Google CEO Sunder Pichai shares experiences and nostalgia at his alma mater IIT Kharagpur

Except for a few flecks of grey in his beard, 44-year-old Google CEO Sunder Pichai still looks boyish. Talking to students at his alma mater, IIT Kharagpur, where he visited today after passing out 23 years ago, he relived his student days with the verve of a young student.

Pichai, who had come to IIT Kharagpur from Madurai and didn't know Hindi, thought 'abbey saale' was a greeting. "Listening to others speak in my first two weeks in college, I thought you address people as abey saale. One day, I called someone in the mess, abey saale. The next thing I know, the folks in the mess were quite upset and temporarily shut it down," he said.

Pichai reminisced how he used to meet his wife, Anjali, who was a classmate then. "If you had to get someone from the girl's hostel, you had to request someone in the front office to call them from inside. So they would call them loudly, 'Anjali, Sundar is here to see you'. It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience."


Pichai, who took a degree in metallurgical engineering from IIT Kharagpur and then went on to do an MS from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, bunked classes like many other students. "It is the rite of passage of going through college," he said. "I worked hard but we did have our share of fun as well."

Google CEO Pichai has certainly come a long way. He didn't have a computer or even a phone at home while growing up. He saw his first computer only when he came to IIT Kharagpur. The first time he travelled on a plane was 20 years ago, when he flew to the US for studies at Stanford University.

Though Pichai is a super geek, he has interests like any other common Indian. He watches the popular show Koffee With Karan, his favourite actress is Deepika Padukone, and he is a Virat Kohli fan. "Watching Kohli through the last year has been incredible," Pichai said.

Pichai wants students to not confine themselves to books and academics alone. "Academics is important but not as important as it is made out to be," he said. "There is pressure to follow set lanes. Yet, it is important to get real-world experiences. I would like to see people take risks, value creativity and try different things," he said.