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Originally Posted by catcracker
Surprise! Why hasnt anyone mentioned NR Narayanamurthy ? I think he wud rank right at the top in terms of popularity among youth. Other ppl- Azim Premji, SB Mittal, SR Tendulkar, Leander paes.
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Yep I agree NRN should be right there at the top.
In regard to the same have a small bit of literature . A fabulous read . Written by Sudha Murthy.
Read on and tell us if you still dont think NRN is not a youth icon
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I was in Pune that I met Narayana Murthy through my
friend Prasanna, who is now the Wipro chief, who was
also training in Telco. Murthy was shy, bespectacled
and an introvert. When he invited us for dinner, I was
a bit taken aback... I refused since I was the only
girl in the group. But Murthy was relentless and we
all decided to meet for dinner the next day at 7.30 pm
at Green Fields Hotel on Pune's Main Road. The next
day, I went there at seven since I had to go to the
tailor near the hotel. And what do I see? Mr Murthy
waiting in front of the hotel and it was only seven.
Till today, Murthy maintains that I had mentioned
(consciously!) that I would be going to the tailor at
seven, so that I could meet him... And I maintain that
I did not say any such thing, consciously or
subconsciously, because I did not think of Murthy 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 Murthy's
experiences abroad and the books that he had read. My
friends insisted that Murthy was trying to impress me
because he was interested in me. I kept denying it
till one day, after dinner, Murthy 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
middleclass family. I can never become rich. You are
beautiful, bright, intelligent and you can get anyone
you want. But will you marry me?
I asked him to give me some time...
When I went to Hubli, I told my parents about Murthy
and his proposal. My mother was positive since Murthy
was also from Karnataka, seemed intelligent and came
from a good family. But my father asked: What's his
job, his salary, his qualifications, etc? Murthy was
working as a research assistant and earning less than
me. He was willing to go Dutch with me on our outings.
My parents agreed to meet him in Pune on a particular
day at 10 am sharp. Murthy 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 12 noon,
Murthy turned up in a bright red shirt! He had gone on
work to Bombay, got stuck in a traffic jam in 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. He asked Murthy what he wanted
to become in life. Murthy 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
doesn't have money to support his family...
By this time, I realised I had developed a liking
towards Murthy, which could only be termed as love. I
wanted to marry him because he was an honest man. I
promised my father that I would not marry Murthy
without his blessings, though at the same time, I
would not marry anybody else. My father said he would
agree if Murthy promised to take up a steady job. But
Murthy refused, saying he would not do things in life
because somebody wanted him to. 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. Murthy was always broke. (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, will
return it to you later. For three years, I maintained
a book of Murthy's debts to me. No, he never returned
the money and I finally tore it up after our wedding.
The amount was a little over Rs 4,000. During this
period, Murthy quit his job as a research assistant
and started his own software business... Towards the
late'70s computers were entering India in a big way.
At the fag end of 1977, Murthy 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 Murthy had
a decent job, now. We were married in Murthy'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, with Murthy and
I pooling in Rs 400 each. I went to the US with Murthy
after marriage. He encouraged me to see America on my
own, because I loved travelling. I toured America for
three months with a backpack. In 1981, Murthy wanted
to start Infosys. Initially, I was very apprehensive
about him getting into business. We were living a
comfortable life in Bombay with a regular paycheck and
I didn't want to rock the boat. But Murthy was
passionate about creating good quality software. I
decided to support him. Typically for Murthy, he 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 will take
care of the financial needs of our house. You go and
chase your dreams. But you have only three years!
Murthy and his six colleagues started Infosys in 1981.
In 1982, I left Telco and moved to Pune with Murthy.
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
the Walchand group of Industries to support the house.
In'83, Infosys got their first client, MICO, in
Bangalore. Murthy 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, Murthy
left for the US on project work. I saw him only after
a year - my son had infantile eczema. It was only
after Rohan received all his vaccinations that I came
to Bangalore where we rented a small house in
Jayanagar and rented another house as Infosys
headquarters. Nandan Nilekani and his wife Rohini
stayed with us. While Rohini babysat my son, I wrote
programmes for Infosys. There was no car, no phone,
just two kids and a bunch of us working hard, juggling
our lives and having fun while Infosys was taking
shape. The wives of other partners too, gave their
unstinting support. We all knew that our men were
trying to build something good.
** Continues in my next post**
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