Sundar Pichai’s IIT batchmate became a famous monk; what he told him when they met years later

Pichai completed his BTech at IIT Kharagpur in 1993. He later moved to the US for higher studies. One went on to lead Google. The other chose a life of spirituality. Both were IIT graduates from the same year, but their careers took them in entirely different directions. Google CEO Sundar Pichai and ISKCON monk Gauranga Das were part of the 1993 IIT graduating batch. Pichai studied at IIT Kharagpur, while Das attended IIT Bombay. Years later, when the two met, a light-hearted exchange about their appearances turned into a memorable comparison between corporate life and spirituality.During an address at the India Global Forum (IGF) in London in June 2025, Das recalled Pichai telling him, “You look younger than me.” “You deal with Google, which creates stress. I deal with God, who releases stress,” he replied to the Google CEO. The remark became the most memorable part of their reunion story.Sundar Pichai: The IIT graduate who became Google CEODas was part of the same IIT batch as Pichai, although the two studied at different campuses and branches. Sundar Pichai’s journey from IIT Kharagpur to the top of Google is one of the most recognisable Indian-origin success stories in the tech...