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Nandan Nilekani reveals his small act of rebellion against father: ‘I’ll join IIT Bombay’
Nandan Nilekani’s father wanted him to study at IIT Madras instead of IIT Bombay. The Infosys co-founder went against his father's wishes.
Even within the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology, IIT Bombay stands as the first among equals. This is why it may come as a surprise to some that Nandan Nilekani’s father wanted him to study at IIT Madras instead of IIT Bombay.
Nilekani, the co-founder of Infosys and a pioneering force in India's digital and economic transformation, opened up about his small act of rebellion in going against his father’s wishes and choosing IIT Bombay during a conversation with LinkedIn’s global CEO Ryan Roslansky.
Nandan Nilekani on choosing IIT Bombay
During the conversation with Roslansky, Nandan Nilekani revealed that his father had an “insecure” job and therefore wanted him to get a good education and a stable job.
The Infosys co-founder was born in Bengaluru in the 1950s. During those days, children in India were expected to choose either engineering or medicine as their profession. Since Nilekani did not want to be a doctor, he opted for engineering.
“If I wanted to do engineering, it had to be a good school, and IIT Bombay was the best school,” he said.
Asked about his father’s objection to IIT Bombay, Nilekani replied, “Well, you know, at 18 you are a rebel. So my father sent me a telegram that said ‘Join IIT Madras, chemical engineering.’
“I said, ‘I’m not going to listen to you’. I said I’ll join electrical engineering at IIT Bombay. It was a small act of rebellion,” he explained.
Nilekani received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from IIT Bombay. He started his career at Patni Computer Systems in Mumbai, where he met and was interviewed by Narayana Murthy. A few years later, Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani and five other engineers left Patni to start their own company, Infosys.
(Also read: Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani after meeting Indian-origin entrepreneur in San Francisco: ‘Remake of Twins’)
