“Of all the luxuries in Life, the greatest luxury is getting freedom of the right kind”
Sudha Murthy is known for being a brilliant engineer, prolific author, noteworthy doer and a resilient social worker. The 1950 born expression icon, Sudha Murthy is an Indian engineering teacher, a prolific author writing in English, Marathi, and Kannada, and a devotional worker towards socially conscious issues. Currently, she is the chairperson of Infosys Foundation and a member of the Gates Foundation serving in the division of public health care. A lady of compassion, Sudha Ma’am has been consistently working in the rural development, education sector by supporting the movement to provide all Karnataka government schools with computer and library facilities. There have been several orphanages founded by her and institutions like the Murthy Classical Library of India’ at Harvard University have been established under her. She is always remembered for her exemplary work in Kannada and English and has also left her reminiscing imprints in the cinema space. She has acted in the Marathi film Pitruroon and the Kannada film Prarthana.
She has left her mark in almost every place she’s been a part of. This excellent academic became the first female engineer hired at India's largest auto manufacturer TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO). In her settling years, she took a bold step in regard to ‘men only’ gender bias at a corporate house. She firmly believed in equality in each sphere including the working space. A figure of benevolence, she has been religiously involved in social activities, the bandwidth of which scaled from building houses in flood-affected areas to set up of 70,000 libraries, from stepping out in rural areas building 16,000 public toilets and several other toilets in Bangalore to the empowerment of women. She was visible in almost every arena be it healthcare, education, public hygiene, art and culture, and poverty alleviation etcetera. In an interview with Filmfare magazine, she revealed a part of hers never known and surprising to bits about a lady whose time is owned with long travel journeys, writing books, engaging in social activities coupled with academic excellence which said as
“I have 500 DVDs that I watch in my home theatre. I see a film in totality - its direction, editing… all aspects. People know me as a social worker, the same author. But no one knows me as a movie buff. That’s why I am glad to do this interview with Filmfare. I could have actually become a film journalist; I never get bored of movies!”
In the late 60s, when a flaunt bob haircut was considered a scandal, she dared to go for the same and set an example of how things should not be associated with gender. It was early when Infosys was not even cornerstones and Sudha left her job, Sudha gave Narayan Rs. 10,000 which were her only savings to start up. It was during those days when Infosys was taking shape that she met Ratan Tata one day, surprised when she was leaving TELCO. After mentioning that she is leaving for her husband’s Infosys, he got amazed at her for leaving a job she worked so hard for. At that time JRD rested her with some alphabets to be treasured forever which said as
“If you make lots of money you must give it back to society as you have received so much love from it”
She underwent humiliating gender discrimination while her days in London. She was called a ‘cattle class’ just because she was dressed in salwar kameez, she was asked by a lady to stand in the queue of the economy class. The same lady attended an event in the Infosys Foundation and went down in emotions, finding Sudha Murthy dressed in a khadi saree giving a talk to people in large numbers. A segment of this has been treasured in her book ‘Three Thousand Stitches’ where she has forayed in a detailed manner about the prevailing biases which are still holding a strong root in the society
Despite being actively involved in a number of workspaces from professional to social, she has smoothly fought with challenges a woman is pelted within her settling life. And not only that, she was careful about conditioning her children with good morals and values. It was on the birth anniversary of one of her children who asked her “Amma, in our school there is a birthday party and the other time, there is a birthday party in my friend’s house where all the friends will be taken to a five-star restaurant” Returning back, her child Rohan expressed her joy in celebration and wished to have one such even in his birthday.
She understood that some well-off parents take and there’s nothing wrong and everybody has their way of doing birthdays. She was absolutely okay with the wish of those parents but she patiently explained to him how there is a person who drives their car, has two children and is as bright as he is. Their school fees in those days used to be around 10,000 Rupees. And if he gives him 10,000 Rupees, they might go to a better school and for his birthday, she did not deny, she would rather buy samosa and some mango drink. She will spend on 50 children in addition to those driver’s children all together that much money.
She opined how his wish was wrong and that those two children couldn’t go to school then if you spend Rs. 50,000 on your birthday party. Rohan didn’t like it. She gave him a three-day time to think over it. He came after a few days and expressed his affirmation but only on one condition that she would give all of them one Gulab jamun or something else besides samosa and drink. And then through this hand, she gave Rs. 10,000 to the driver’s children.
She always claimed herself as an ordinary person proudly before people. She believed that she has always been ordinary just like the other people and it was the circumstances that made her extraordinary. She laid very gently how even the money she has, bears a heavy cost. It was later when his son went to Cornell and had his birthday again, he wrote a letter to her which said that:
“Every mother looks after her child, but I’m proud that my mother looks after someone’s children.”
Popular works:
How I taught my Grandmother
The mother I never knew
Three Thousand Stitches
Here, There, Everywhere
The Old Man and His God
House of Cards
Grandma’s Bag of stories 1
Grandma’s Bag of Stories 2
Mahashweta
Wise and Otherwise
Books:
Paridhi
Yahsashvi
Astitva
Dollar Sose
Astitva
Tumla
Runa
Kaveri inda Mekaangige
Hakkiya Teradalli
Athirikthe
Guttondu Heluve
Nooniya Sahasagalu
Samanyralli Asamanyaru
Awards:
Gold Medal from Indian Institute of Engineering, India for scouring the first rank in Mtech among all the branches of Engineering
Gold Medal from the Chief Minister of Karnataka Sri Devaraj Urs, for securing the highest marks in B.E. among all the universities of Engineering in Karnataka
C S Desai Prize for standing first in the University Exams of Karnataka
Youth Service DEpartment Prize from the Government of Karnataka, for being an outstanding engineering student of Karnataka
“Best Teacher Award” in 1955 from Rotary Club of Karnataka
National Award from Public Relation Society if India for exemplary social services to the society
Award for Excellent Social Service by Rotary South- Hubli
‘Karnataka Rajyotsava’ State Award in the year 200 for exceptional work in the field of literature and social work
‘Ojaswini’ award for excellent social work in 2000
‘Millenium Mahila Shiromani’ award
2004 Raja-Lakshmi Award by Shri Raja-Lakshmi Foundation in Chennai
2006, R.K. Narayan’s Award for literature
2010 Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award by Karnataka Government
2011 Conferred honorary LL.D (Doctor of Laws) for her efforts in promoting formal legal education and scholarships in India
2013 BasavaShree-2013 Award collectively to Narayan Murthy and Sudha Murthy for their valuable contributions to Basaveshwara Medical College
2018 LifeTime Achievement Award at the Crossword-Raymond Book Awards
2019 Honorary Degree (Honoris Causa) of Doctor of Science by IIT Kanpur
India’s fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri
Sources:
https://karnataka.gov.in/page/Awards/State+Awards/Daana+Chintamani+Attimabbe+Awards/en Department of Kannada and Culture Official website of Government of Karnataka
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/55619/santosh-hegde-sudha-murthy-conferred.html . Deccanherald.com.
http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/Narayana-Murthy-Sudha-Receive-Basava-Shree-Award/2014/02/03/article2035166.ece . Newindianexpress.com
Delhi June 29, Press Trust of India New
https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/iit-kanpur-honours-india-s-national-badminton-coach-pullela-gopichand-with-honorary-doctorate-degree-1558639-2019-06-29 IIT Kanpur honours India's national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand with honorary doctorate degree". India Today
About the author:
Antisha Nigam is an avid reader and musician, passionate about finding answers to ‘why’ rather than settling like the earlier times with ‘what’ and ‘how’. One can always reach out to me for a ceaseless conversation over a platter of food, finance and a cup of hot poetry.
She’s such an inspiration, great work!