'When I was in high school, my mother was almost never home.' Rohan Murty, chuffed with mom Sudha's Padma award, says social work gave her meaning & purpose

Rohan Murty is on cloud nine. And he has reason to be.

The Sorocco founder looked on with pride as his mother Sudha Murty was felicitated by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday evening. It made for an almost-full family moment with his sister Akshata - who also happens to be the wife of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - and Sudha's sister Sunanda Kulkarni also present at the felicitation ceremony along with NR Narayana Murthy.

Hours later, the Harvard alumnus took to LinkedIn and wrote that he was "very moved" to witness President Murmu acknowledge the efforts of a diverse group of people spanning different backgrounds, life stories, and contributions to society. "From a couple dedicated to tribal art/toys to a professor of literature (of the Ho language) to a theoretical physicist. And many more in between. The selection of people was incredible," Murty wrote.


Murty in his post reminisced his adolescent years during which he saw his mother pour his heart into her work as she "taught computer science in a small women's college in Bangalore." He candidly wrote that while Mrs Murty loved the life of a teacher, she certainly wanted to do more.

"While she loved this life, she often felt she could have done even more. She often felt she was as capable, if not more, than my father or any of his colleagues at his work," he wrote.

Doing a flashback of sorts, the 40-year-old Murty who is the mind behind the Murty Classical Library, recalled how his mother channelled her desire to do more into a positive force. "She re-grouped and eventually founded and ran Infosys Foundation for 25 years. Inevitably, when I was in high school, my mother was almost never home. She was constantly in the middle of relief work for floods, earthquakes, working with tribal communities in remote jungles, among other activities. I saw, first hand, how this work impacted lives, gave her meaning and purpose, and a tremendous satisfaction that this was the purpose of her birth -- to help those she can," he wrote.

For Murty Jr, the evening also brought back memories of another Padma win, that too, in the family. He winded back to 2008 when his father N R Narayana Murthy was recognised with a Padma Vibhushan for his work in founding and building Infosys.

A much-younger Rohan on the occasion had then asked his tech tycoon father the lesson that he would like to impart. And pat came the reply: He said, "with a lot of luck, perhaps, the circumstances of one's birth need not determine their fate".

Murty, who made headlines when he was brought in briefly to steer Infosys in 2013 and who owns 1.45% of the tech company, wrote that his father's words reminded him that while luck defines nearly everything, we still have agency over the choices we make.

"That lesson has stayed with me. Both my parents have lived lives that that have reinforced these ideas," he wrote, thanking his stars that he and his sister Akshata are "lucky to have been born into a set of circumstances to learn from these two people, among others."