Just months after Akshata Murty was born in April 1980, she was sent to live with her paternal grandparents after her parents moved hundreds of miles away to Mumbai for work. Her mother, Sudha Murty, a computer scientist and engineer, was the first female engineer to work for India’s then largest carmaker, part of the Tata conglomerate, and is now a philanthropist working to improve public healthcare. When Akshata did join her parents, and later her brother, Rohan, in Mumbai, life might not have been as relaxed as it was with her grandparents in Hubli. Sudha “decided early on that there would be no TV in our home so that there would be time for things like studying, reading, discussions and meeting friends”, according to the book.
