Love Of The Veterans: Narayana Murthy

By Super Admin

Friday, June 10, 2011, 14:48

Narayana Murthy is the jewel of India"s pride, while his wife Sudha Murthy is the one who hosts Indian Women"s power in front of the world. The veterans in the Indian industry have a unique love story to share. Let us read more to get the romantic glimpses in the veterans" life.

The love story started in 1974, when Sudha Kulkarni, the bold girl from Hubli and a postgraduate from IISc, wrote a letter to JRD regarding the gender discrimination in the appointments at Telco. JRD, the uncrowned king in Indian industry considered her request and sent an invitation for the interview. She came out successful in the interview. There in Pune, she met a shy young man from Karnataka and they became very good friends.

The young and shy man who is none other than was Narayana Murthy was working as research assistant in Pune after receiving his master's degree from IIT Kanpur. The youngsters from Karnataka met through a common friend called Prasanna, who was also training in Telco. Prasanna used to lend books to Sudha Kulkarni, which bore the name “Narayana Murthy." Now, before they met in person, Sudha Kulkarni had a preconceived image of Narayana Murthy.

When Narayana Murthy invited Sudha Kulkarni and her friends for a dinner, the young girl considered it as a fast move. Being the only girl in the group she refused the offer but, Narayana Murthy was relentless and we all decided to meet for dinner. That day Sudha Kulkarni went early to the hotel by 7p.m to go to the tailor near the hotel. Guess what? Mr. Murthy waiting in front of the hotel at that time.

Soon, the youngsters from Karnataka became close friends. Their conversations were filled with Murthy's experiences abroad and the books that he had read. The one fine day, Mr. Murthy said, “I want to tell you something. I am 5'4" tall. I come from a lower middle class family. I can never become rich in my life and I can never give you any riches. You are beautiful, bright, and intelligent and you can get anyone you want. But will you marry me?" The girl wanted to take the consent of her parents before she utter her positive answer.

Sudha Kulkarni took the proposal to his parents. Her mother nodded 'yes", however her father didn"t want to get his daughter married to a wannabe politician, (a communist at that) and who didn't have a steady job. The first interview between the prospective father-in-law and the groom turned out to be a failure since Narayana Murthy wanted to be a communist and didn"t have a steady job. However, by this time the young Sudha had developed a liking for the honest Murthy refused to get married to anyone else.

The courtship began on that day. The three years long courtship took Murthys to every restaurant and cinema hall in Pune. During the fag end of 1977 Narayana Murthy decided to take up a job as General Manager at Patni Computers in Bombay . He wanted to get married to Sudha before the training that he had to undertake at U.S. Sudha"s father finally gave in and the long awaited marriage occurred at Murthy"s residence in Bangalore on February 10,1978. The wedding expenses came to only Rs 800 (us ) with Murthy and Sudha pooling in Rs 400 each.

The marriage and love turned the couple"s life to a new angle. Today Narayana Murthy manages Infosys Technologies Ltd., one of the world's most reputed companies. Sudha Murthy remains as the constant inspiration and power behind his success as in the initial days. See, how love makes life beautiful and rich!