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Articles: My Thoughts | -By Sudha Murthy
- Ms. Pushpa Pushpakumari
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He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was
glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was
thinking, 'Look at this person. He is a Chairman, a well-respected
man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary
employee.'
Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, 'Young lady,
tell your husband never to make his wife wait again.'
In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go,
but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of
Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD
coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to
him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused. Gently, he said, 'So what
are you doing, Mrs Kulkarni?' (That was the way he always addressed
me.) 'Sir, I am leaving Telco.''Where are you going?' he asked.
'Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm
shifting to Pune.''Oh! And what will you do when you are successful.'
'Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful.'
'Never start with diffidence,' he advised me. '
Always start with confidence.
When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives
us so much; we must reciprocate.
I wish you all the best.'
Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what
seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.
Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying
the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of
working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, 'It was nice hearing about
Jeh from you. The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today.'
I consider JRD a great man because,
despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard
written by a young girl seeking justice.
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