JOURNEY His educational journey began from Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan. He moved to Jawahar Vidyalaya Senior Secondary School in Ashok Nagar where teachers said that he was a wellbehaved, academically sound and an unassuming student. Pichai then moved to Vanavani Matriculation Higher Secondary School, a school inside the IITMadras campus to pursue his Plus Two under the Tamil Nadu State board syllabus.
Another schoolmate of Pichai, who too was his senior by two years, said he had heard a lot about Pichai over the years. “A devoted son to his parents, Pichai has done them and everyone of us proud”.
He was the topper of his class from the very beginning and also won the Institute Silver Medal for excellence in academics.
Murugavel Selvan, entrepreneur in the IT space
Pattu Subramanian, who was two years senior to Pichai in school, remembers him as a quiet worker, studious and a bookish type. “He used to have a smile on his face and (was) kind of a bookworm. Once I had the occasion to meet him in Pennsylvania. But I had never thought this shy boy would one day become so big,” he said. After excelling academically in school, he went on to join IIT Kharagpur and joined the metallurgical department. He was the topper of his class from the very beginning and also won the Institute Silver Medal for excellence in academics. Though he was a student of metallurgy he pursued his interest in electronics as IIT provided him with that flexibility. Pichai was considered the brightest in his batch. His professor Sanat Kumar Roy who taught at the IIT Kharagpur for 44years remembers him being very well mannered and soft spoken. "He was doing work in the field of electronics at a time when no separate course on electronics existed in our curriculum. His thesis dealt with implanting molecules of other elements in silicon wafers to alter its properties. It was very clear from the beginning that he was enthused about electronics and materials," said Prof Roy. His friend Prashant Tripathy, director and CEO of Max Life Insurance, a close friend of Pichai who stayed in the same wing of
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Heading a global corporation is something very big and it is a matter of great honour and pride for us that someone from our backyard has become the global head of a huge corporation. Subramanian, head of logistics at the BMW Plant in Chennai
the hostel Nehru Hall during their IIT days says “I found him sharp and articulate. When discussions took place within our group, he usually took centre stage." Tripathy recalls Pichai’s passion for cricket and movies and how discussions about them led to many late nights. To complete his BTech Thesis he worked closely with two professors Prof D N Bose, nephew of the legendary freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose and the man who founded a material sciences lab in the institute, and Prof Indranil Manna, who is now director of IIT Kanpur. Pichai was close to Prof Indranil Mann and spoke to him of his future plans. He told the professor that he wanted to do an MS and
April 2017
then a Phd from the US. The problem that Pichai faced was funding as his father could not afford to send him abroad. Prof Indranil being impressed with all that Pichai had achieved wrote a recommendation letter to Stanford urging them to give Pichai an admission and scholarship. The recommendation from a senior IIT professor, financial help from his father and his academic credentials were more than enough for Stanford to accept Pichai. “Mom and dad did what a lot of parents would do at that time. They sacrificed many things in life and their disposal income to make sure that their children were educated” says Sunder Pichai. Being accepted in Stanford, Pichai