"All of India is my hometown"
By Aarti Shah
Mumbai, Mar 25, 2008

Srikanth Sundararajan, COO of Persistent Systems in a telephonic interview with Aarti Shah shares his philosophy of work and life; encouraging his employees and family to learn from every mistake and being humble in life. He also shuns regional loyalties saying the entire country is his hometown.

"IT is emerging stronger everyday, and there has been enormous change in the IT industry in the past 5 to 10 years," says Sundararajan. He has earned a B.Tech degree from IIT Madras, and attained his M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer and Information Sciences from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

IT has never been a problem for Sundararajan. If not an IT professional, he would have loved to become a professional cricketer. "While in school, once I had hit the cricket ball so hard that it broke the glass of cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi's car window. This is one of the most memorable and vivid memories of my life," recalls Sundararajan. Actually, he was the moving force behind the setting-up of a cricket team at Persistent Systems.

Academically, Sundararajan was very sound. He often stood first in his class. Physics and computer science were his favorite subjects in school and college respectively.

Sundararajan is the father of 2 children, and unfortunately one of his sons is handicapped. According to him, he has always supported his children in taking their own decisions, and allowed them to choose the profession of their liking. Being a busy professional, he finds it difficult to spare time for family. On weekends, however, Sundararajan ensures that he spends at least three hours with his family. He also likes to meet his non-IT friends or go out to play golf or cricket.

Cricket, golf and tennis are his favorite sports. Among the latest movies, he is passionate about Om Shanti Om, and Shah Rukh Khan is his favorite actor. He loves to read and is also fond of watching interesting programs on TV in his free time. He loves to listen to 60s and 70s music, generally to old Hindi movie songs.

Revealing his other hobbies he says, "I use to cook various dishes like Pasta, Italian, Greek and Spanish. But now I am no more into cooking."

Does he like politics? "NO". According to him, "Political leaders create lots and lots of problems and they do not do the right things at the right time." He also thinks half the world's problems are due to the political leaders.

Sundararajan has traveled across most parts of India, so he strongly believes and says, "There is nothing like hometown for me, I think India is my hometown."

Five years from now, Sundararajan wants to quit his present line and get into teaching. His parents stay at Bhubaneshwar, so he wants to settle there, and do something for his family. "My actual dream is to be forever young," giggles Sundararajan.