Narayan Murthy : Romancing Pune

"This city is closest to my heart at no. 1. Here is where Infosys started and here is where we used to romance. I will be more than pleased if Pune becomes number one city in Information Technology sector," a nostalgic N. R. Narayan Murthy, chairman and Chief Mentor Officer of Infosys told on Wednesday.

Murthy was given Life Time Achievement award by Pune Vyaspeeth in the 5th IT & BT, Animation and Gaming Conference & Exhibition named Hi-Tech Pune. Reacting to this felicitation, Murthy got nostalgic and gave a brief account of his romancing days in Pune about three decades ago. He also appreciated Pune’s clout in IT stature in his brief speech.

"I have special place for Pune in my heart. It is the number one city dear to me and at the second number is Mysore. It was here that Infosys started in an apartment in Model Colony and it was here that I courted my current wife Sudha who was then an employee of Tata Motors," Murthy said giving away the details of his romance.

"I remember every evening I would reach at the doors of Mahila Nivas where I would be joined by Sudha. We used to go to Poona Cafe each evening and ordered a king size banana shake for myself and king size orange juice for Sudha. The manager of the cafe would drive us away saying, ‘You have spent here more time than the money you have spent for the food,’" Murthy said.

But the romance went further. "Then we would go to East Street and used to have full dinner in Rs. 9 only. Such were those days," he said.

Murthy also praised Pune for its strides in IT and BT sector. When Suresh Kalmadi, MP and chairman of Pune Vyaspeeth expressed confidence that Pune will be number one city in every type of technology, Murthy said, "I will be more than happy if it happens." He himself told the gathering, "There are 18,300 people working at the Infosys campus at Pune while the strength in Bangalore is 23,000. As such Pune is second important place for Infosys and I am sure that the day is not far away when Pune will take over the Banglore in this respect," he said.
Meanwhile, Dr. K. I. Varaprasad Reddy, executive director of Shanta Biotechnics Pvt. Ltd. was also given the Life Time Achievement award along with Murthy at the hands of Kalmadi in the function. A three day seminar on information technology, bio technology, animation and gaming was inaugurated at the hands of union minister for Information and Technology, Jyotiraditya Scindia. Ashok Chavan, minister of Industries and Culture of Maharashtra was present at the occasion.

Speaking at the occasion, Scindia also said that he had some fond childhood memories of Pune. "The city will be close to my heart as this is the city of my ancestors," he said.