Sudha Murty Draws a Massive Crowd on the Fourth Day of Jaipur Lit Fest

Discover insights from Sudha Murty, Richard Osman, Neerja Chowdhury, and Shashi Tharoor at Jaipur Lit Fest. Engaging discussions on literature, politics, and more!

on Feb 05, 2024

Sudha Murty Draws a Massive Crowd on the Fourth Day of Jaipur Lit Fest | Frontlist

The former chairperson of the Infosys Foundation discussed her life, the criticism she received for pursuing engineering, and the sacrifices she made during Infosys' early days.

Sudha Murty, an author and philanthropist, gathered a large crowd on this rainy Sunday, the penultimate day of the Jaipur Literature Festival.

Sudha and publisher Meru Gokhale spoke during the session titled 'Common yet uncommon'. The former chairperson of the Infosys Foundation discussed her life, the criticism she received for pursuing engineering, and the sacrifices she made during Infosys' early days.

"For five years, I had to give up my career and care for my children.” "In those five years, I wrote three books," she explained. "One must always live life by their own rules," she went on to say.

When novelist Richard Osman appeared on stage to discuss his Thursday Murder Club book series with writer and professor Somnath Batabyal, the conversation went to crime and murder mysteries. He described his writings as a "very accurate reflection of sensibility and way of life in Britain" and stated that he feels it is the characters, not the story, that hold the secret to a good novel.

In a conversation about writer Neerja Chowdhury's book 'How Prime Ministers Decide,' the author provided an outline of momentous decisions taken by several of India's prime ministers. In her book, she discusses major periods in Indian political history, such as Indira Gandhi's return to power in 1980 and P V Narasimha Rao's decision to demolish the Babri Masjid in 1992.

Conversations about Hindi movies, literature in Indian languages, inclusion, and Indian history concluded the day. 'Politicisation of Hinduism' Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor was the day's highlight, with three back-to-back sessions on issues ranging from safeguarding democracy to modern-day aphorisms and the atrocities of the British Empire. Following the sessions, Tharoor held a press conference to discuss the economy, approaching elections, and the challenge to India's secularism.

"The government is taking a macro perspective. The poorest 60 percent of the population is not flourishing. "In fact, they have experienced negative economic growth," he stated. "We want the marginalised and disenfranchised to participate in the Indian economy and be stakeholders in its success," he said. When asked about his involvement in the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, he responded that not attending the occasion did not make him anti-Hindu. I pray to Ram every day. "Does the BJP have copyright on Ram?" he inquired. "We are not anti-Hindu, but anti 'the politicisation of Hinduism'," he went on to say.