Nadella’s school revels in his elevation

Students, teachers, friends come together to celebrate

G.Jayanand, a former principal of Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, displays a picture of his student and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, on his mobile phone on Wednesday. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

It was a moment of pride for Hyderabad Public School (HPS), a time to celebrate the success of an old pupil who had earned for himself the most important job at the biggest software company in the world.

Students, teachers, friends and one-time associates on Wednesday came together at a special assembly in the school to celebrate the appointment of Satya Nadella as Microsoft’s chief executive.

Mr. Nadella, who is credited with the success of Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise business, was never a topper in school, recalled his batchmate Phani Kondepudi, who was also his colleague in the US.

“In academics, he was always among the top 20, but never first or second. Satya was intelligent and exhibited leadership qualities,” recalls Mr. Kondepudi, who quit Microsoft last year to begin his own venture in Hyderabad.

Mr. Nadella would work hard at learning electronics in school, despite the fact that there wasn’t much of technology around back then.

Former Principal G. Jayanand said Mr. Nadella was a well-behaved student and never wasted any time.