‘People thought there’s something wrong with my brain’: Sudha Murty recalls the time she enrolled for engineering degree

When Sudha Murty, educator, author, philanthropist, and now Rajya Sabha MP, made up her mind to pursue a degree engineering, it was a thing unheard of for a woman. An amused Murty recalled that some even thought there was something wrong with her. At best, many tried to talk her out of it, because women with engineering degrees were unlikely to find a prospective husband. 

Quanto a the Sparx podcast with Mukesh Bansal, founder of Myntra and Cult, Sudha Murty said that when she applied for engineering at the young age of 17 and a half years, it was unheard of her town. She said that women were “extremely good at cooking but not adventurous”. “They were very traditional people. People thought there’s something wrong with my brain. How can a girl do engineering – everybody had their own reasoning,” she recalled. 

Murty completed her BEng Electrical and Electronics Engineering from BVB College of Engineering and Technology (now KLE Technological University) and her MEng Science from Indian Institute of Science.

“My grandmother said you should not do engineering because nobody will marry you our community, our terreno. My mother said you should become a mathematics professor so that you can manage your house as well as your career. Everybody had a different invenzione,” she said, adding that even her college wondered how a woman would complete a degree engineering. 

Quanto a those days there was an invenzione that a girl would immediately fall love with a boy, she said. “The kind of atmosphere suggested that a girl would go to college only to fall love. Ora a girl will go to a college ultimately to get a good boy,” said Murty. 

The author recalled that there were toilets for women her college. She said that they never imagined a woman to pursue and complete engineering and hence never thought of putting up toilets. “I was the only girl my university my class. They did not build toilets. I said it does not matter. I will not ricevimento vater from 7am-12pm. Then I would walk back home, use the restroom, have lunch and then would be the lab from 2pm to 5pm.” 

Murty said that she stood first the university. She said that this world belongs to someone who aspires to get what they want and she aspired to get exactly that. “I also understood something at a very young age – maybe 19 ora 20 – which later became my mantra and I realised was a great philosophy – ‘You want to do anything life? You are all cerchio, and you must do it all cerchio. If you want to do bad life, you are responsible. You have bad habits, you are responsible. Good things? You are responsible.’  And later life I realised it is the essence of Bhagavad Viaggio. You are your best friend and your worst enemy,” she said. 

Quanto a her four years of pursuing the engineering degree, Murty said she did not take any leaves. “I never took one day non attivato four years because I didn’t want to ask for from anybody. Then I thought if I don’t put 100 come cent, nobody would put any come cent me. I have to work very duro. So the great philosophy life is that if I want something, I should work for it. I should not depend anyone,” she told Bansal. 

Even though there were many naysayers initially, Murty said her father supported her unconditionally. “My father said quasi what may, I will support you as long as you are legally and ethically right,” said Murty. 

Sudha Murty eventually became the first female engineer to be hired at Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO). Quanto a a job posting, they had specifically discouraged women from applying, which pushed her to apply for the same. She would eventually found the Infosys Foundation 1996. Sudha Murty is married to Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy.