Sudha Murty

Trustees, teachers, and my de. Parents and my dear students, it gives me enormous joy for me to come to school than any other place for various reason. A, I'm a granddaughter of a school teacher.

B, I'm a daughter of a professor. C, I'm the daughter-in-law of a school teacher. D, I myself am a teacher.

I used to teach computer science in Christ University, and later I became so irregular than my own students, then I said, "I will come on a management than a teacher," because my, of my hectic schedules. Children give me enormous joy because they are innocent. And this is the first time I'm addressing any school in Bombay.

I've not addressed any school in Bombay. I've come only for the. I have only come to Bombay for meetings, never to a school.

So when there was an urgent meeting came down today, evening I have a 7:00 meeting, then I thought, "Why can't I come little early?" Anyway, I sp. I waste half a day in Bangalore traffic reaching airport. I rather leave at 5:00 in the morning, reach Bombay at 8:30, so that I can have a session with the students and that, then I opted for this.

I'll tell you one small story. I am a grandmother of two grandkids. Like today's how grandkids are, they're, they are like that, normal, okay?

That means more talking and less listening. And my granddaughter's name is Krishna, and she told me. They live in London.

One day I told her to eat, banana fruit. You know, we India consider it's a good fruit. Eat. And then she said me, "Ajji, give me lo."

She still calls me Ajji, like any Kannada grandmother is called or Maharashtrian grandmother is called. She said, "Ajji, give me a set of reasons why one should eat banana." A five years kid, okay?

I said, "Okay. I will tell you a story, and then you feel like eating, you eat." I said, "There was a rishi by the name Durvasa." I'm sure most of you know.

Whenever he used to go to anybody's place, they used to get scared of him. Why this fellow has come? Let him go as early as possible.

I'm sure when you are not a nice person, nobody welcomes you. One day his wife told him, "Look, people, when they you go, people run away. Now that I stayed with you for such a long time, don't you think I deserve a boon or a special gift?"

First, he was very upset. Then he said, "Okay, fine. I'll give you a special gift.

What do you want?" She said, "I want a fruit which is not grown in Devaloka or up above heaven, which is grown on the Earth, and it should be used to worship God. B, it should, it should flower once a year, and it should not have any seeds.

C, all parts of that tree should be used in cooking. D, it should give fruits only once in a year, and the fruit should be not messy kind, you know, like, not like a mango or apple. And such fruit, without giving that to God, the puja will be incomplete."

He said, "Okay." He made a banana. He made a tree and gave the flower, fruit to the god, and then he called that, her name was Kadali, so he called that fruit, the kadali phala. Kadali in Sanskrit became banana in English later.

So whatever banana tree you see, that is the intelligence of a woman who told her husband the kind of fruit which is easy to eat, whose leaves are used for eating, whose bark is in the stem is used in cooking, whose flower is used in the cooking, which flowers once a year, and there are no seeds. So I told, "It's such a great fruit on the Earth.

If you don't want to eat, Krishna, you don't have to eat." But only learned people eat this one. What I'm telling you is though, you know, every generation, it's really wrong to tell that our generation has lot more stress.

That is totally wrong. Parents, please remove it from your head in case you have such things. I was in, Egypt about 15 years back.

Then I took on Egyptology, that is a very, a person who knows how to read hierography, who know more about Egyptian history, and went to one place which is 7,000 years old, and there I saw the pyramid. Inside the pyramid there is hierography, so I asked that fellow, "What it is written here? You tell me." This fellow told me, "The builder of Egypt, pyramid have written about next generation.

Next generation is. Doesn't respect time, doesn't respect money, doesn't respect elders. They have less common sense. They are less hardworking.

I really do not know how they will survive." Suddenly I felt like, you know, my parents talking to me like that. Every generation feels next generation is less than ours.

We are very hardworking, we talk. No, that is really not true. Every generation have their own plus and minus.

Some totally same. Any mathematics teacher or any students who know mathematics will appreciate this. What is one by two? Half. One by two is two by four.

It is also equal to three by six. It's also equal to four by eight. It is also equal to 16 by 32.

The moment I say one by two and 16 by 32, 16 is a huge number, one is small, but the ratio remains the same. And that is the way every generation have their Plus, minus their own strength. I've seen my great-grandmother, my grandmother, my mother, and me, and my daughter, you know, six, seven generation I have seen.

They are always worried about disease, because if there are no antibiotic in those days. If the child get fever, the mother would have been panicked. Today, you go to a pediatrician.

In those days, it was not there. Next generation I have seen, there was no connectivity. Coming to Bombay is once in lifetime, particularly from people from Karnataka.

Every generation undergo the different stress, but they do undergo stress. Now, coming to this topic, they told me that you have to address student, parents. I said I wanted to address students, actually, but if parents are interested, I can, but students may get bored.

I want to tell something to students, and then I'll address parents. Students, you should understand one thing. When you are in school, when you are in school, somebody looks after you.

Your teacher, your parents look after you. They will tell you some good words, and you really get bored. When they start sermon, your mind goes away somewhere.

Because I was also a student once upon a time. Too many things that someone tells you then you won't like it, actually. You won't like it.

And too many things we should not tell also. If we want to tell parents, you should always tell in the form of a story. Never tell directly, "You should be hardworking."

As a child, you may not like it. But please remember, people who care for you only will tell. Third person will not tell.

Please don't underestimate your parents and your teachers. It's your duty to understand what they are telling, for what reason they are telling, and you have to, you have to actually accept it, and later it will pay its price later part of your life. What you don't learn now will never be learned later.

It is always false ideas, "When I grow big," you know, "I will do." I don't know some. How many of you read my book, The Story of Potato.

Potato, it's a real-life story. Potato was my classmate. He was reasonably bright, maybe very bright, I suppose.

Never he came to school, never came to college. I was in engineering college. He used to say he was from Goa.

He used to come, he was in the hostel, and he never used to come to college. Our college was 7:00 to 11:00.

He would come around 10:00 or 9:00, earliest mean 9:00. And he would sit here, sit there, attend two classes. After that, afternoon, he would come for the lab, et cetera.

End of the year, he will. One month, he will get up early, and he will study, and you know, there is a method in college. You take question papers April and October.

Whatever comes in October will never come in April. Okay? I'm sure the school also you have. Midterm will never come to final, okay?

So eliminate these question answers, and then make a, approximate question paper and study that, and he used to get a first class. He did all four years like this. Once I asked Potato, "Potato, why you are such a bright person?

You don't come to class. If you come regularly, you can get distinction. You can get a rank."

He said, "Sudha, you do not know. In life, it is not the education. It is the connection it really works, and you have to build lot of connections, you know, in when you are young, it helps you.

I came from a middle-class family. My father was a doctor, a gynecologist. I never understood this connection, all those things that are."

Then he said, "My father was in military. We were in Kolkata. There was a club," which we have never seen in our real life.

So we thought maybe he's a big man. Years passed. In 1972, I finished my engineering, so was Potato, and I didn't meet him for long time. After 30, 35 years, I think 2008 or '9, I had been to Dubai to deliver a lecture.

And when the lecture was over, I saw somebody waiting for. And then he said, "Ma'am, I was waiting for you." I was surprised. A place like Dubai, who will wait for me?

Then he said, "I am Potato." I could not recognize because in 30, 40 years, people put on weight. Your hair will be gray.

You know, all those physical changes will happen. So I said, "Potato, I would not have recognized." I was very happy.

I told him, "Oh, let's have a. Let us sit down and talk." He said, "No, I just want to tell you one words, one word to you so I was waiting."

I said, "What happened?" He said, "You know, do you remember in college I used to bunk class?" I said, "Of course, I remember you.

Potato means bunking class." He said, "I used to bunk class, and I joined a job, and because in those days, the moment you have BE, you used to get job in my time. And my bosses came to know that, my subordinates came to know that I don't have knowledge.

Getting a first class marks are different than knowledge." Please remember, parents, your children should be in the pursuit of knowledge than the marks, though it's a competitive examination. I agree. It is a competitive world.

It is a competitive world. Competition is thousand times or 10,000 time more than what time I had. But with all those things, the knowledge which always helps you than your marks in real life.

So he said, "I got marks, but I did not have knowledge. Once the subordinates know that you don't have knowledge, they don't respect you. Once the boss knows you don't have knowledge, then he wants an, he wants a reason to kick you out.

I was kicked out from one job, then I took an second job, and I was so much used to getting up 9:00 in the morning. I'll go late to the office. I was kicked out there also.

Over a period of time, I couldn't get job anywhere. And now I have a job as a manager job or a smaller job in Dubai. And my. I have two."

I said, "What about your family?" He said, "I have two daughters. I left them in Chennai to study."

I said, "What?" He said, "Yes, I want they should study well. They should not become like me. I just waited for you to tell Sudha one thing.

When you we were young, I used to make fun of you." He used to tell me, "You are like a, you are like a running race horse, because the horse will see neither left nor right. It runs. Same way, you always were academic, and we used to make fun of you.

Today, when we called you nerd, and I thought I was very smart, I can. You know. Today, I feel you are successful, and I wasted my life." I just wanted to tell you if you don't, if you don't discipline- If you don't discipline when you are school or in college, you pay a heavy price in later part of your life.

Discipline, like coming up in a proper way, writing properly, okay, talking properly, communicating properly, respecting people properly, this really helps a long way in your life. So I don't want you should be like Potato, regretting in the, your old age. You should remember that to be successful in life, there is no shortcut.

The only method is hard work and straight way, and that you have to do. Thank you. Thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to address both of you. And in case you have any questions, in my limited knowledge, and my answers are highly subjective.

Okay? It is not, you know, from any group theory I have taken. I will try to answer. Thank you once again.

Appreciate that.