'We waited hours for water': Google CEO Sundar Pichai on growing up in scarcity and how it shaped his life

Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google and its parent company Alphabet, is one of the most recognisable figures in global technology. While his success is often celebrated, his personal story reflects a more complex journey, one defined not only by ambition and intellect but also by hardship and perseverance.

In a recent podcast with Lex Fridman, Pichai noted how his childhood in Chennai stood in sharp contrast to the abundance of Silicon Valley. His family of four lived in a modest two-room apartment where he and his brother shared the living room as their bedroom. During the discussion, Pichai recalled a period during a severe drought when the family had no running water. Each day, they would line up for hours with buckets, waiting for a truck to deliver their limited supply. These early experiences, he said, shaped his understanding of scarcity and the value of basic resources.

Technology was a luxury for the Pichai household. They waited five years to have a rotary telephone installed. Once it arrived, the phone became a shared resource for neighbours who came to make or receive calls. Even accessing something as routine as a blood test report required an entire day of travel, with no guarantee that the result would be ready. These limitations left a lasting impression and sparked Pichai’s belief in the potential of technology to make everyday life easier and more efficient.

After a short stint in the semiconductor industry, Pichai joined Google in 2004. He began with the Google Toolbar, a product that was far from glamorous. Yet his quiet persistence and focus on user experience stood out. He went on to lead the development of Google Chrome, a browser many inside the company initially questioned the need for, and helped turn it into the world’s most popular browser. His work on ChromeOS, Google Drive and other key products further cemented his reputation.

In 2015, following a corporate restructuring that created Alphabet Inc., Pichai was named CEO of Google. Four years later, he was elevated to CEO of Alphabet. Since taking over, he has overseen the company’s continued push into artificial intelligence, hardware and cloud services, while navigating increasing regulatory scrutiny around the world.

While his achievements are widely acknowledged, Pichai’s path to the top also reflects the social and economic divides that many face. His journey from water shortages in Chennai to the boardrooms of Silicon Valley underscores how formative early constraints can be, and how they often provide a perspective that shapes leadership at the highest level.

You can check out the full episode here.