Akshata Murty is currently enjoying her initiative, ‘Stories + 10 Objects,’ wherein she is working restlessly to find innovative ways to expand the museum experience. She is trying to blend innovation, storytelling, and technology, all on one plate, and the results are beautiful. But what’s more beautiful is an untold tale that is finally revealed to us during our recent candid conversation. The woman who believes in the power of storytelling opened up about her love life and marriage. She highlighted how she and her partner,
Rishi Sunak, enjoy shared values while maintaining individual personas.
This love story is more than two decades old
It sounds almost like a Bollywood romance taking a real-life form, as Akshata narrates, “Rishi and I met when we were 24. We met in business school. And over the last 20 or so years, we have grown up together.”
“So, while we of course have our individual personalities, they have also been shaped by each other, because we met quite young, and we have had this shared growing up together,” she adds.
Akshata Murty says her husband is yin to her yang
She further highlighted how beautifully their similarities and differences complement each other. “In many ways, we're similar; in many ways, we are not.
I always say he's the yin to my yang. So that's a beautiful symbol, right,” she says.
“Rishi is so wonderfully able to look into the future, while I'm really focused on living in the moment, living in the present. Rishi is incredibly analytical, and I am more intuitive. Rishi focuses on the tangible; I'm all about the intangible,” she explains.
Then, talking about the things that bring them together to shape something harmonious, she proudly emphasises, “We are still inspired by the shared belief in service. And, you know, Rishi's parents demonstrated that in their own way, when he was growing up, and my parents demonstrated that in their own way. So that's really shaped us. And that shared sense of service is what drove us when we were in Downing Street. And it drives us now when we think of what we are doing next in our lives.”
“So I think we inspire each other, both personally and professionally, because we have that shared purpose,” she wraps up.