A phone call interview with Sudha Murty, 72, author, philanthropist and recipient of the Padma Bhushan, which she was awarded last week on Republic Day, makes this writer smile. Not just because Murty is a storyteller, who’s a joy to listen to, but also because she surprises us with, “I was very fond of mid-day!” As a development engineer at Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO) between 1979 and 1982 in Mumbai, she’d wrap up her lunch with a trip to the newspaper vendor downstairs to pick up her copy of this paper.  

Her time at Tata, she says, sharpened her desire to work for the larger social good. The rest of the credit she hands to her grandfather, a teacher, and her father, a doctor, both of whom worked to improve the lives of those around them.