“I wanted to marry Murthy because he is an honest man.”
Sudha Murty
In a world of 8 billion people, only 1 out of 10,000 are lucky enough to find a soulmate. A relationship built on trust, respect, and pure love for one another that only grows stronger with age is what we all desire. Well, the love story of the leading lady of Infosys and her husband is one such fairytale we all manifest. Sudha Murty, the chairperson of Infosys met Narayan Murthy, one of the co-founders of the company four years before they tied the knot in 1978.
In her appearance on a talk show, Sudha Murty opened up about her relationship with her husband, she recalled their first meet-up. Well, like most relationships, they too had a friend who might have played the cupid, Prasanna, CMO at Wipro who introduced her to Murthy. She said, “There was a friend of mine called Prasanna, who would bring me a book every day with Narayana Murthy’s name written on the first page along with names of various locations. ‘Narayana Murthy Istanbul’ ‘Narayana Murthy Peshawar’ I thought is this Narayan Murthy fellow an international bus conductor?” She expressed how she had a completely different image of him painted in her head, but which was not quite how she felt the first time she saw him, “(When I was first about to meet him) I thought he would look like a film’s hero, dashing and handsome, but when he opened the door, I thought who is this person, this little kid?” Well, not all love stories are love at first sight, though she thinks it was so from his side.
She recalls meeting Narayan for the first time when he invited her along with other friends to dinner. Since Sudha was the only girl in her group, she refused at first. But he did not give up and convinced her to meet him at 7.30 pm the following day at Green Fields Hotel on the Main Road, Pune.
Sudha Murty has time and again fearlessly expressed her thoughts and personal stories, she shared how Narayan Murthy has always been a shy person and she on the other hand has always been expressive and an extrovert, who loved talking to people and interacting. The duo then became friends and started dating each other, she said how their differences is what makes them a perfect fit for each other, “Me and Narayana Murthy are very different people. He never laughs. He’s very serious and also an introvert. He doesn’t speak much. He only speaks four to five sentences a day. If I ask him, ‘Narayana Murthy, why don’t you speak more?’, he will say, ‘You speak for both of us, so I don’t have anything left to say.’
The duo decided to make it official and get married after a lot of initial inhibitions from Sudha’s family. But Sudha knew it deep within that he was the man for her, “I wanted to marry Murthy because he is an honest man.” After facing their share of ups and downs in their relationship, Narayan asked Sudha to be his wife before going to the US for a project. The two tied the knot on February 10, 1978, in Murthy’s house in Bangalore. Their wedding was a simple affair with just the family of the two and few friends.
Sudha and Narayan Murthy have been married for 45 years and have been each other’s support system and inspiration to couples today. The couple have two children, Rohan M fashion designer Akshata Murty, who is married to the current British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.
A relationship that has stood the test of time and stands on the pillars of trust and companionship making it nothing less of a fairytale.
