I Carry India Wherever I Go: Sundar Pichai On Receiving Padma Bhushan

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (IANS) – Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai once again reiterated that India is an integral part of him, and he was fortunate to grow up in a family in a country that cherished learning and knowledge.

“India is a part of me. I carry it with me wherever I go. I was fortunate to grow up in a family that cherished learning and knowledge, with parents who sacrificed a lot to make sure I had opportunities to explore my interests,” Pichai said in a blog post.

He expressed his thoughts after receiving the Padma Bhushan, India’s highest civilian honor, from India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, in San Francisco.

Pichai, was born in Madurai and grew up in Chennai. Pichai completed schooling in Jawahar Vidyalaya Senior Secondary School in Ashok Nagar, Chennai and completed Class 12 from Vana Vani school at IIT Madras. Pichai completed B. Tech in metallurgical engineering from IIT Kharagpur.

Moving to the US, he attained an MS from Stanford University in materials science and engineering and further attained an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Pichai was selected to become the next CEO of Google on August 10, 2015. He was appointed to the Alphabet Board of Directors in 2017.

In December 2019, Google’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped down and Pichai also took over as parent company Alphabet’s CEO.