Trekking Beyond Limits: The Inspiring Life of IIT Madras Alumna Ms. Jaishree Deshpande

It was a regular afternoon in Chennai, humid, drowsy, and still. In the women’s hostel at IIT Madras, a young Ms. Jaishree Kulkarni had just dozed off after lunch. But little did she know her nap would turn into one of her most unforgettable college memories.

“I suddenly felt something heavy on my chest,” she recalls. “I opened my eyes, and there was a monkey, staring right at me.”

Startled but steady, she shut her eyes and lay still as the monkey helped itself to her saved-up bananas and sweets sent from home. “It sat there, peeled the bananas, tossed the skins on my face, ate my pedas, and left. It felt like hours, but it was maybe five minutes.”

That surreal moment, part absurd, part terrifying, would one day become a metaphor for how Ms. Jaishree Deshpande (née Kulkarni) lives her life: with calm courage in unexpected circumstances.

Today, she is the Founder of the Deshpande Foundation in the USA, a leading philanthropist, and an advocate for innovation-led development. Together with her husband, Dr. Gururaj Deshpande, she has contributed significantly to IIT Madras across several initiatives, including the Sharavati hostel, the Deshpande Centre for Optical Network, and the Gopalakrishnan Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Only few know that Ms. Jaishree Deshpande is also an accomplished trekker, having scaled some of the most formidable terrains in the world, including the “Mount Everest Base Camp”, “Mount Kailash”, and “Gosaikunda in Nepal”.

“I discovered trekking much later in life,” she says. “But the strength to take on challenges like that was seeded during my time at IIT Madras.”

For someone who arrived on campus as a shy girl from the small town of Hubli in North Karnataka, just adjusting to city life was its own Mount Everest. “Everything was new, the language, the food, the culture. I’d never lived away from home before. I barely spoke. It was intimidating.”

But over two years in the physics department, something shifted. “I began to speak up, to think for myself. I made decisions on my own. I discovered what I now call my quiet strength.”

It’s that same strength she later carried into multiple roles: scientist, teacher, entrepreneur, philanthropist, mother, and climber.

In fact, when she turned 70, while most mark the milestone with a celebration or a trip to the spa, Ms. Jaishree chose to trek to Gaumukh-Tapovan, a challenging high-altitude Himalayan route that begins at the Gangotri glacier, the source of the Ganga.

“It was my first trek in India. I had done treks abroad, but never in the Himalayas. I wanted to do something different, something meaningful. Trekking makes me feel alive. It connects me to my inner self.”

Her life after IIT Madras was equally rich and varied. Ms. Jaishree worked with NAL and ISRO before moving to Canada, where she pursued computer science and became a faculty member. Eventually, alongside her husband, tech entrepreneur Dr. Gururaj Deshpande, she co-founded the Deshpande Foundation, a philanthropic initiative focused on sustainable, scalable development.

“It was at IIT Madras that I absorbed the motto, ‘Siddhirbhavati Karmajaa’—Success comes from hard work. I didn’t just learn physics here. I learned perseverance. I learned to be self-reliant.”

That self-reliance is what gave her the confidence to transition across disciplines and continents, and to build an organization that today empowers thousands of innovators and grassroots entrepreneurs across India and the U.S.

To current students, Ms. Jaishree offers a heartfelt message: “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Learn from everything: books, people, and the environment. And most importantly, follow your passion. Don’t impose imaginary limits on yourself. Dream big, because anything is possible.”

She speaks from experience. The girl who once hesitated to speak is now a global changemaker. The woman who feared a monkey now calmly walks glaciers and climbs altitudes that challenge even seasoned trekkers.

And yet, she remains grounded. “Receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award is deeply humbling. I feel grateful for everything IIT Madras gave me, the education, the opportunities, the chance to find my voice.”

Ms. Jaishree Deshpande’s story is not just one of academic excellence or philanthropic achievement. It is a story of inner evolution. Of embracing discomfort. Of saying yes to unlikely adventures, whether it’s leaving home at 19, or hiking to the icy ridges of the Himalayas at 70.

Her life proves that strength doesn’t always roar. Sometimes, it whispers through quiet decisions, made day by day, step by step, until one day, you find yourself at the base of Everest, looking up, unafraid.