MYSURU: In keeping with her reputation as an ebullient personality, Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty on Friday was as lively as ever as she interacted with bibliophiles from the city, interspersing her talk with anecdotes from her childhood, and lending a personal touch to the session by recalling her many fond memories.Sudha, who inaugurated the Mysuru Dasara this year, was the chief guest at a session organised by the Mysuru Literary Forum Charitable Trust and Mysuru Books Club-2015. In her interaction with noted Kannada writer Vasudhendra, Sudha spoke about her return to the ‘Heritage City’ after a long gap of 59 years.“I came to Mysuru as a girl of nine in 1959 to see Dasara celebrations. I had come here with my parents, and I was very fascinated by the Gandaberunda symbol, and bought ribbons of the same colour. I was witness to the Dasara procession that was led by the then Mysuru maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar,” said Sudha, adding that her in-laws had bought her a sari in Mysuru for her wedding.“My connection with Mysuru is otherwise limited. Most of my visits to the city have been limited to going to the Mysuru Infosys campus,” she added.On her goals in life, Sudha said that, having dedicated herself to social welfare for many years, all she wished for was a healthy life in order to continue to be of service to the people. “When I see the poor and underprivileged, I feel I owe them something,” she said.On her enduing tryst with philanthropy, Sudha said that the idea of giving was inculcated in her as a child. “We had huge granaries at our home, and our family cultivated paddy. We would have 500 bags of paddy, and my family would keep just five and the rest donated to the needy. I promised my grandfather that, with my savings, I would donate books to a library. To keep the word I gave him, I have donated books to more than 60,000 libraries in India. Money, if accumulated for future generations, has the power to destroy the family. But, at the same time, it can also help one help people. I prefer the latter,” said the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation.On the issue of women empowerment in India, Sudha said that she had always lived her life by her choices – wearing jeans, t-shirts, and refusing to wear the mangalasutra or thaali, the ornament that the husband ties his wife to consecrate the vows of a Hindu marriage. “There was a time when women were subjugated and oppressed under the garb of social norms. But that is not the case now. Women now have economic freedom, and power to love their profession and maintain their family at the same time. Women have been freed from the clutches of men and now, they have to harness it in a positive way. The role of motherhood is not limited to feeding children, but instill discipline and good values in them,” Sudha said.Among her regrets, Sudha counted not learning to cook food as one of them. “If I were not in this profession, I would have been a film critic,” she said, sharing her experiences with the Devadasi community in Raichur with the participants.Shubha Sanjay Urs, president of the literary club, was present at the interaction.

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