brahmin community, was worried that if she pursued engineering, no boy from her community would marry Sudha. “She never knew that across the river, there was Narayan Murty,” Sudha chuckled. Her bua (father’s sister) raised objections and declared that if she went ahead with pursuing engineering, she wouldn’t attend Sudha’s wedding because she’ll definitely marry outside the community.
New animal in the zoo
“Lot of people thought that there was something wrong with me and that my thinking method was wrong,” she said. Some of the teachers at the college assumed that she would speak to boys, not attend the classes, or even drop out in between and that engineering was not a woman’s cup of tea. The principal of the college called up her father and said that she’d have to abide by three rules: she’d have to wear a saree, she’d not eat in the college canteen and she’d not speak to boys. Sudha abided by the first two rules, and went on to rebel against the last one. Talking to boys helped her in building confidence. During those days, the larger societal sentiment was that good girls do not talk to boys, but for Sudha, it was about learning how boys think. However, she said, “When I went to college, they were wondering, who is this new animal which has come to the zoo! Because they were not used to seeing a girl in the class.”
The first bench in the classroom was kept vacant for her to sit. Notorious boys would spill blue ink on it but Sudha would patiently wipe that with a paper and sit without ever complaining. They’d throw paper arrows at her, put flower sticks in her hair from behind but she never complained because she knew if she did, she knew she’d be told that ‘we told you to not join’. She never took a single day off during those four years because firstly no one would give her their notes, secondly, she felt she was a better student so her own notes would be the best in the class.
No ladies rest room
“The worst case was that there was no ladies rest room, because they never imagined that a girl would come to college and she’d require a restroom and they never intended to make a restroom because they thought what if she leaves in between, why waste money!,” Sudha Murty said. She walked home to use a washroom after the first half for about one to two kilometers and she said, “It made me emotionally autonomous,” and quoted the Bhagavad Gita where Lord Krishna says, “atmaiva hy atmano bandhur atmaiva ripur atmanah”. She translated it and said, “Who is your best friend in life, you, yourself.”
She also spoke about her work with the Devadasis who were vulnerable to AIDS and needed help. Murty set up the Infosys Foundation where she gave up her western appearance (she used to wear jeans and a t-shirt), wore a 100 rupee saree, hair tied up in a ponytail and started working closely with them to uplift their and their children via better education. The devadasis in turn gave her a gift which made her very emotional, because those 3000 women she had helped, gave her a quilt with 3000 stitches, on which Murty also wrote a book later.
Art of detachment
In an extremely moving session, she also told that she left her most favourite task - shopping for sarees while taking a dip in the holy Ganga in Kashi (Varanasi) because she felt she needed to give up the thing she loved the most while praying. She decided to buy things only if she needed them the most. “I’m very happy because I learnt the art of detachment from it (giving up shopping)”, Sudha said as she also told that she didn’t buy a saree for her children’s wedding.
Sudha also spoke about her book, “How I taught my grandmother to read” which is based on her own grandmother’s life who couldn’t read without someone's help. She decided to teach her grandmother and gave her an enormous amount of homework. She took about three months to learn. Her grandmother even touched her feet during Saraswati puja (traditionally elders never touch the feet of youngers in Indian culture) citing Sudha as her guru.
Lastly, she concluded on a solem note by saying that daana (donation) and said wealthy people need to create opportunities for poor people. This virtue can only be taught by parents because children do what they see, not what they are told. If the money one has is not put to good use and helping people, that money will be destroyed by the children and inturn, it’ll destroy the parents.
