The Sainik Schools were conceived in year 1961, to identify and prepare children for entry into the National Defence Academy and Indian Naval Academy – India’s elite military schools. To foster a sense of teamwork and perhaps to promote a little bit of rivalry, there is a rolling trophy called the Defence Academy Trophy, which is awarded every year to the batch and school which sends the maximum number of boys to the NDA that year.
Raju Reddy - Chairman
A certain Mr. Reddy was just one of hundreds of fathers in India who enroll their 10 year old sons in Sainik Schools every year, for a variety or combination of reasons – the recipe for making it to the armed forces is found there, a job in the armed forces is secure, the life is secure, it’s the only way to discipline the boy, great education, it’s great exposure in any case, and so on.
South Indians never formed a big chunk of the batches at NDA. To give you an idea – there are 25 Sainik Schools in India and only 4 collectively in the 4 states of South India. Sainik School, Korukonda (Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh) is one of them. But, every once-in-a-really-long-while, South Indian schools do shine. One such year was 1976. There were about 54 boys in that batch at Korukonda, and 18 of them had made it to the NDA that year. Quite remarkable and rare – a 33% strike rate!
Had he known this at the time of admission, Mr. Reddy would have put all his money on his son. We’re really sorry, Sir Mr. Reddy, that your son wasn’t part of the NDA bus that year.
That Reddy boy we’re talking about decided to “pursue engineering” (does that sound familiar?). Electronics thrilled him, and he had quite a few colleges not very far from his hometown to choose from. He would have been close to home, and would have got the chance to get the Electronics Engineering degree that he had set eyes on. However, some risk-taking instinct kicked in, and he decided to wait at the doors of a private university in the desert state of Rajasthan, fully aware that he was in the last 5% of applicants, oral herpes transmission in a wait list. He didn’t expect to get admission, leave alone that in an engineering stream. He graduated in the year 1981, and went straight to Virginia Tech, to pursue a masters’ degree. The reasons for having chosen this University, we hear, are: a. A lot of alumni from his illustrious college had gone there, and b. The admission form cost just $10. After Virginia Tech, he landed a job with Intel. The guy who hired him happened to be an alumnus from his alma mater. One thing led to another, and in 1993, the Reddy boy founded a startup in Silicon Valley. Once again, with an alumnus and classmate from his college (they don’t call it India’s No.1 Private University for nothing!). This seems to be journey enough, but the it has just started. His then-startup made leaps, bounds and grew to employ over 2400 people with operations in several countries. What started as a small company came to be featured among the top 75 most admired companies in Silicon Valley, the Top 25 great places to work in India and the Top 10 best employers in South China. His exit in December 2010 was much talked about.
Even more talked about in BITSian circles, is his appointment as President & Chairman, Board of Trustees, BITSAA International Inc. BITSians, we are proud to introduce to you – Raju Reddy! (We’re just too glad that we didn’t lose him to the saikors!)
The Inside Look is a video of Raju Reddy’s address at TiE – watch to get the story from the horse’s mouth.