'There’s something wrong with my brain..' Sudha Murty makes stunning revelation

It was unheard of for a woman to pursue an engineering degree when Sudha Murty, the educator, author, philanthropist, and current Rajya Sabha MP, made that decision. Murty laughed to herself to remember that some even believed she was defective. Many, at best, attempted to dissuade her, as prospective husbands were unlikely to be women with engineering degrees. 

During her interview on the Sparx podcast featuring Myntra and Cult founder Mukesh Bansal, Sudha Murty revealed that her town had never heard of anyone applying for engineering at seventeen and a half.  She recalled of her old times and said women were “extremely good at cooking but not adventurous”. “They were very traditional people. People thought there’s something wrong with my brain. How can a girl do engineering – everybody had their own reasoning."

Murty earned her MEng in computer science from Indian Institute of Science and her BEng in electrical and electronics engineering from BVB College of Engineering and Technology, which is now KLE Technological University. She recalled what he grandmother told her, she said “My grandmother said you should not do engineering because nobody will marry you in our community, in our area. My mother said you should become a mathematics professor so that you can manage your house as well as your career. Everybody had a different idea,” She continued, saying that even her college was perplexed as to how a woman could finish an engineering degree.

“The kind of atmosphere suggested that a girl would go to college only to fall in love. Or a girl will go to a college ultimately to get a good boy,” said Murty. 

The author recalled that her college did not have any female restrooms. She claimed that they had never considered putting up toilets because they had never imagined a woman pursuing and completing an engineering degree. She said, . “I was the only girl in my university in my class. They did not build toilets. I said it does not matter. I will not drink water from 7am-12pm. Then I would walk back home, use the restroom, have lunch and then would be in the lab from 2pm to 5pm." 

According to Murty, she was the top student at the university. She claimed that whoever aspires to achieve their goals in life is the rightful owner of this world, and she was one of those people. She said,  “I also understood something at a very young age – maybe 19 or 20 – which later became my mantra and I realised was a great philosophy – ‘You want to do anything in life? You are all alone, and you must do it all alone. If you want to do bad in life, you are responsible. You have bad habits, you are responsible. Good things? You are responsible.’ And later on in life I realised it is the essence of Bhagavad Gita. You are your best friend and your worst enemy,” she said. 

Murty said she did not take any breaks during her four years of engineering school. She said, “I never took one day off in four years because I didn't want to ask for notes from anybody. Then I thought if I don’t put 100 per cent, nobody would put any per cent in me. I have to work very hard. So the great philosophy in life is that if I want something, I should work for it. I should not depend on anyone."

Murty claimed that her father gave her unwavering support despite the fact that there were many doubters at first. Murty said,  “My father said come what may, I will support you as long as you are legally and ethically right."

In the end, Sudha Murty was employed by Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO) as the first female engineer. She decided to apply for the position because they had expressly discouraged women from applying in a job posting. In 1996, she would go on to found the Infosys Foundation. NR Narayana Murthy, the founder of Infosys, is the husband of Sudha Murty.