It was an evening worth remembering for a long, long time. India’s biggest technology titans gathered under one roof at the Hotel Marriott in Whitefield, Bengaluru, to celebrate the Express IT Awards…
It was an evening worth remembering for a long, long time. India’s biggest technology titans gathered under one roof at the Hotel Marriott in Whitefield, Bengaluru, to celebrate the Express IT Awards, the annual show designed to award the best solutions in the IT business. The big four—chief guest Union minister for communications and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, guest of honour NR Narayana Murthy, Aadhaar champion Nandan Nilekani and Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka— drew in a crowd of over 350 people, including the top management of all the victorious IT firms.
First to walk in was the IT legend NR Narayana Murthy himself. Known to be a stickler for time Murthy arrived at sharp 5.30 pm, creating an instant buzz in the room. He looked full of energy and said he was looking forward to the event in which he was about to give his protege and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani the Lifetime Achievement Award. Sikka walked in soon after, looking a little rushed. “Where’s Mr Murthy? I want to spend some good time with him today,” he said.
Soon all eyes were on minister Prasad. Everyone wanted to know when he would arrive. The minister, who had taken a day off from Delhi to attend our event, was on his way from the Devanahalli airport. As soon as the minister entered the hall, he went straight up to Narayana Murthy to exchange pleasantries. The bonhomie between the two of India’s outstanding leaders was evident. Shortly, Nilekani arrived as well. The quartet was now complete.
The minister in his address as chief guest said Digital India has been designed to bridge the divide between the haves and the have-nots. He asserted his ministry would go all out to promote the programme, adding that 18 states had come forward to help digitise the 2.5 lakh gram panchayats. He added that 1.56 lakh post offices across the country too would soon be digitised. Post offices were already involved in e-commerce activity which had fetched them business to the tune of Rs 800 crore in the last four to five months.
Infosys CEO and MD Vishal Sikka, who received the Newsmaker of casino the Year Award, said he was proud to receive the award in the presence of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy. Stating that his last 15 months stint at Infosys as “an amazing journey”, he said the strength of Infosys was the value system created by its founding members.
Soon it was the turn of Murthy to deliver his speech on Nilekani, who was about to receive the most coveted prize of the evening from him. Murthy listed Nilekani among four greatest contributors to India’s public governance system. Other three in his list were Prof. MS Swaminathan, Dr Varghese Kurien and Sam Pitroda. “The four people have clearly transformed India,” he said.
Nilekani, in his acceptance speech, recalled how he was loitering around Mumbai after graduating from IIT wondering what to do next. He was candid enough to say that his grades were not that good. He then recalled his first meeting with Murthy some 27 years ago where the latter had asked him a quiz question which also included a solving a puzzle. Sikka chipped in immediately and said he was also quizzed in a similar manner by Murthy, leading to a round of laughter among all the dignitaries.