Chennai: Indian techies often change their names when they start working in the US and so did P Sundarrajan, but not all become Sundar Pichai -- the new CEO CEO of global technology giant Google.
43-year-old Pichai, who expanded his initials and shortened his name after shifting to the US, began his career with Google in 2004 as a "low-key" manager and colleagues say there is no single Googler who did not like him ever.
From working on the Google toolbar, to the very successful Chrome browser, IIT-Kharagpur graduate Pichai became a clear number-two to the then CEO Larry Page last year and was made the CEO of a re-organised Google today.
While at Google, he also refused a job offer from Twitter, the popular social media platform which was today flooded with posts to congratulate him.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated him.
Known to be a shy person, Pichai was very selective in saying "thanks", and those to whom he replied included Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, another Indian-origin person who has hit it big in the US, and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
"I remember him being very focused and studious in school. He left after class X to join another school," said P Subramaniam, who was one year senior to Pichai at Vana Vani Matriculation School in Chennai.
"I remember him being very quiet and reserved", he said.
Born and raised in Chennai, Pichai studied till Class X at Vana Vani Matriculation School located in IIT campus here. Later he completed Class XII from Jawahar Vidyalaya at Ashok Nagar area of the city.
Pichai did B.Tech from IIT-Kharagpur, after which his teachers suggested him to go for a PhD. He, however, decided to pursue MS from Stanford University, and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.
He joined Google in 2004 as its vice president of product management, where he led the team working on Chrome browser and operating system.
Before joining Google, he also worked at McKinsey and Applied Materials.
Pichai, a soccer fan, rose to a clear No 2 position in Google last year when he was appointed head of product and engineering for Internet businesses in October.
Since joining Google in 2004, Pichai has led a number of key consumer products which are now used by hundreds of millions of people and, prior to his current role, served as Google's SVP of Android, Chrome and Apps.
He had a key role in development of Google toolbar, which played an important role in making Google a search giant.
However, it was the launch of Chrome browser in 2008 that powered his one of the fastest corporate rises in the technology industry. Chrome is the No 1 browser in the world at present.
Pichai later held responsibilities of Android Mobile Software Division, Gmail and other products.
"Sundar has been saying the things I would have said (and sometimes better!) for quite some time now, and I?ve been tremendously enjoying our work together. He has really stepped up since October of last year, when he took on product and engineering responsibility for our Internet businesses," Larry Page, Google Co-Founder, said.
SoftBank President Nikesh Arora, who was Pichai's colleague at Google, described the new chief as "a brilliant guy, clear thinker, gets things done and a wonderful person at that".
In a lighter vein, he tweeted: "Now I feel cheated :)." Arora was chief business officer of Google.
While Arora is being seen as next CEO of SoftBank, Pichai once reported at Google to Marissa Mayer, who later went on to become CEO of rival Yahoo.
Among others, messages of congratulations also poured in from Pichai's alma meter IIT Kharagpur which posted a message on the homepage of its website.
