Happy birthday Sundar Pichai: Google CEO's father spent a year's salary for his US flight

IT was a memorable day for India Inc. on Friday (10) as Sundar Pichai, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google, turned 50.

The man, who was born in Madurai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, earned his degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in the eastern state of West Bengal. He then moved to the US where he studied at the Stanford University and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Pichai, who has been conferred Padma Bhushan by the Indian government this year, is not only known for his professional success but also his humbleness. And one reason for his humbleness is his struggle while making his way forward.

On his birthday two years ago when the world was grappling with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and people were working from home, Pichai had given the budding engineers a special message: Be open, be impatient, be hopeful.

Pichai, who was speaking at a virtual graduation ceremony, urged those waiting for their degrees to be open, hopeful and “impatient” and expressed confidence that they have a “chance to change everything”.

At the event, which also saw high-profile participants such as former US president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, Pichai said, “Be open, be impatient, be hopeful. If you can do that, history will remember the Class of 2020 not for what you lost, but for what you changed. You have the chance to change everything. I am optimistic you will.”

He then shared a story from his humble past to back his advice to the would-be graduates. Stressing on the importance of staying positive during the tough times, Pichai spoke about one challenge and it was about managing the air fare to reach the US for the first time.

Pichai said that his father had to spend a year’s salary to get him a flight ticket to the US where he undertook a course at Stanford University.

“My father spent the equivalent of a year's salary on my plane ticket to the US so I could attend Stanford. It was my first time ever on a plane,” Pichai, who is originally known as Pichai Sundararajan, said.

“The only thing that got me from here to there—other than luck—was a deep passion for technology, and an open mind,” he added.

Pichai, who studied metallurgical engineering in Kharagpur, joined Google in 2004 and was selected to become the next Google CEO in August 2015.