Infosys founder Narayana Murthy’s daughter Akshata Murthy once asked him to hire a private plane for…
Billionaire Narayana Murthy and his wife, Sudha Murthy, recently appeared on the The Great Indian Kapil Sharma Show where they shared some hilarious stories from their personal lives, including the time when their daughter, Akshata Murthy, asked her dad to “hire a private plane” to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary with Sudha in India.
Narayana Murthy’s humorous but candid confession about forgetting his 25th wedding anniversary was one of the highlights of the popular talk show as audiences were enthralled to know that billionaires, akin to regular folks, make the same cardinal mistakes, like not remembering your wedding anniversary even when your partner gives you a cue.
“One morning, Sudha asked me, ‘Is there anything special today?’ ‘ I replied, ‘No, nothing,’ and went to the office. As I was getting in the car, she asked again, ‘Think of anything special today?’ I still didn’t realize,” the Infosys co-founder recalled the funny exchange with his wife who was trying to give him a cue.
‘Hire a private plane’
Murthy recalled that later that day, he had to catch a flight to Mumbai for work-related stuff when his daughter, Akshata Murty, called him, and asked him to cancel his travel plans.
“She asked, ‘What are you doing?’ I told her I was catching a flight. To which Akshata quickly replied, ‘Cancel it, get the first flight back to Bangalore, and wish your wife a happy anniversary!” Narayana Murthy recalled.
Narayana told Akshata that he had speech at 3 PM, however, she insisted her father to return and wish Sudha a happy anniversary. “I don’t care if you have a speech at 3 pm. If you need to hire a private plane, hire it, but come back and wish her!,” Akshata, who was studying at Stanford University at the time, told her dad.
Sudha Murthy revealed that she had tried giving him a hint but Narayana was totally oblivious and could not understand what she was trying to tell him.
“It was our 25th wedding anniversary so it doesn’t happen every year. So I thought, let me give him a cue but did not work… For five-ten minutes I felt bad because I’m also human,” Sudha chimed in.
“But my daughter was very upset, she went ‘In America this never happens!’, but I went ‘India main it happens though’, who can remember these things??.”