'The sheer disbelief...': Narayana Murthy stuns passenger on Delhi-Bengaluru flight

A passenger on a Delhi to Bengaluru flight was surprised to have Narayana Murthy seated next to him in economy class, adding that he was blown away by how “down-to-earth and approachable” the Infosys co-founder was.

Naren Krishna, an entrepreneur, shared a LinkedIn post on his unexpected encounter.  "The sheer disbelief of sharing an economy seat with a visionary of his stature lingered throughout the journey," he wrote.

The billionaire and his wife Sudha Murty are known for living a simple life. They are often seen traveling around Bengaluru in their old Maruti Alto and foregoing private chartered jets for commercial flights.

"In the few hours we shared, I delved into a myriad of topics with him, from the future landscape with AI, pivotal role the youth plays in the Indian economy on a global scale, surpassing even China in the future and managing expectations, dealing with stress, and navigating through failures while building a company," Krishna wrote. 

Murthy, Krishna said, also stressed on the importance of detachment in life, revealing instances from the Infosys journey when, despite putting in a great deal of effort, some deals did not materialise.

The key takeaway, Krishna wrote, was the quote Murthy mentioned from French microbiologist Louis Pasteur: "Chance favours the prepared mind."

Narayana Murthy spoke to Krishna about the rise of artificial intelligence. The billionaire was of the opinion that AI will boost human productivity exponentially in the coming years. 

"What struck me was his belief that AI will exponentially boost human productivity by 10-100x in various sectors. According to him, the pace of innovation in the coming years will outstrip the last decade. Will carry this memory very strongly for a long time with me."