In her new book, 'Three Thousand Stitches,' Sudha Murthy, chairperson of Infosys Foundation and wife of well-known industrialist Narayana Murthy sheds light on existing biases in the society, as she depicts an incident where she was called “cattle class” at the International Heathrow airport. Standing in a queue in a salwar kameez, the 66 year old perhaps looked out of place, as a well-heeled lady said, “Go and stand in the economy class queue. This line is for business class travellers.”
“Class does not mean huge possession of money. Mother Teresa was a classy woman. So is Manjula Bhargava, a great mathematician of Indian origin. The concept that you automatically gain class by acquiring money is an outdated thought process,” she wrote. Regarding the incident, Murthy said she could have easily shown her boarding pass and cleared all doubts about her “class”. But she waited to find out how as per the other woman, she lacked business class standards. “Soon I realised it was because of my dress!” she said.
Sudha ran into the same lady later in the day. She had exchanged her western outfit for a plain khadi saree to suit the theme of a meeting where Sudha was pitching Infosys Foundation to sponsor funds for the overhaul of a government school. The lady was obviously shocked to see Sudha chairing the meeting. “The clothes were a reminder of the stereotype that is still rampant today. Just like one is expected to wear the finest of silks for a wedding, social workers must present themselves in a plain and uninteresting manner,” she wrote. She expressed concern over the existence of “external force” dictating people to appear in a certain way to be part of the “elite” club.
“In most metro cities, many college-going girls become part of high-level prostitution because they want to earn quick money to buy designer clothes. This is because of the pressure created by the external force. So when I experienced the same myself at the airport I was more upset than angry,” she said.
