JRD Tata's Words Inspired me in Philanthropy: Sudha Murthy

Did anybody know that there was a strong Tata connection to Infosys? Meet Ms Sudha Murthy, the better half of the Infosys chairman, NR Narayana Murthy. On a down-the-memory-lane visit here after 25 years, Ms Murthy, who is now heading the Infosys Foundation, said it was a chance association with the house of Tatas when after topping the graduating class in computer science from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, she came across a job advertisement in February 1974, which said Telco (Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company) wanted bright young graduates.

However, much to her disappointment, she found in the footnote it was written "female candidates need not apply." Her ego deeply hurt, she shot off a 'postcard' to JRD Tata asking him how a leading and progressive house like the Tatas, "which always thought ahead of time, could put such a restriction." "After posting it I forgot about it," she said. A pleasant surprise awaited her. A telegram soon arrived asking her to appear for an interview "with a promise of reimbursement of first class fare both ways," she said.

Selected as a GT (graduate trainee) and as the first lady technical officer at Telco, she was first posted to Pune and was later shifted to Telco Jamshedpur "for a short stint." She was thereafter shifted to Bombay House, She had later learnt that JRD had himself intervened in the matter following her letter and had instructed the board that "if she was found up to the mark in her subjects, she should be taken." She recalls how after having put in her papers in February 1982, after having served Telco for eight years, she wanted to meet JRD to convey her gratitude.

"It was again a chance meeting as I was going downstairs and he was climbing upstairs in Bombay House," she told reporters here Monday. "I told him I was leaving the job. He said "you fought so much for the job and nowyou are quitting it?" I told him that my husband wanted to start the Infosys Adventure. And then JRD turned almost a soothsayer to say, "If you make lots of money you must give it back to society as you have received so much love from it." "That was the last time I saw him," the lady, clad in simple clothes, said regretfully.

This was to be the source of the inspiration for Infosys Foundation which she today manages to run in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa "with only six hands." So strong has been the influence of the Tatas that when asked by her colleagues as to what she wanted on her retirement, she could only say: "A black & white portrait of Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata and another of JRD Tata in his famous blue suit."

"At Infosys, we have the two biggest and the most expensive boardrooms (of a total of 17) where world leaders like Tony Blair, etc, are felicitated, named after these two great personalities," she says proudly. The Infosys Foundation focuses on two basic things: education and health. "We provide infrastructure to the states for building government hospitals," she says. Asked, how was it helping the poor, given the poor state of affairs at government hospitals, Ms Murthy says: "The poor have no other place to go other than to a government hospital."

The foundation, among other things, also donates books to libraries of schools for the less privileged. "The creation of wealth by legal and ethical means is one part," she maintains. "The distribution of wealth is the other part. The Infosys Foundation focuses on the poorest of the poor." Recipient of several international and national awards for outstanding philanthropic work, the chairperson of Infosys Foundation feels that Indian corporates should "do much more for the society," particularly in health and education. Anybody in her place would be having a I high-flying lifestyle.

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