Sudha Murty was born into a Kannada-speaking family on August 20, 1951, in Shiggaon, Haveri district in Mysore State (now Karnataka). While her father, R. H. Kulkarni was a surgeon, her mother, Vimala Kulkarni was a school teacher. She spent a large part of her childhood with her grandparents, which translated into her writing when she turned into an author. Some of Sudha Murty's books that feature slices of her childhood include the likes of How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and Other Stories, The Gopi Diaries: Coming Home, Grandma's Bag of Stories, and many more.
In 2006, Sudha Murty was bestowed with India's fourth highest civilian award, Padma Shri, for her incredible contribution to literature and philanthropic activities. In the same year, she won the R.K. Narayana's Award for Literature, which spoke volumes about her work as an author and educationist. In 2023, the Indian government celebrated Sudha Murty's incredible professional life by handing him the Padma Bhushan.
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Sudha Murty completed her schooling until the 10th standard from Kannada Medium School. There is no information about her senior secondary schooling in the public domain. However, she took admission in BVB College of Engineering and Technology to pursue her graduation degree, Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
After completing her graduation, Sudha Murty wanted to study more, so she went to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), from where she attained a Master's degree in Computer Science. Back in those days, women used to face a lot of discouragement when they opened up about their aspirations to study more. However, Sudha Murty was determined to go against everyone in order to fulfill her hunger for education. It's fair to say that all the hard work she put into her education paid off beautifully in the following decades.
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Courtesy of her phenomenal educational background, Sudha Murty was hired by TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO). She was the first female engineer to be hired at TELCO. However, it wasn't a cakewalk for Sudha to get a job at India's largest auto manufacturer, TELCO. According to a report in The Economic Times, when Sudha Murty was pursuing her Master's, she saw a job post at her college about TELCO offering competitive salaries to young engineers. However, at the bottom, there was a line that irked Sudha to the core. It says, "Lady students need not apply".
Sudha Murty was so furious with TELCO's statement that she penned a postcard to the company's then-chairman, JRD Tata. In her angry postcard, she first lauded the Tatas for their impact on improving India's economy and education. However, in the latter parts of the letter, she admitted that she was disappointed to see TELCO discriminating on the basis of gender.
After reading Sudha Murty's fearless letter, the then-chairman of TELCO, JRD Tata, immediately changed the hiring process and conducted Sudha's interview for the Development Engineer position. She cleared the interview with flying colours, and Sudha's first posting was in Pune. However, she was posted in Mumbai and Jamshedpur in the following years.
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Sudha Murty and Narayana Murthy met for the first time through their common friend, Prasanna. After some frequent meetings, Sudha fell in love with Narayana's simplicity. Their shared love for books and the urge to always split the bill whenever they used to go out brought them closer. Talking about the marriage proposal, it was Narayana, who popped the question to Sudha with a beautiful statement. He said:
"I am 5'4" tall. I come from a middle-class family. I can never become rich. You are beautiful, bright, and intelligent and you will get anyone you would like. But will you still marry me?"
For the uninitiated, Sudha Murty and Naryana Muthy got married on February 10, 1978. It was an intimate wedding ceremony, and only their respective families were in attendance. The total cost of their wedding was Rs. 800 and Sudha and Narayana split the total bill, Rs. 400 each.
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The couple has two kids, Akshata Murty and Rohan Murty. While Akshata Murty is married to Britain's Former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, Rohan is married to retired Indian Navy officer Commander KR Krishnan's daughter, Aparna Krishnan.
For the uninitiated, Sudha Murty is the sole reason behind Infosys's existence. She quit her job to support her husband, Narayana Murthy, in his pursuit of achieving his dream of building his company. When Narayana was working on his plan to start a company, Sudha gave him Rs. 10,000 from her savings to start Infosys, which is now worth Rs. 690,000 crore. She said:
"He (Narayana Murthy) started Infosys in 1981. We were living in a rented apartment in Bandra, Mumbai then. He said, you go and earn for the family, and also support me. I had saved Rs 10,250 without his knowledge, and I gave him Rs 10K and saved the rest for emergency."
Another interesting fact about Sudha Murty is that she has not purchased a new saree in over three decades. Yes! You read it right. Once, in an old interview with The Times Of India, Sudha opened up about her vow to never do unnecessary shopping. She further added that she only buys what is essential and has given up on buying saris. Revealing the reason behind it, she said:
"I was in Kashi to take the holy dip, and when you go to Kashi, you have to give up something that you enjoy the most. I gave up shopping, particularly saris, from then. I now only buy essential items."
We hope Sudha Murty continues to inspire us for decades to come. What are your thoughts on her incredible life so far? Let us know.
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