'We Had To Convince My Dad To Buy A VCR...' - How Sundar Pichai’s Humble Childhood Led Him To Top Of Google

At 12 years old in 1984, Sundar Pichai was just another boy growing up in the bustling city of Chennai, South India. His family lived in a humble two-room apartment, without running water or a telephone. But what might have seemed like limitations to some became defining lessons for Pichai about the power of technology to change lives.

"I grew up in Chennai. It's a beautiful, bustling city, lots of people, lots of energy, and a simple life. "Definitely fond memories of playing cricket outside the home," he told Lex Fridman. He described playing barefoot in the streets with neighbourhood kids, stopping only when cars passed.

His childhood was marked by scarcity. "We had no running water. It was a massive drought, so they would get water in these trucks, maybe eight buckets per household. So I and my brother, sometimes my mom, we would wait in line, get that and bring it back home," he recalled.

"Many years later, we had running water and we had a water heater... For me, everything was discreet like that."

He added, "To have that convenience of going and opening a tap and have hot water come out? Yeah."

Biggest Transformations In His Life

One of the biggest transformations came when his family finally got a rotary telephone. "There was a five-year waiting list, and we got a rotary telephone. But it dramatically changed our lives. People would come to our house to make calls to their loved ones."

Pichai's awareness of how technology could change lives began early. He remembered trips to hospitals just to pick up blood test records. "It would take two hours to go, and they would say, 'Sorry, it's not ready. Come back the next day,' two hours to come back. And that became a five-minute thing."

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Books were his window to the world. "Lots of books, trashy books, good books, everything from Ayn Rand to books on philosophy to stupid crime novels. Books was a big part of my life," he said. "It's not surprising I ended up at Google, because Google's mission always resonated deeply with me. This access to knowledge – I was hungry for it."

His grandfather, who worked in the post office, played a key role in that hunger. "He loved politics. We could talk about anything. He got me introduced into books."

Convince My Dad To Buy A VCR: Sundar Pichai

Later, when his family finally bought a VCR, it felt like a miracle. "We had to convince my dad for a long time to get a VCR. It was a Panasonic, which we had to go to some shop which had smuggled it in, I guess... being able to record a World Cup football game or get bootleg videotapes and watch movies, all that."

Reflecting on how far he’s come—from collecting water in buckets to leading a $2 trillion company—Pichai said, "I've always had this thing, a first-hand feeling of how technology can dramatically change your life and the opportunity it brings."

Even today, when he visits India, he remains amazed by the speed of change. "The power of mobile. It's mind-blowing to see the progress through the arc of time. It's phenomenal."

When asked what his 12-year-old self would say if he knew he’d grow up to lead one of the largest companies in human history, Pichai laughed, "Probably too far-fetched to imagine or believe at that time."

Sundar Pichai Net Worth

Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, a role he has held since 2019, when he took over from Google co-founder Larry Page. Pichai joined Google in 2004 and reportedly gave his job interview on the same day Gmail was launched. 

He became CEO of Google in 2015 and later took charge of Alphabet as well.

According to Forbes, Pichai owns about 0.02% of Alphabet and has sold shares worth over Rs 4,300 crore (about $500 million) before taxes. As of June 13, 2025, his estimated net worth is Rs 9,460 crore (around $1.1 billion), making him one of the wealthiest tech leaders in the world.