“When a woman takes the pen in her hand and desires to write her own story, she writes history.”
For someone who reads books, Sudha Murthy’s name won’t be an unknown prospect. She is someone who can power you up just by her mere presence. Someone, who can guide you through the path of life and inspire you to take up whatever comes your way. Someone, who inspires you to stand strong in the face of difficulties and strive to achieve what you dream of.
Early Struggles
For a woman in the 1960s, she was extremely bold and confident. After taking up engineering in the 1960s, which was back then considered as a ‘men’ domain, she performed exceptionally well both in academics and the extra curriculum and stood her way through all the criticism and bully.
After getting her degree in engineering, when she wanted to apply for TELCO, she found that there were no positions for women in the company. That’s when she wrote to JRD Tata stating her disappointment about the gender biases in an innovative company like that of the Tatas. This letter bagged her a special interview after which she was hired on the spot and joined the company as a development engineer and the 1st woman employee.
In her bestselling book, ‘Three thousand stitches, she has mentioned about her struggle of being a woman in the male dominating fields and how that struggle has shaped her. While Mrs. Murthy was in London, she was called a ‘Cattle caste’ because of wearing salwar kameez. But, no amount of criticism stopped her because her dreams of changing the society were stronger than the strength of the bitter words by people.
It is a very less know fact that Murthy has lent her husband, Narayana Murthy money to fulfill his dream of setting up Infosys. Apart from being a role model in the career aspect, she is also an amazing and loving wife and mother.
Success Story
Being a philanthropist by heart, she believes that the right place for wealth is with the needy. Even being one of India’s richest women, she doesn’t let wealth control her life and rather gives it away wholeheartedly to the ones who need it. back in 1966, she founded ‘Infosys Foundation’ which has built over 2500 houses in flood-affected areas, set up over 50,000 libraries across the country, and has built more than 16,000 toilets. Her foundation has provided funds to many states during various natural disasters and it still keeps on working for the development of society.
Sudha Murthy has authored over 20 books in both Kannada and English. She has written short stories, about social issues, self-development, and many segments of her own life. Each of her books has its way around people’s minds and inspires them to live a simplistic life.
Apart from being a literature enthusiast, she is also a movie buff. She watches over 200 movies every year and takes pride in sharing the insights she got from them. She believes that movies are a great way of educating the younger generation that leaves a longer impact on them.
This amazing lady has bagged over 20 awards for her extraordinary contribution in the field of education, social work, literature, and technology. She was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award in 2006.
An Inspiration
Sudha Murthy is not just any learned lady. She is the woman who shaped the lives of several other women and nurtured their wings, so they can fly high and one day become what they dreamt of. With her achievements in so many fields, she gives us the message of not limiting ourselves and lives life in the simplest yet the fullest.
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