``After she left for school, I thought about it and it struck me that I should start doing something for society,'' says Murthy, and that was how she set about laying the ground for the setting up of the Infosys Foundation. The Foundation is funded from the profits of the successful software company run by her husband, Infosys Technologies Ltd. And even though the Foundation is almost two years old, Murthy takes time off from her hectic schedule as a visiting college professor and Kannada litterateur, and personally supervises the running of the Foundation.

The Foundationhas funded projects worth Rs 1.5 crore thus far and the blind boy whom Murthy sponsored initially graduated with Honors from St academics.

The Foundation runs on Murthy's firm conviction that ``to be born wealthy is not in our hands, it's God's wish; but to help those who are less privileged is in our hands, it is God's desire''. Sticking to this conviction, she does not take an extra pie to run the house. The decor in her home hasn't changed over the years despite the upsurge in Infosys' fortunes; her wardrobe hasn't seen a new garment in ages and she manages the day-to-day expenses of the household on Rs 10,000 a month.

The Foundation has two other directors, N S Raghavan, joint managing director of Infosys, and G R Nayak, advisor (corporate affairs) also at Infosys, who decide on the projects that the Foundation should take up. One of the first projects that the Foundation initiated was the distribution of library books to rural schools in Karnataka. Murthy started the project by taking the books tothe rural schools herself. Every week or two, she takes off in her car to remote villages in various districts of Karnataka and when she donates books, also makes sure that the school uses them properly. The Foundation has to date set up 1,001 libraries in rural schools, which have over two lakh books worth Rs 20 lakh.

Funding education is still one of the primary projects of the Foundation. It has another scheme where prize money is given to rural students who do well in their SSC examinations. A one-time amount of Rs 20,000 has been given to 50 schools and the interest money from this fixed deposit is given to the students who score the highest marks in Math, English and Kannada. A Rs 15 lakh science centre is also being built by the Foundation in Hossur village in Gauribidanur taluka in Karnataka. This building will have a museum centre and well as laboratories for use by nearby schools.

The Foundation has also built schoolrooms, hostels in tribal and backward areas in Maharashtra and Orissa. ``Wedonate only to government schools or schools run by trusts in rural/backward areas,'' says Murthy.

Donating medical equipment is another area of interest for the Foundation. It has made several life-saving donations to government hospitals like building a brain fever ward in Bellary district, a breast cancer ward in Kanchipuram and a burns ward in Victoria Hospital, Bangalore.

``We found that many children in Bellary district die of brain fever and the hospital did not have specialised medical facilities for this. So we built the special ward for them,'' says Murthy. The burns ward in Victoria Hospital has been fully air-conditioned and resurrected from its dilapidated state by the Foundation and was inaugurated last week.

Murthy's cultural leanings have also helped in resurrecting an ancient form of folk singing in Karnataka, called Gamaka. The Foundation made over 200 cassettes with Gamaka songs and donated it rural schools to help revive the art.

The Foundation has some ground rules by which itfunctions. It takes up projects only in states where there are Infosys offices, which restricts them to the four states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Orissa. It also has five categories under which donations are made: rural education and helping economically weak students; medical equipment and facilities; helping the aged, destitute; handicap welfare and some cultural activities. ``The money for all these activities is given by Infosys and many times I have to keep pleading with them for more,'' says Murthy. So much so that when her husband is out of the city on tours, he warns his company executives not to succumb to her demands, she says.

But with Infosys becoming one of the fastest growing IT companies, funds may not be a problem. And with Murthy's zeal behind the Foundation, it will definitely make inroads in rural uplift.