Donn Liles, head of the New York-based Data Basics Corporation, was a hot-tempered and sometimes particularly irritating customer of Narayana Murthy.
New Delhi:
When Narayana Murthy once went to the United States to work for a client in the early days of Infosys, a temperamental American businessman made him sleep on a large box in a windowless warehouse surrounded by by boxes when his own house only had four bedrooms.
Indian-American author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has published a biography about the early years of the lives of Sudha Murty and Narayana Murthy, which contains a lot of interesting information about this iconic couple.
Published by Juggernaut Books, ‘An Uncommon Love: The Early Life of Sudha and Narayana Murthy’ is the story of the Murthys’ early years – from their courtship to the founding years of Infosys and from their marriage theirs until they become parents.
Donn Liles, head of the New York-based Data Basics Corporation, was a hot-tempered and sometimes particularly nasty customer to Murthy.
“He would often delay payments when possible, and Murthy would then become the target of his anger because he stood his ground, refusing to budge on paying for services on time. Or Donn won’t pay Murthy and him in time.”
Infosys colleagues booked a hotel when they visited him in Manhattan.
“Once, when Murthy went to America to work for a client, Donn made him sleep on a large box in the pantry, surrounded by cardboard boxes, even though his house had four bedrooms. In addition, Murthy had to manage Donn’s last many bedroom-minute demands on resources,” the book says. He tolerated Donn’s behavior for the benefit of his fledgling company, but the incident at the club really shocked Murthy. “My mother used to say that a guest is like God, and how you treat your guests will reveal who you really are,” he told his wife Sudha.
“When my father invited someone over without notice, she often served food to the guests herself and fell asleep without dinner. And here is Donn enjoying a good night’s sleep in his luxurious bed after putting me up in a big box for the night. The storage room has no windows,” he said, making Sudha angry.
The book also mentions how Murthy objected to his wife joining Infosys, even though she was a brilliant engineer who knew she could make a much more solid contribution to the company than just helping with the odd tasks her husband entrusted to her.
When she proposed the idea one evening at the dinner table, Murthy flatly refused: “I’m sorry. You cannot work at Infosys. » His reason was: “We can’t work together in the same company. » He doesn’t want Infosys to have similar horror stories about family businesses and be seen as dynastic or nepotistic.
Murthy told his wife that she was extremely qualified and that no one had her determination, but if she joined “Infosys would become more of a husband-and-wife company than a professional company”.
Divakaruni writes that although Sudha and Murthy have much in common due to their shared Kannada background and love of reading, their very different childhoods shaped them in unique ways.
Murthy was a staunch socialist who was influenced as a teenager by his father’s ideas as well as Jawaharlal Nehru’s open admiration of the Soviet Union.
He once told Sudha: “Russian is the language of the future. That’s why I’ve been studying Russian and collecting Russian books for two years. » Sudha shook her head resolutely. “I firmly believe that English will remain the language of the world. That’s why I try to read as many English books as possible, even though I studied in a Kannada medium school and prefer to read in Kannada. ”
“Murthy stubbornly clung to his Russian books even after changing his philosophy of life. to compassionate capitalism. After their marriage, it took Sudha years of coaxing before she was allowed to escape them,” the book says.
Divakaruni says describing in words the lives of two extraordinary people from ordinary backgrounds, who changed the face of entrepreneurship and philanthropy, was a challenge. “At its heart, this is a rare love story. It is not just about Sudha and Murthy’s love for each other but also about their love for their values and their country – and determination Their use of the former to transform the latter.
It shows us that human love – no matter what romantic movies claim – has failures as well as successes, sadness as well as joy,” she said.
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