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Narayana Murthy got through IIT but his father couldn’t afford the fees.
NARAYAN MURTHY
As a boy, Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy was someone who could easily go
unnoticed in a crowd. He was short, but sharp. Often, his seniors in school came to him
for solving Science problems.
Murthy came from a lower middle class, Brahmin family from Mysore. His father, a
school teacher, was fond of English literature. And like all the boys of his class, he too
had dreams of going to IIT. So he worked hard, studied in the shade of boulders close to
Chamundi hills, and helped many in his class to prepare for the entrance exam.
Murthy wasn’t surprised when he got through. When he broke the news of his success to
his father, it is said his words were: ‘Anna, I have passed the exam…I want to join IIT.”
Proud he was of his son’s achievement but he couldn’t afford the fees and so Murthy had
to relinquish his IIT dreams. Murthy stayed back in Mysore. When asked about his
decision to stay back, he said to his friends, "It is not the institution but you alone who
can change your life with hard work".
He lived up to his own words. Several years afterwards, Narayana Murthy revolutionised
India’s software industry by founding Infosys. And this has made him the icon of middle
class dreams. He redefined India in the eyes world. India was no longer a third world
country, but a fast developing nation. In the process, he promoted thousands of young,
creative Indian minds to the world and made Infosys and India a hub of talent.
It is known to the world that he founded Infosys along with six others with just a few
thousand rupees which his wife, Sudha Murthy gave. It was an incredible risk to take, but
Murthy knew it was going to work, just as he knew he would get through IIT. Which he
did, eventually. After Murthy graduated from the National Institute of Engineering,
Mysore, he joined IIT, Kanpur.
Thanks to IT and its development, the little known romance of Murthy and Sudha
Kulkarni is talked about everywhere. It is hard to believe reading from Sudha’s account
of an introvert, quiet Murthy, that he is the same person to have revolutionised the IT
industry.
When Murthy was asked by Sudha’s father about his ambitions, he said he wanted to
become a politician in the communist party and wanted to open an orphanage.
While he has opened several orphanages since, his dream of becoming a politician still
remains unfulfilled. After retiring from Infosys, Murthy was hoping to become President
of India after the term of Dr. Abdul Kalam. Even though he denied having political
ambitions, his supporters would like to see him on the throne.
Our Mysore Murthy is, no doubt, a visionary who has ignited millions of young minds.
Education
B E (1967)
MTech (1969)
INDRA NOOYI
Education
She completed schooling at Holy Angels AIHSS, Chennai, has a BSc (Chemistry) from
Madras Christian College in 1974 and a PGDM from IIM Calcutta. In 1978, Nooyi
earned a Master's degree in Public and Private Management from Yale School of
Management. At Yale, she worked as a receptionist from midnight to 5 a.m. to earn some
money.
Career graph
Starting her career in India, Nooyi held different positions at Johnson & Johnson and
textile firm Mettur Beardsell. In the US, Nooyi worked with BCG, Motorola and ABB.
Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994, and became chairperson in 2007.
Childhood memories
Awards
ARUN SARIN
Born on October 21, 1954 at Panchmari, Madhya Pradesh, Sarin was an academically
bright student. He was equally good at sports like field hockey, boxing and various
extracurricular activities. He wanted to follow his father's footsteps into the military by
pursuing a career as a pilot, but when his mom protested, he applied and was accepted at
IIT, Kharagpur.
He graduated from the IIT in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering in
the top 10 percent of his class and received the BC Roy gold medal for academic
excellence. He received a full scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley,
Graduate College of Engineering.
In the year 2003, Sarin became the Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone. When he
resigned in 2008 from his post Vodafone was the world's largest mobile phone company
by revenue. It was the firm’s large market presence in India that catapulted Sarin into the
limelight. Currently he serves on the boards of Cisco and Safeway, Inc.
Academics
BTech (IIT)
Awards
A brilliant boy in school, he moved to US when he was 16. After finishing his Master’s
in electrical engineering and MBA from Columbia University, he was determined to get a
PhD in a different subject. In those days, students preferred to either study medicine or
engineering. And that was the time when his guide advised him to take up finance, as it
was a good field. He followed the advice, and switched to finance.
SABEER BHATIA
Sabeer Bhatia has done the unconventional ever since he decided to study abroad at the
age of 19; two years into undergraduate education at the Birla Institute of Technology
and Science, he qualified for a transfer scholarship at Caltech, considered to be the
world's most competitive scholarship. After graduating from Caltech in 1989, he pursued
an MS in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University.
At the age of 27, Bhatia was no longer interested in working for others, and together with
Smith, began chasing what many people in Silicon Valley deemed a “crazy idea” – a free
e-mail service. They raised about $300,000 for their venture - Hotmail. Within a year,
Hotmail had one million subscribers. So revolutionary was it that Microsoft bought it for
$400 million after 18 months.
Did you know?
* He was rejected by 20 venture capitalists before Draper Fisher Juvetson bought his
idea.
Award
TR100 by the MIT, given to 100 young innovators who are expected to have the greatest
impact on technology.
Qualifications