Engineer. Storyteller. Philanthropist. The woman who proved that one life can rewrite millions of others.
It started with one postcard. Not a holiday greeting, not a love letter — but a challenge in bold letters from a young woman in a simple sari to one of India’s most influential industrialists. The woman was Sudha Murthy, an engineer who would not accept the phrase “women need not apply.
That moment — this small act of rebellion — would be the defining characteristic of the rest of her life. From investing ₹10,000 in a small company called Infosys to constructing 70,000 libraries, financing lifesaving operations, and walking through the dusty streets of bygone villages, Sudha didn’t merely give — she redefined how India thinks about giving.
The Small Town Girl Who Wanted Beyond Frontiers
Shiggaon, Karnataka, during the 1950s, was a relaxed town where life went at a snail’s pace. Little Sudha sees her father, Dr. R.H. Kulkarni, practicing medicine with empathy, and her mother, Vimala, teaching children patiently in a simple home full of books and morals.
She was six when she had assisted a blind man to cross the street — a little thing, but something that remained in her mind. “Kindness,” she would attest later on, “is a habit acquired early, and never outgrown.
The Postcard That Shook the Tata Empire
Fast forward to the 1970s. Sudha was the only woman in her engineering class — topping it, no less. One day, she saw a job ad from TELCO (now Tata Motors) that bluntly stated: “Lady candidates need not apply.”
Most would have sighed and moved on. Sudha picked up a postcard and wrote directly to J.R.D. Tata, questioning the bias. Weeks later, she walked into TELCO as their first female engineer.
On her last day there, J.R.D. Tata gave her a piece of advice that would shape her destiny:
“Always remember, you must give back to society once you are financially successful.”
Turning Corporate Success into a Compassion Revolution
When Infosys was just a dream, Sudha quietly handed her husband, Narayana Murthy, ₹10,000 from her savings to help start it. Years later, as Chairperson of the Infosys Foundation, she channelled that same belief in building something from scratch — but this time, for society.
She didn’t simply write cheques from a chilly office. She went to distant villages, sat on the mud floor, heard what people had to say, and asked, “What do you need most?”
Her Key Contributions:
- Education: Constructed more than 70,000 libraries in rural schools, providing millions of children with their first owned book.
- Healthcare: Provided hospital wards, mobile clinics, and thousands of operations for those who could not afford them.
- Sanitation: Placed more than 16,000 public toilets and thousands of them in schools, years before it was a national endeavour.
- Disaster Relief: Built 2,300 homes for families that lost everything in tragedies and floods.
- Women’s Empowerment: Reintegrated over 3,000 Devadasis back to education and work.
- Preservation of Culture: Restored historic properties and preserved old manuscripts for future generations.
The Author Who Wrote India’s Heartbeat
Sudha’s writing is as if a granny comes to sit with you and tells you stories that make you laugh, cry, and think. Her books — Wise and Otherwise, Three Thousand Stitches, The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk — are based on actual experiences in interactions when she used to work for a charity.
She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2023, but the best reward has to be the letters from readers who write to express their gratitude and to inform her that her writing has transformed their understanding of the world.
From Village Roads to Harvard Halls
Her impact isn’t confined to India. She funded the Murty Classical Library of India at Harvard to preserve ancient texts, partnered with the Gates Foundation to improve rural healthcare, and donated her Global Indian Award prize money to support education in Canada.
A Family That Redefines Achievement
Sudha’s home is as motivational as her work. Her daughter, Akshata Murty, is married to the ex-UK PM Rishi Sunak. Her brother, Shrinivas Kulkarni, is a renowned astrophysicist at Caltech. Her sister, Jaishree Deshpande, co-founded the Deshpande Center at MIT.
From Padma Awards to Parliament
Her work has been recognised with:
- Padma Shri (2006) and Padma Bhushan (2023) for social work.
- Rajya Sabha Nomination (2024) by the President of India.
- Multiple honorary doctorates and lifetime achievement awards.
Her Voice on Women’s Empowerment
Sudha speaks about women’s rights as directly as she approaches work. She believes economic independence is the empowerment key, insists on girls being given equal schooling, and lobbies for women’s healthcare initiatives, including cervical cancer vaccinations.
She normally utters:
“A woman is like a tea bag — you never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.”
And she lives it out — urging women to move into male-dominated careers, to be vocal, and never to apologise for ambition.
The Woman Who Made Charity a Movement
Before Sudha Murthy, big philanthropy in India tended to remain in the cities. She brought it to the villages, to the very people who needed it most. She demonstrated that charity isn’t pity — it’s dignity, opportunity, and trust.
Her existence is testimony that real giving has nothing to do with the amount of money given, but with the level of engagement.
Sudha Murthy’s story isn’t just about breaking glass ceilings — it’s about building bridges. Between privilege and poverty. Between tradition and progress. Between the possible and the impossible.
She is, in every sense, the woman who redefined Indian charity work — and in doing so, she has redefined what it means to live a meaningful life.
FOR MORE BLOGS – beyondthepunchlines.com
Author: Anjali Pandey
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