A REJECTION THAT CHANGED INDIAN IT SECTOR'S FACE

Before he set up what was to become one of Indian IT sector's biggest success stories, Narayana Murthy was rejected by Wipro chairman Azim Premji. The Infosys chairman later found out that Premji considered this one of his gravest errors of judgement.

AN UNCOMMON LOVE: THE EARLY LIFE OF SUDHA AND NARAYANA MURTHY AUTHOR CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI PUBLISHED BY JUGGERNAUT BOOKS PAGES: 352 PRICE: Rs 799

In her latest book An Uncommon Love Story, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni explores little known facets of Murthy's life and the influential role his wife Sudha played in it

Mumbai was a whole different world and a whole different lifestyle for Sudha and M Murthy. Because of their new jobs and their new responsibilities, they both became busier than ever before. While it was an exciting place, Mumbai was larger and more confusing than any city they had lived in until now - and it was a commuter's nightmare. For Murthy, especially, the workday was very long.

The PCS data centre was located at the computer centre of the Associated Cement Company (ACC). PCS was allotted two time slots for their use of the DG computer system there: 6-8 a.m. and 8-11 p.m. Murthy and his team also had to provide software support to ACC and other PCS domestic data centre customers during normal office hours. Because of this, Murthy would leave for work at 5 a.m. and reach the office in time for the morning slot for software development work. He stayed at work all day and then worked through the late-night slot, which was devoted to solving problems for international clients. He would reach home exhausted and get only about four hours of sleep before his workday started again.