Krishna Pidtala

I joined the Hyderabad Public School in 1966 as a boarder in the primary school and moved to the West Wing subsequently. In 1969, I became a day scholar when my parents moved back to Hyderabad.

Reminiscences of primary school boarding relate to pillow fights after lights out, morning inspection of nails by the matron, and floating paper boats in the stream behind the dining hall. Other school memories include waking up early for PT, playing soccer, dressing for dinner in a Jodhpuri jacket, wearing whites to watch Saturday movies in school, playing paddle tennis, scout camps in Jeedimetla, evening prep, and after dinner evening walks. My day scholar recollections include riding to school on my BSA sports bike, watching English movies in Secunderabad with school friends, etc.

The hallmark of HPS is that it molds its students into all-rounders. Apart from its excellent curriculum and dedicated teachers, it also nurtured varied interests and imparted a wide range of skills. These ranged from horse riding, sitar, writing, wood-work, debate, sports, painting to poetry. Each of us took what we wanted from this inimitable institution, and we are better off for it …

In the 10th grade, I opted for the biology stream as I wanted to become a doctor. Upon graduation, reality sunk in - I discovered that blood and hospitals did not excite me. Luckily, winning the National Science Talent Scholarship and getting admission in BITS, Pilani propelled me back to the Engineering stream. I regained my interest in mathematics and ended up getting two degrees of Engineering from BITS, Pilani. Post-graduation in Industrial Engineering and Management followed. I joined GEC in marketing management and got married in August 1981. In my usual way of changing course every few years, I decided to ditch marketing and joined Tata Burroughs to join the promising field of information technology to go to the USA. I joined a pioneering team that helped design and develop the SWIFT financial network. We came to the USA in 1983 and I worked for Goldman Sachs on Wall Street from 1985-1987 on program trading. This was followed by another phase at Unisys and IBM before I finally found my calling – international development.

I joined the World Bank in 1990 and held a variety of roles before retiring in 2020. My life’s work ended up being international development. My work at the World Bank included number of global initiatives in the areas of community development, South-South learning, National Identification and digital development. I was fortunate to work in over 35 countries and visited many more – including some remote places on earth that most people would not even consider visiting.

Passions: World travel, humorous writing, outdoor activities, music, movies and general fun