Guldasta

Today, for the first time in the brief history of my blog, I am so very thankful for having a blog. Because I got to write this.

 As I prepared to walk out for my breakfast, CNBC-TV18 played their interview of Sudha Murty as part of the “Up, Close and Personal” series.

I stopped dead in my tracks. For I was looking at an angel.

Sudha Murty is unlike any person I have ever seen on TV. The first thing that struck me was that she is as pure as a child. The words are not cooked and the smile goes right upto her eyes. Notice how her hands move and eyes twinkle when she talks of stuff close to her heart and you know hers is a spotless mind. And the sunshine is eternal.

Blunt, girl next door, motherly and so very Indian. She is also a techie who let go of her dreams so that Infosys could get going. For the uninitiated, it was her Rs. 10000/- contribution that helped start the company.

 What also amazed me was her comfort level with ideas and thoughts which are nothing but intimate.  She talks of her husband, kids, relatives, friends, shopping, ambition, money, and movies with glee. She rolls off statements like “Murty does not enjoy things like he used to” as if she was having a dinner table conversation with her mother. Top that off with something like “In the early days I was the mother but now the foundation is the mother and I am the child” (while refering to the Infosys Foundation) and you cannot help but say thank you. I does not matter who you are thanking.

 Sudha Murty just made my weekend.

—- Further reading —-

A web search for “Sudha Murthy” or “Sudha Murty” will lead you to many interesting pages. Here are two to get you going.

http://www.vijayv.org/wwwvijayvorg/Articles/HowInfoSysWasBorn.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudha_Murty

Followup: Ali, the store manager at Crossword called to inform that the Urdu Poetry book I had ordered was available for pickup. While at the store, I caught sight of “Wise & Otherwise”, a collection of short essays by Sudha Murty. I picked a copy and having read a few pieces I can comment that she is also very readable. The essays are like a page from anyone’s life. Like the essay when Sudha visits her friend on Diwali or the essay where she cannot but help overhear conversation between two women on the nexus between software engineering and marriage woes. The book is published by Penguin India and reasonably priced at Rs. 150/-. Highly recommended.