'Dear Mr. Pichai, email received': Google CEO Sundar Pichai recalls first 25-year-old email received from father

Google celebrated its 25th anniversary on September 4 this year, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai took a moment to take us all back on the journey from where it had all started. He recalled a brief story from his youth in a touching blog post. Pichai recalled a moment when he was a student in the US and his Indian father had just acquired his first email address.

Excited about the prospect of faster communication, Pichai sent his father an email and eagerly awaited a response. However, he had to wait for two long days before finally receiving an email with a rather formal reply, "Dear Mr. Pichai, email received. All is well."

Puzzled by the formality and the delay, Pichai called his father to understand what had happened. It turned out that a colleague from his father's office had printed out the email, transcribed his father's dictated response, and then typed it to send it back to Pichai.

Pichai used this anecdote to highlight how technology and communication have evolved over the past 25 years. He mentioned his teenage son, who can quickly capture and share moments with friends, emphasizing the remarkable progress in technology and communication since Google's inception.

This reflection comes as Google celebrates its 25-year journey from a research project at Stanford University to a tech giant, with Sundar Pichai taking over as CEO on August 10, 2015.