Sudha Murthy, Social Worker and Eminent Author

NAME: Sudha Murthy

Date of Birth: August 19, 1950

Sudha Murthy, an Indian social worker and eminent author. She is also known for her philanthropic work through the Infosys Foundation. She has initiated a move to provide all government schools in Karnataka with computer and library facilities. She also teaches computer science. Her novel Dollar Sose, translated version in English as Dollar Bahu was adopted as a television serial in 2001.

She is an Electrical Engineering graduate from the B.V.B. College of Engineering Technology, Hubli. She stood first in Karnataka and received a gold medal from the Chief Minister of Karnataka. She also did masters Computer Science in 1974 from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. She stood first there also and received a gold medal from the Indian Institute of Engineers.

She was the first woman engineer to be selected in Telco (now Tata Motors), Pune in 1974. She had written a postcard to JRD Tata complaining of the gender bias in Tata Motors. At that time Telco had men-only policy, and she was invited for a special interview by Tata Motors.

In 1981 she moved to Mumbai. Her saving of Rs. 10,000 was instrumental in the founding of Infosys; Narayan Murty proudly mentions this fact. Mrs. Murthy is the wife of software industrialist N.R. Narayana Murthy, the sister of Jaishree Deshpande (wife of billionaire telecom tycoon Gururaj Deshpande) and renowned Caltech astrophysicist Shrinivas Kulkarni.

Awards:
1. Raja-Lakshmi Award for "Outstanding contribution to social work" by the Sri Raja-Lakshmi Foundation, Chennai.
2. In 2006, she was awarded the Padma Shri, a civilian award from the Government of India and received an honorary doctorate from Sathyabama University.

She is also known for her literary works, mostly published by Penguin, which deal with common lives and her views on donations, hospitality and realization. Her book 'Wise and Otherwise' is really nice.