An Author’s Afternoon on 3rd January 2015 featured Sudha Murty, the Chairman of Infosys Foundation. The event was presented by Shree Cement and Prabha Khaitan Foundation in association with Siyahi and t2.

Sudha Murty is a multi-dimensional character. She is a teacher, writer, social worker apart from being the head of Infosys Foundation. A computer engineer by profession she quit her job to help her husband Narayana Murthy to start Infosys and look after the children. She has written technical books, travelogues and novels. She writes in Kannada and English. Some of her books are dollar Bahu, How I Taught my Grandmother to Write, Mahashweta, Wise and Otherwise, Gently Falls the Bakula, The Mother I never knew among others. Dollar Bahu was also made into a Hindi television serial. How I Taught my Grandmother to Read has been translated into 15 languages.

In her conversation with Malabika Sarkar, the former vice chancellor of Calcutta University, she said that the two things that helped her see the world are as a teacher and as a social worker of Infosys Foundation. Her writings reflect the change that has taken place in women over the years. Her work with the Infosys Foundation has changed her life – “I’ve lived in villages, I’ve lived with sex workers, I’ve worked with leprosy patients, HIV patients….I’ve slept in their houses, slept on the platform, bus stops, everywhere.” She also said that what India needs is not a software company but children getting three meals a day, clothes, study up to Class X and learn survival and job skills. That would mean the society is progressing.

This was a most inspiring session according to all the guests present at the event as Sudha touched their hearts with her real life experiences.