IIM-L seethes with anger, shock

This is an article from Times of India , Bangalore Edition, dated today, 24th Nov '05. Sums up the mood in the IIMs on the death of one of their own.

By Prashant Srivastava/TNN

Lucknow: On the surface there is bereavement and condolences, but below it a storm of anger and dismay is brewing. Not just in IIM Lucknow, which lost an alumnus to the gun-weilding goons of the oil mafia, but also across the IIM fraternity—faculty and alumni included. And the anger is triggering the question of whether IIM graduates should opt for the public sector or government jobs.
To them S Manjunathan’s death doesn’t make sense. He was the happygo-lucky kind. A do-gooder with a song on his lips and honesty to live by. And above all, he was only doing his job. “Is it actually worth it for our students to work in an environment like this?’’ asks a shocked IIM Lucknow director, Dr Devi Singh. He says it is instances like these that will make the student community think twice before taking up assignments in Uttar Pradesh.
If hatred for the “system’’ is another fallout, it does not seem an overreaction, for the sales officer in Indian Oil Corporation was trying to check rampant malpractice of selling adulterated oil in the state. Manjunathan’s mentor Prof Debashis Chatterjee says, “politicians don’t have a right to stand on podiums and give long speeches on brain drain.’’ He adds that the student community and the academia has starting debating whether we are so feeble as to let this pass.
Second year student Satish Pulekar says the incident incited the students enough to stand in unison for the cause supported by Manjunathan. “We are taught to strictly adhere to the value system and not to compromise on any account. Such incidents, though highly traumatising, only firm our resolve to fight it all out,’’ he says. The sentiments are shared by batchmates Garima Dixit and Pooja Sikka.
The sole point of discussion among the students on Wednesday revolved around the huge difference between working in Manhattan and Uttar Pradesh. “Should we work at the expense of our lives?’’ they asked. “People say IIM graduates never do anything for the country, never join PSUs. Look what happened to one who did,’’ said a student bitterly.

IOC field staff have to face oil mafia alone By Sanjay Dutta/TNN

New Delhi: S Manjunathan may have sealed his fate the day he decided to join a state-owned oil company. As a sales officer of IOC, the government also made him police the adulteration mafia, worth Rs 10,000 crore a year. But unlike the mob, he had no protection for doing his job.
About 1,000 sales officers working throughout the country for the four state-owned oil marketing firms are living under the shadow of death for over a year now. This is when the government abolished the anti-adulteration cell in the oil ministry and asked the companies to check such malpractices under its marketing discipline guidelines.
Under this, a sales officer is supposed to take the prescribed action on the spot against a petrol pump owner or gas agency dealer when any malpractice.

I have nothing to say.....

....but the total lack of media interest on the shocking Manjunath murder has ticked me off.
The Mumbai bye-elections, the murder of the Indian in Afghanistan got their articles.

Even the CAT exam ,had 4 FULL articles on it.
The nation bitched eloquently about the 1300 "privileged" students , who will make it into one of the IIMs, study for two years and then presumably work for some firang for the rest of their days (earning of course loads of $$ in the process.) Articles popped up debating whether the cut-offs this year will be 59.5 or 60.25 !!!

Does we care about , or even want to listen to the ones who place country and home above their own ambitions ? Perhaps they dont really look good on Page 1 (or 3).

I came across this article on someone -- who chose to join a PSU after graduating from IIML , when he so easily could have joined any hi-flying private firm, someone who refused to compromise on his principles, AND who paid with his life for his honesty and his uprightness.

I also must mention, that i first came across this article here. Not in a newspaper.
Other stories I found are here. and here.

Perhaps , the thousands who slog blindly for CAT and other exams, should understand that being a manager is not just about earning the big bucks, or about driving a Merc or working in a fancy highrise .
It also just might be about sweating it out in "Gola Gokrannath" , measuring adulteration levels in Petrol pumps, dealing with the corrupt mafia daily, keeping your head held high , maintaining your integrity and honesty. . . . and getting shot in the process.

Rest in peace, sir. You are an inspiration.

Democracy vs Poverty Eradication

This is an article from the Economist dated May12 th 2005.

A real eye opener.

ONE of many ways in which the Chinese economy outperformed India's in the last two decades of the 20th century was in reducing poverty. In China, the number of people living on less than $1 a day, adjusted to reflect purchasing power, fell by about 400m, according to the World Bank. In India, the figure dropped by just 70m. There are many explanations for this, such as India's higher birth-rate. But it is nonetheless, for democrats, a puzzle, and something of an embarrassment.

India, unlike China, is a vibrant democracy with a proudly robust habit of turfing lousy governments out of office. The poor not only represent a big chunk of the electorate; they also, proportionately, vote more than the rich do. As Larry Diamond, of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, puts it in a recent essay in a collection, published by the World Bank, one would logically expect such a democracy to choose “leaders, parties and policies that favour poverty reduction”. Yet, in this respect, at least, China's unelected heavies have done better.

This is a dismal conclusion for democrats, though most, like Mr Diamond, argue that the fault lies not with democracy itself so much as its partial implementation or hijacking by elites. Another new book, by Bimal Jalan, a leading Indian economist and former governor of the central bank, lists some of the woes afflicting Indian politics, such as the rise of small parties, the dwindling of inner-party democracy and the shrinking role of Parliament in ensuring accountability. “For the poor in India,” he concludes, the political system “does not have much to offer—except the periodic satisfaction of casting their votes.”

In another chapter of the World Bank book, Ashutosh Varshney, a political scientist at the University of Michigan, writes that India's record in eradicating poverty is “neither extraordinary nor abysmal”. However, he makes the disturbing suggestion that some of the reasons India and other democracies have not done better are related to the structure of democratic politics itself.

As with “tigerish” rates of economic growth, the “miracles” in reducing poverty have occurred almost exclusively in dictatorships. But so have the disasters—sometimes in the very same dictatorship. Amartya Sen, an Indian-born Nobel-prize-winning economist, has noted that democratic India, unlike its colonised predecessor, has avoided famine. China, on the other hand, suffered in 1959-61 probably the worst man-made famine in history, in which 30m may have died.

In poverty-reduction, as in growth, India is typical of other developing-country democracies, having achieved steady but not spectacular success. It is a small group: precious few poor countries have been democracies for very long—Botswana, Costa Rica, Jamaica, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Trinidad & Tobago, and a few others. Mr Varshney excludes Malaysia, which has eradicated poverty, as “at best half a democracy”. Other countries have democratised after becoming quite rich.

Voting one's caste

Why might democracy militate against poverty reduction in poor countries? Mr Varshney has two suggestions. First, democracies have a bias towards “direct” methods of tackling poverty, such as subsidies and hand-outs, which, in the long run, are less effective than “indirect” methods—ie, those that generate faster economic growth. In India, this seems undeniably true. Governments have built up whopping budget deficits, thanks largely to subsidies. Many farmers, for example, receive subsidised or free fuel, fertiliser, electricity and water. But little public money is spent on improvements that would do most to lift the growth rate: in infrastructure, primary education and basic health care. Everybody wants better roads, and nobody votes against them. But every politician promises to build them and hardly any do. Cutting subsidies, on the other hand, is a sure vote-loser.

Second, the poor are not necessarily a homogenous group. In a democratic system, they may organise themselves along lines other than economic class and “the shared identities of caste, ethnicity and religion are more likely to form historically enduring bonds”. If you are born poor, you may die rich. But your ethnic group is fixed. In India, with its myriad linguistic and caste-based groups, the upshot is a dispiriting beggar-thy-neighbour politics. Just as subsidies are easier to deliver than are roads and schools, so are affirmative-action schemes, giving jobs to members of specified castes.

The relationship between caste and class helps explain the wide regional discrepancies in India. Mr Sen has noted that in one Indian state, Kerala, infant mortality has fallen from 37 per 1,000 in 1979, the same as in China, to ten now, compared with 30 in China. He suggests that the improvement relates directly to India's democratic strengths. The collapse of the public health system in China in the reform era was possible because there was little political resistance, whereas the deficiencies of Indian primary health care are subject to constant public scrutiny. Mr Varshney points to another explanation for Kerala's good performance in reducing poverty: the “remarkable merging of caste and class”. This made the poor better-organised and more cohesive. Such a coincidence, he says, is rare. In most places, ethnicity and class cut across each other.

Even where they do, however, democracy, still young in the poor world, may yet prove better at reducing poverty than despotism has been. One of its many unquantifiable advantages is a capacity for self-improvement. In dictatorships, if the people are lucky, rulers may learn from their mistakes. In democracies, so can the people. In time, they may even get it right.

Indias best employers - PSUs ?

I was reading an article on "India's best employers" in a leading business daily.
6 software firms.
2 banks
1 ITES firm
1 PSU.

A PSU ? Is it a fluke ? Isn't it a misfit. Read on and decide for yourself.

The software companies, banks and the ITES firm evoke no raised eyebrows.
The six software firms are well known organizations which have top-notch people practices and industry leading pay. The same holds true for the ITES firm (which until recently was run directly by the worlds largest company... so go figure)
The banks are BOTH foreign ones (Just in case your mind is working on the lines of "State bank of...")

Now to the star of the lineup - the PSU.
Think PSU, the first thought is of paan stained corridors, pot-bellied babus , stacks of files, overflowing cabinets, endless queues, and innumerable chaprasis. This might have been the case twenty years ago , under the shadow of quota rule and licenses, but in the era of liberalization , forced to compete with leaner private firms, PSUs have learnt to use their clout and the unwavering government backing (provided to most of the PSUs without question) to emerge winners.

Coming to the PSU - Its NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation)
People are so happy here , that the attrition rate is a stunning 0.4% and the average career here is 20 years long. Can we dismiss these numbers as a result of the public sector mindset or the lack of suitable employment elsewhere ? (I mean....how many companies in India can boast of being thermal power generators? :-P)
Contrary to other PSUs, NTPC has a reputation of being a fast mover. It finds innovative opportunities and converts them into money-spinners.
The learning here for any fresh recruit is huge. The training is liberal and provided in a planned and scheduled manner.The company sponsors higher education and vocational courses for its key executives.

The downsides ?
A gender ratio of 22:1 against women !!!
and
The "Government pay scale" (which to some extent is offset by the perks and other facilities)
But these are issues , the management seems t be addressing, when chilling out at the company's state of the art gymnasium or around the pool table.

But are PSUs prefered employers ?
They are not.
There used to be a time when the best technical talent of the country (from the IITs, RECs) as well as the best managers (from the IIMs) used to join PSUs.
Nowadays the tables have turned, and they have largely become unwanted by the top talent.

Maybe they cannot match the astronomical pay packages of the private firms.
Maybe its "uncool" to work in a "Government" firm.
Maybe a PSU just doesn't end up looking good on your CV.

The PSUs have a long heritage in our country and in many ways are insitutions , our country needs to be proud of.
They are key to our national security and in providing employment.
But in this era of increased competition, they need a major revamp, and a major image makeover, if they are to attract talent and stay competitive.

NTPC is an organization , worth emulating in this regard.

A female engineer in Tata Sons ?

This is an article about how Sudha Murthy became an employee of Tata Sons. Intersting and Inspiring. Found it in an email.

An angry letter from a young lady made JRD Tata change his rule. Sudha was livid when a job advertisement posted by a Tata company at the institution where she was completing her post graduation stated that "Lady candidates need not apply". She dashed off a post card to JRD Tata, protesting against the discrimination.

Following this, Sudha was called for an interview and she became the first female engineer to work on the shop floor at Telco (now Tata Motors). It was the beginning of an association that would change her life in more ways than one."

There are two photographs that hang on my office wall. Everyday when I entered my office I look at them before starting my day. They are pictures of two old people. One is of a gentleman in a blue suit and the other is a black and white image of a man with dreamy eyes and a white beard. People have often asked me if the people in the photographs are related to me. Some have even asked me, "Is this black and white photo that of a Sufi saint or a religious Guru?"

I smile and reply "No, nor are they related to me. These people made an impact on my life. I am grateful to them." "Who are they?" "The man in the blue suit is Bharat Ratna JRD Tata and the black and white photo is of Jamsetji Tata."

"But why do you have them in your office?" " You can call it gratitude."

Then, invariably, I have to tell the person the following story. It was a long time ago. I was young and bright, bold and idealistic. I was in the final year of my Master's course in Computer Science at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, then known as the Tata Institute.
Life was full of fun and joy. I did not know what helplessness or injustice meant.

It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus . I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing research in different departments of Science.

I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US. I had not thought of taking up a job in India.

One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors). It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.

At the bottom was a small line: "Lady candidates need not apply.? I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.

Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers. Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful!

After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco.

I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the", I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then). I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote.

"The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives. They have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such a Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender."

I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs 30 each from everyone who wanted a sari. When I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.

It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city. To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview. There were six people on the panel and I realised then that this was serious business.

"This is the girl who wrote to JRD," I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The realisation abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted. Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, "I hope this is only a technical interview."

They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude. The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.

Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, "Do you Know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college, this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research Laboratories." I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place. I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, "But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories."

Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune . I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.

It was only after joining Telco that I realised who JRD was: the uncrowned King of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr. Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw "appro JRD". Appro means "our" in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House",

I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, "Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate. She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor." JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it).

Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. "It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?"

"When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir," I replied. "Now I am Sudha Murthy. " He smiled and kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.

After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.

One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I realize JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me.

"Young lady, why are you here?" he asked. "Office time is over." I said, "Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up." JRD said, "It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor. I'll wait with you till your husband comes."

I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable.

I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, "Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee."

Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, "Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again."

In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused.

Gently, he said, "So what are you doing, Mrs Kulkarni?" (That was the way he always addressed me.) "Sir, I am leaving Telco." "Where are you going?" he asked. "Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune."

"Oh! And what will you do when you are successful." "Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful." "Never start with diffidence," he advised me. "Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. I wish you>all the best."

Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive. Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco.

Later he wrote to me, "It was nice hearing about Jeh from you. The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today."

I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.

Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments.

I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.

My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD . I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and magnificence.

(Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. Infosys chairman Narayan Murthy is her husband.)

Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review Special Commemorative Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29, 2004

Diwali in UP

This one is from the Economic Times.
Its really interesting and thought provoking though...

THOSE who've read their Mahabharatha or watched the B R Chopra mega serial will always remember that climactic moment when Yudhishthira loses the wife in a game of dice and a weeping Draupadi is dragged to the gaming hall in the royal palace at Hastinapur where the disrobing of the Pandavas' wife is divinely pre-empted by Krishna. There was an entirely different twist to the tale last Tuesday on Diwali night in the Kundapura Kedarpur village in the Dhampur tehsil of UP's Bijnore district when a drunken 28-year-old Ram Singh gambled away first his money, then his ring and finally his watch before staking his wife for a sum of Rs 5,000 and losing her too. When the winner went to Ram Singh's house to claim the wife, what followed was completely contrary to what Vyasa had scripted. Instead of letting herself be dragged away, Ram Singh's wife picked up a burning log of wood and used it to beat up the winner who fled in tears to the nearest police station. The matter didn't end even when the cops intervened and the loser borrowed Rs 5,000 and paid off the winner in cash instead of kind. When Ram Singh returned home, he was severely beaten up by his wife. The thrashing stopped only when Ram Singh begged for forgiveness and wailed that he would never, ever gamble again in his life!

Draupadi has come a long way since the Mahabharatha! Today's Draupadi obviously believes that God helps those who help themselves! So much so that today's Duryodhana has to cower behind the law-enforcing Bhishma to escape retribution. And today's Yudhishthira has to fall at Draupadi's feet to be accepted by her. And if Ram Singh reforms, we could even see that traditional proverb being re-adapted to state that "behind every successful man is a woman with a broomstick or a burning log in hand!" And Kundapura Kedarpur village may have already left Kaliyuga behind and moved into a golden age of its own!

Sudha Murthy -- The Love Story

The following is an excerpt from Sudha Murthy's Autobiography. It talks about the early years of her marriage and of Infosys.I found it truly amazing.

It was in Pune that I met Narayan Murty through my friend Prasanna who is now the Wipro chief, who was also training in Telco. Most of the books that Prasanna lent me had Murty's name on them which meant that I had a preconceived image of the man. Contrary to expectation, Murty was shy,bespectacled and an introvert. When he invited us for dinner.. I was a bit taken aback as I thought the young man was making a very fast move. I refused since I was the only girl
in the group. But Murty was relentless and we all decided to meet for dinner the next day at 7.30 p.m. at Green Fields hotel on the Main
Road,Pune.

The next day I went there at 7' o clock since I had to go to the
tailor near the hotel. And what do I see? Mr. Murty waiting in front
of the hotel and it was only seven. Till today, Murty maintains that I had mentioned (consciously!) that I would be going to the tailor at 7 so that I could meet him...And I maintain that I did not say any such thing consciously or unconsciously because I did not think of Murty as anything other than a friend at that stage. We have agreed to disagree on this matter. Soon, we became friends. Our conversations were filled with Murty's experiences abroad and the books that he has read.

My friends insisted that Murty was trying to impress me because he was interested in me. I kept denying it till one fine day, after dinner
Murty said, I want to tell you something. I knew this was it. It was coming. He said, I am 5'4" tall. I come from a lower middle class family. I can never become rich in my life and I can never give you any riches. You are beautiful, bright, and intelligent and you can get anyone you want. But will you marry me? I asked Murty to give me some time for an answer. My father didn't want me to marry a wannabe politician,(a communist at that) who didn't have a steady job and wanted to build an orphanage...

When I went to Hubli I told my parents about Murty and his proposal. My mother was positive since Murty was also from Karnataka, seemed intelligent and comes from a good family. But my father asked: What's his job, his salary, his qualifications etc? Murty was working as a research assistant and was earning less than me. He was willing to go dutch with me on our outings. My parents agreed to meet Murty in Pune on a particular day at10 a. m sharp. Murty did not turn up. How can I trust a man to take care of my daughter if he cannot keep an appointment, asked my father.

At 12noon Murty turned up in a bright red shirt! He had gone on work to Bombay, was stuck in a traffic jam on the ghats, so he hired a taxi(though it was very expensive for him) to meet his would-be father-in-law. Father was unimpressed. My father asked him what he wanted to become in life. Murty said he wanted to become a politician in the communist party and wanted to open an orphanage. My father gave his verdict. NO.

I don't want my daughter to marry somebody who wants to become a communist and then open an orphanage when he himself didn't have money to support his family.

Ironically, today, I have opened many orphanages something, which Murty wanted to do 25 years ago. By this time I realized I had developed a liking towards Murty which could only be termed as love. I wanted to marry Murty because he is an honest man. He proposed to me highlighting the negatives in his life. I promised my father that I will not marry Murty without his blessings though at the same time, I cannot marry anybody else. My father said he would agree if Murty promised to take up a steady job. But Murty refused saying he will not do things in life because somebody wanted him to. So, I was caught between the two most important people in my life.

The stalemate continued for three years during which our courtship took us to every restaurant and cinema hall in Pune. In those days, Murty was always broke. Moreover, he didn't earn much to manage.
Ironically today, he manages Infosys Technologies Ltd., one of the world's most reputed companies. He always owed me money. We used to go for dinner and he would say, I don't have money with me, you pay my share, I will return it to you later. For three years I maintained a book on Murty's debt to me.. No, he never returned the money and I finally tore it up after my wedding. The amount was a little over Rs 4000. During this interim period Murty quit his job as research assistant and started his own software business. Now, I had to pay his
salary too! Towards the late 70s computers were entering India in a big way.

During the fag end of 1977 Murty decided to take up a job as General Manager at Patni Computers in Bombay . But before he joined the company he wanted to marry me since he was to go on training to the US after joining. My father gave in as he was happy Murty had a decent job, now.

WE WERE MARRIED IN MURTY'S HOUSE IN BANGALORE ON FEBRUARY 10, 1978 WITH ONLY OUR TWO FAMILIES PRESENT.I GOT MY FIRST SILK SARI. THE WEDDING EXPENSES CAME TO ONLY RS 800 (US $17) WITH MURTY AND I POOLING IN RS 400 EACH.

I went to the US with Murty after marriage.Murty encouraged me to see America on my own because I loved travelling. I toured America for three months on backpack and had interesting experiences which will remain freshin my mind forever. Like the time when the New York police took me into custody because they thought I was an Italian trafficking drugs in Harlem. Or the time when I spent the night at the bottom of the Grand Canyon with an old couple. Murty panicked because he couldn't get a response from my hotel room even at midnight. He thought I was either killed or kidnapped.

IN 1981 MURTY WANTED TO START INFOSYS. HE HAD A VISION AND ZERO CAPITAL...initially I was very apprehensive about Murty getting into business. We did not have any business background.. Moreover we were living a comfortable life in Bombay with a regular pay check and I didn't want to rock the boat. But Murty was passionate about creating good quality software. I decided to support him. Typical of Murty, he just had a dream and no money. So I gave him Rs 10,000 which I had saved for a rainy day, without his knowledge and told him, This is all I have. Take it. I give you three years sabbatical leave. I will take care of the financial needs of our house. You go and chase your dreams without any worry. But you have only three years!

Murty and his six colleagues started Infosys in 1981,with enormous interest and hard work. In 1982 I left Telco and moved to Pune with Murty. We bought a small house on loan which also became the Infosys office. I was a clerk-cum-cook-cum-programmer.

I also took up a job as Senior Systems Analyst with Walchand group of Industries to support the house. In 1983 Infosys got their first client, MICO, in Bangalore. Murty moved to Bangalore and stayed with his mother while I went to Hubli to deliver my second child, Rohan. Ten days after my son was born, Murty left for the US on project work. I saw him only after a year, as I was unable to join Murty in the US because my son had infantile eczema, an allergy to vaccinations. So for more than a year I did not step outside our home for fear of my son contracting an infection. It was only after Rohan got all his vaccinations that I came to Bangalore where we rented a small house in Jayanagar and rented another house as Infosys headquarters. My father presented Murty a scooter to commute. I once again became a cook, programmer, clerk, secretary, office assistant et al. Nandan Nilekani (MD of Infosys) and his wife Rohini stayed with us. While Rohini babysat my son, I wrote programs for Infosys. There was no car, no phone, and just two kids and a bunch of us working hard, juggling our lives and having fun while Infosys was taking shape. It was not only me but also the wives of other partners too who gave their unstinted support. We all knew that our men were trying to build something good.

It was like a big joint family,taking care and looking out for one another. I still remember Sudha Gopalakrishna looking after my daughter Akshata with all care and love while Kumari Shibulal cooked for all of us. Murty made it very clear that it would either be me or him working at Infosys. Never the two of us together... I was involved with Infosys initially. Nandan Nilekani suggested I should be on the Board but Murty said he did not want a husband and wife team at Infosys. I was shocked since I had the relevant experience and technical qualifications. He said, Sudha if you want to work with Infosys, I will withdraw, happily. I was pained to know that I will not be involved in the company my husband was building and that I would have to give up a job that I am qualified to do and love doing.
It took me a couple of days to grasp the reason behind Murty's request.. I realized that to make Infosys a success one had to give one's 100 percent. One had to be focussed on it alone with no other distractions. If the two of us had to give 100 percent to Infosys then what would happen to our home and our children? One of us had to take care of our home while the other took care of Infosys.

I opted to be a homemaker, after all Infosys was Murty's dream. It was a big sacrificebut it was one that had to be made. Even today, Murty says, Sudha, I stepped on your career to make mine. You are responsible for my success. I might have given up my career for my husband's sake. But that does not make me a doormat...