Sundar Pichai’s visit to US cost his father a year’s salary, tells Google CEO over a YouTube virtual class

By Purvi Jain

Amid the covid-19 pandemic Google CEO Sundar Pichai gave a special message to students graduating in 2020, to be open, impatient and hopeful.

From his backyard, he used to address students worldwide during YouTube’s dear class of 2020 virtual ceremony.

During his speech, he highlighted the importance of staying positive during difficult times. He recalled the difficulties he faced to pursue his studies in Stanford University, US.

He mentions, “My father spent equivalent of a year’s salary on my plane ticket to US to attend Stanford University. It was my first time ever on plane…. America is expensive. A phone call back home was more than 2 dollar a minute and a backpack cost the same as my father’s monthly income”

The event that streamed on YouTube was attended by former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama, singer and actress lady Gaga among others.

He further drew a comparison between how he grew up without much access to technology and how students now-a-days have access to technology of computer of all shapes and sizes.

The chief executive of alphabet, the parent company of Google said, “I grew up without much access to technology. We didn’t have the first telephone when I was ten. I didn’t have a regular access to computer until I came to America to be a graduate. And the television we got had only one channel in it.”

Sundar Pichai stated as a material engineer and joined Google in 2004 as a management executive and further achieved to become company’s Product Chief and CEO in 2015.