Need to learn work-life balance from my wife, says Nara Lokesh on women's day

India Today

Speaking at the India Today Conclave 2025, Andhra Pradesh IT and Human Resources Development Minister Nara Lokesh said that work-life balance is one thing he needs to learn from his wife, Nandamuri Bramhani.

Transcript

00:00Today is Women's Day and I know, I believe, that your wife is a very powerful, strong woman, as is your mother.

00:07In fact, I heard that they were very successful. Your mother set up a very successful business enterprise.

00:13What have you learned from your wife and your mother? On Women's Day, you can tell us.

00:20Are they the real power in the Naidu family? You don't see them much in the public eye,

00:27but they are the ones, I am told, that perhaps are the real driving force in the family.

00:32Well, my wife pays my credit card bills. Really? She does. So, we are second generation entrepreneurs.

00:39So, the other side of Mr. Naidu is, is that he is a successful entrepreneur. He started a dairy company way back in the 90s.

00:46And it's a listed company, has a close to about four and a half thousand crores of market cap.

00:50And now my wife, Bramini, is the executive director of that company and she runs it day to day.

00:55If there's something that I should learn from her, it's work-life balance.

00:58She does it far better than I could have ever imagined. She takes care of, you know, the business.

01:04We have only one son, Devansh. So, she takes up all the responsibility of taking care of him.

01:09And then, of course, she has the other son, which is me. And she's busy calling me in the evening,

01:13lecturing me about my health and I need to take care of things and so on and so forth.

01:17So, I mean, work-life balance, I believe women do a much, much better job than men do.

01:22And I think we have a lot to learn from them in that sense. Saying that, I don't believe that

01:26women's day should be one day. It should be celebrated every day.

01:30And as HRD minister, we are doing a lot of changes in our curriculum. Starting from

01:35household chores. Why should the photos be all women?

01:39So, from this year, it's 50-50. It's going to be men and women doing household chores.

01:44The pictures in our textbook. So, I believe transformation should happen from education.

01:49You know, I love the way you said that 4,500 crores market cap so casually.

01:54That's what makes the southern politicians different. They don't wear their money on their sleeve. Right?

02:00But the truth of the matter is, as you said, this has been quite a journey for you.

02:07Particularly the last few years. Was there ever a moment of doubt, a moment of darkness,

02:13wondering, telling your wife, let's go back and live on the west coast.

02:17Might be much easier to be in San Francisco or go back to the Stanford campus.

02:22What are we doing in the badlands of Rayalaseema and Kakinada and wherever else?

02:27Padayatra couldn't stop me, but when Mr. Naidu was arrested, there was this movement where my wife told me.

02:35She said, is this worth it? You know, as a family, we've had so much of respect.

02:40We've lived at a certain level. Is this worth it? You know, he's behind bars.

02:45Why are we doing all this? What's the point? But that very evening in Hyderabad,

02:5045,000 IT professionals came together to do a gratitude concert for Mr. Naidu.

02:55And this was on a day when there's a cricket match. 45,000 IT professionals came.

03:01And it was not, it was apolitical. We didn't organize it. They did it on their own.

03:06And that made it worth it. And that's when we all felt that we should do this. This is worth it.

03:11And that's why we've committed our life all over again to the service of the citizens of India and Andhra Pradesh.

03:17By the way, Lokesh is a man of many parts. He's also a great cricket fan.

03:22You might have spotted him at the India-Pakistan match in Dubai.

03:26Are you going tomorrow to watch the match and taking me along with you? We can go and watch.

03:31I believe there's a box that the Andhra Pradesh Cricket Association has.

03:35We have the secretary of the APCA also here. So, should we go and watch the match and who's going to win?

03:41I have assembly come Monday. So, I better be here.

03:44Now, I've got a news bulletin 9 p.m. on Monday. But we can watch the match and fly back from Dubai.

03:49But is that, who's going to win? Oh, India, all the way. Really excited. Can't wait to watch it.

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