Father's Day flashback: Satya Nadella learnt life lessons from father, Anand Mahindra's dad taught him parenting

NEW DELHI: Wonder how world leaders celebrate Father's day? It's just like we do. Remembering them and their memories etched in our mind.

On the third Sunday of June that is marked as Father's Day, top bosses from India and the world decided to celebrate their dads in a tech-savvy way.

Remembering his father BN Yugandhar, a 1962 batch IAS officer who died in Hyderabad following a brief illness last year at age 82, Satya Nadella said he was an institution builder at his core. He also remembered his father's passion, values and life's work.


In an elaborate LinkedIn post on Sunday, the Microsoft CEO revealed that one of his earliest memories of his father was getting up in the middle of the night and finding him sitting up in his bed reading a thick hardback book.

Nadella said that his father's way of combined work with life’s passions was instrumental in shaping his views of work and life. "My father’s work was more than just a job for him. He was ten years old when India became independent, and approximately a dozen or so years later my father joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) as a civil servant. To him this was not a professional career choice, but a calling, There was the fervour of nation-building in the air, and he inhaled it all with an unwavering deep sense of passion and commitment throughout his life," he wrote.

Yugandhar served in the Prime Minister's Office under PV Narasimha Rao, and also as director of the Mussoorie-based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration.

In his note, Nadella mentioned that Yugandhar had spent many years at India’s National Academy of Administration, first as a student, then as junior faculty, and later as its director. He took great pride in all the people he trained at the institute. He felt his work at the institute could have an amplifying impact by taking the most amazing talent that joined the IAS, shaping their mindset, and turning them into committed missionaries working and fighting for India’s underprivileged people and regions," the short letter read.

After attending schools in Srikakulam and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, Mussoorie, Delhi and Hyderabad, the 52-year-old tech later flunk an IIT entrance exam and landed in the US.

An emotional Nadella remembered two valuable and enduring life lessons from his father - keep an open mind and keep curiosity alive. His father believed, 'one thing history has taught us is that doctrinaire thinking and dogma in general were what got people and societies into trouble'.

In his popular 2017 book 'Hit Refresh," Nadella had mentioned his father as a 'civil servant with Marxist leanings' and mother as a Sanskrit scholar. "While there is much I learned from my father, including intellectual curiosity and a love of history, I was always my mother's son," the quote read.

Yugandhar (Yugi to his friends and his grandkids) would say that 'life is a terminal condition, and no one makes it out alive'. "But one's life can speak to us by passing on what is most important about being human and how to live. I work and live in a very different context and time. And yet I am guided by the lessons he taught me by living his life to fulfil his passions and principles," Nadella concluded his note.

Meanwhile, Anand Mahindra also remembered his father Harish Mahindra as a 'wonderful human being'. Alongside his dad's picture on Twitter, Mahindra Group Chairman said that the only way he knew to be a father was by showering his children with unconditional love.

The 65-year-old business tycoon stressed that he is still trying to be a good parent like his father.


Xiaomi India MD Manu Kumar Jain also made the most of his Father's Day by getting into a debate with his dad over Covid-19. The tech boss, who called his father to wish him for Father's Day, got into an argument with him, asking him to not step out to buy veggies/groceries or paying bills during Covid-19. "All of this can be done on a smartphone," he mentioned in his Twitter post.

Using #StayHome and #StaySafe hashtags, Jain further asked for suggestions to convince his father.


Earlier in the day, the Global VP of Xiaomi took to the micro-blogging site to shared memories of the best day of his life - when he became a father many years ago. Being a father taught him the true meaning of love and being selfless.

Calling father as a child's first and ultimate hero, he urged his 375K followers to thank the guide, motivator and protector. "No one can love you more than him," he added.