“Dad Spent A Year’s Salary on My Plane Ticket To U.S”: Google CEO Sundar Pichai

Bengaluru: Google CEO Sundar Pichai, in a special message to the graduating class of 2020, said that his father spent a year’s worth of salary on his flight ticket to America so that he could study at Stanford. He further said that it was the first time he sat on a plane, and the only thing other than luck that got him from there to where he is now, was his passion for technology and his open mindedness. He further said that while facing the challenges during his younger years, computing was the bright spot for him.

In a virtual event held on Google-owned YouTube to give farewell to the graduating class amidst the coronavirus pandemic, Pichai urged the students to be impatient, hopeful and open, telling them that they had a chance to change everything. The ceremony was attended by former US President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, South Korean pop group BTS and activist Malala Yousafzai among others.

Saying that the class could be grieving everything they have lost like the moves they had planned and the job offers they had, instead of the knowledge they had gathered, Pichai told the students that if they remained hopeful, open and impatient, they would be remembered in history for what they changed.

He said that if the new class remained frustrated and impatient with the way things are now, it will bring about the next revolution, making things possible which the earlier generation could not even dream of. He urged them to not let go of that frustration, as it would create the progress that is required today.

Citing examples of graduating classes of 1920 during a deadly pandemic, 1970 amidst the Vietnam War and 2001, just ahead of the 9/11 terror attacks, he said that all these classes prevailed and history has given them every reason to remain hopeful.

Saying that he was confident that the new class of students would better the world in their own ways, Pichai said that the important thing was to be open-minded, which would lead them to find what they love. He encouraged them to find the things that excite them more than anything else, and not what their parents want them to do, or what their friends are doing or what the society expects them to do.

Giving his own example of his open-mindedness and passion for technology, he told the students what a difference these qualities can make, and how the future can be changed by such people