The first event occurred when he was a graduate student in Control Theory at IIT, Kanpur, in India. While having a breakfast in 1968, he had a chance encounter with a famous computer scientist on sabbatical from a well-known US university. The scientist was discussing exciting new developments in the field of computer science with a large group of students and how such developments would alter our future. The scientist was articulate, passionate and quite convincing. Mr. Murthy became passionate and determined to study computer science. This experience taught him that valuable advice can sometimes come from an unexpected source, and chance events can sometimes open new doors.
Second event occurred in 1974, Nis, a border town between former Yugoslavia, now Serbia, and Bulgaria. He was hitchhiking from Paris back to India; there were only two passengers in his compartment. Where he had a conversation in French with the girl and while talking to her on issues of government, a policeman caught him with the reason of talking against the government. After 20 hrs he got release. This long, lonely, cold journey forced him to deeply rethink his convictions about Communism. He concluded that entrepreneurship, resulting in large-scale job creation, was the only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in societies.
In 1990, five of the seven founders of Infosys were having a meeting regarding the decision of possible sale of Infosys for the enticing sum of $1 million. They were quite happy with their business progress in uncooperative surroundings. His young colleagues were slightly bent towards selling the company. He argued that if his colleagues want to sell the company then, he will bye that. They were aware about his bare minimum financial condition of Mr. Murthy. However, after an hour of Mr. Murthy’ arguments, his colleagues changed their minds to my way of thinking. He urged them that if they wanted to create a great company, they should be optimistic and...