The Murthys had been deeply in love when they met in Pune. They would sing for each other and do other charming things for each other. Mr Murthy would accompany Sudha Murty on her train journey to her home in Hubballi, even though it took 11 hours. He had no money – he was unemployed at the time – so Sudha would pay for his ticket! She also paid for their dates when they went out to eat or to the movies (which she loved). But she kept track of how much money he owed her in a little notebook,” says Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, the acclaimed Indian-born American writer, who sheds light into the lesser-known chapters of philanthropist-author Sudha Murty and multibillionaire Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy’s early life and career in her latest work, An Uncommon Love: The Early Life of Sudha and Narayana Murthy (Juggernaut).
Known for her insightful exploration of the immigrant experience, particularly focusing on South Asian women with works like The Mistress of Spices, The Palace of Illusions, and Independence among others, Divakaruni has often put a thematic emphasis on the roles of women in both India and America, the challenges of adapting to new cultural environments, and the complexities of love across various relationships.
While An Uncommon Love is a new experience for her, given that it’s her foray into non-fiction, it nevertheless shares a lot of themes from Divakaruni’s vast body of work. “I was initially hesitant about doing this project when I was approached by the publisher with this idea, as I had focused on only fiction and poetry before this. But since I was an admirer of the Murthys, and because I believed that focusing on the human and emotional aspects of their story, especially the early years with all their ups and downs, would inspire many, I took on the project,” she shares.
Divakaruni’s meticulous research process involved extensive interviews, including virtual interactions from the USA and in-person visits to Bengaluru. “I interviewed Rohan [Murthy] and Akshata [Murty], while Mr Murthy was particularly helpful as he sent me a lot of biographical notes. But the most important part was when I came to Bengaluru and spent an extended period of time with the family, including Rohan and Sudhaji’s sister Sunanda, and friends from their early years in Pune. We had long, relaxed conversations where Mr and Mrs Murthy reminisced about that happy and relatively relaxed time as they dated and got to know each other – and in the process, I got to know a lot about them, including some very funny as well as sad stories from their childhood, all of which I put in the book. As we grew more comfortable with each other, the Murthys spoke openly about mistakes they had made, and that, too, added an important texture to the book,” shares the Betty and Gene McDavid Professor of Writing at the University of Houston Creative Writing Programme.
The book balances the Murthys’ personal love story with Infosys’ inception, a task Divakaruni describes as challenging yet achieved by ‘focusing on the human element throughout’. “Ultimately, whether it deals with their romance years or the early days of Infosys, it is all a personal love story about a couple who helped each other along their challenging life journey to achieve their goals. It’s about a couple who fought and disagreed but were always there for each other even at the darkest times,” adds Divakaruni, who will be presenting the book at the Jaipur Literature Fest later this month, alongside Sudha Murty.
An Uncommon Love also details many surprising details and unexpected aspects of the Murthys’ life and relationship. “Once, when Sudha Murty could not get back to her women’s hostel before curfew, the generally law-abiding Narayana Murthy came up with a mischievous scheme to help her. People will have to read the book to find out what he did!” she shares.