Adopt a learning mindset all your life: Sudha Murthy at Andhra University Alumni Association Meeting

Visakhapatnam is turning out to be a ‘Gateway to the East’, with heavy investments pouring in, including a proposed $15 billion Google data centre, according to GMR Group Chairman GM Rao.

He delivered this speech at an Andhra University Alumni Association event called Waves 2025, which took place during the university’s centenary celebrations in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.

GM credited the expansion of the city to the far-sighted governance of AP AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu and state IT Minister Nara Lokesh, in addition to big investments by Google, Reliance, Meta, and the construction of the GMR Group’s Bhogapuram International Airport.

"However, this is an opportunity for Andhra University to grow in the academic, research, and innovation sectors," he added. GM Rao appealed to the alumni network to assist students, help innovative projects and start-ups, and in this way, contribute towards growing the institution.

Addressing an eager audience in the auditorium, the chief guest Sudha Murty, a member of the Rajya Sabha, founder chairperson of the Infosys Foundation, and Murty Trust chairperson, exhorted students to have learning, perseverance, and purpose in their lives. "Learn continually. You can never become old if you keep learning. Your learning will make you youthful, nimble, and joyful. Your perseverance will be your constant companion, which will never deceive you," she added, relaying her own experiences in her life.

Comparing students to sugar cane purified through discipline and examinations, she described Andhra University as a ‘temple of learning’:   "The students are like sugar cane which is purified in this ‘temple of learning.’ The teachers and lecturers in this temple have a deep transforming role since they have not come to this temple in order to reach their own goal but to transform the goal of their students.”

 She emphasized the role of teachers in this transforming process and remembered the efforts of Andhra University founders such as Kattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy and Dr Sarvepalli